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The Background

I am using Mandrill as my SMTP sending mail server. After setting up MX in my custom domain DNS, I am able to send emails through Mandrill.

However, when reading the email from Gmail client, there's always an "on behalf of" line showing. I understand this signature could be removed by setting DKIM and SPF Settings, and I did so on Mandrill backend.

The Problem

Here comes the funny part: Mandrill requires you to "verified domain" by sending you a email to that custom domain. However, I didn't have a backend application to receive the "Inbound email" by Mandrill. Since there's no other mail client provided by Mandrill, how could I verify the Sending Domain?

References

kavare
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  • Did you ever sort this out? I am thinking of switching to Mandrill but this problem is what is worrying me. – 2pha Nov 13 '15 at 04:54
  • Not really. Still waiting for some better solutions. – kavare Nov 13 '15 at 17:24
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    @kavare You don't need MX records to send emails. MX records are set to receive emails whereas TXT records are used to send email. – mrudult Dec 07 '15 at 11:03
  • This would be dramatically simplified if they did what many others do and allow verification of the domain through a simple DNS TXT record. Takes the customer all of 5min to setup and confirm instead of building out a mail infrastructure to support simply verification. – Josiah Apr 16 '18 at 18:42
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    @Josiah Mandrill now allows TXT record verification – JJ Rohrer Mar 19 '23 at 15:18

4 Answers4

6

I was having the same problem earlier. I had a web application running on a server. So I configured incoming mails on mandrill by adding some MX records, then creating a route for the same domain for a random address which points to one of the POST endpoints on my web application.

So, whenever someone sends an email to that address, I get a POST request on the web endpoint which I put in the control panel. Mandrill gives a confirmation url in the email body. So, by inspecting the logs, we can directly copy the url and paste it in the browser and the domain is verified.

You can delete the incoming domain in mandrill afterwards if you don't need it.

mrudult
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  • this is essentially great. However, what if I don't have another app backend which can handle this `POST` request? Rather then workaround, I think it would be better if Mandrill can make this verification process easier...... – kavare Jan 24 '16 at 01:29
  • This is GENIUS and worked perfectly. But I would love to see Mandrill/MailChimp have an alternative to the verification URL – Maurice Jan 31 '16 at 19:07
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In 2023, you can add a TXT record with the following pattern:

  • Your short domain name is the 'name' (The dialog box does NOT make that obvious)
  • the is the Mandrill 'value', something like 'mandrill_verify.blah' enter image description here
JJ Rohrer
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  • namecheap doesnt allow adding yourdomain.com at the Name or Host field. Any ideas how to get it done? – Norbert Jul 01 '23 at 11:28
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I followed the advice but forth by Melyssa Griffin and used Google Suite to create an email address with domain of @mycompany.com. It was pretty easy to setup, though you do have access to your DNS system, and be willing to enter some credit card details. Be sure to cancel the suite services before 30 days or you'll be charged.

dan.george
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-1

I was able to use the steps in this article to verify without setting up mail services. Similar to a previous answer but uses requestb.in.

  1. set up MX records in Mandrill as per documentation
  2. create new RequestBin https://requestb.in
  3. add route to an email address e.g. admin@mandrill.example.com (this needn't be a working email address), which posts to the RequestBin e.g. https://requestb.in/wwxxyyzz
  4. send domain verification email from Mandrill "sending domains" interface
  5. the email should be viewable in the RequestBin e.g. https://requestb.in/wwxxyyzz?inspect
  6. find the verification link (may need to remove backslashes) in the raw email message and paste into browser to complete process

https://blog.ashfame.com/2016/11/verify-sending-domain-mandrill-email-hosting/

Ngstigator
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