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Manage Domain Records (Email, Verifications & More)

After your domain is connected to Dinevate, learn how to set up your business email, add verification codes from Google or Facebook, and manage advanced DNS records — all from your Merchant Dashboard.

What This Guide Covers

Once your domain is connected to Dinevate (see Connect Your Domain), you can manage all of its records from inside your Merchant Dashboard. Records are the behind-the-scenes settings that tell the internet:

  • Where to send email for you@yourdomain.com
  • That you own the domain (so services like Google or Facebook can verify it)
  • Where to send specific subdomains (like mail.yourdomain.com)
  • Anything else your tech team or another platform asks you to add

You do not need to know what DNS, MX, TXT, or CNAME records are. Dinevate gives you simple buttons for the most common needs.

Note: This screen only works after you have already pointed your domain's nameservers at Dinevate. If you have not done that yet, follow Connect Your Domain first.

Getting to Your Domain Records

  1. Open a browser and go to dinevate.com
  2. Log in with your restaurant account.
  3. Open your Merchant Dashboard.
  4. Click "Website Settings" in the left sidebar.
  5. At the top of the page, you will see "Your Website Addresses" — a card for every domain connected to your restaurant.
  6. Each card shows the domain name and a status badge:
    • Connected (green) — Records are managed by Dinevate. Click the card to manage them.
    • Not Connected (amber) — Your nameservers are not pointing to Dinevate yet. Finish Connect Your Domain first.
    • Primary — The main address customers see in your URLs.
    • Disabled — Temporarily turned off.
  7. Click the card for the domain you want to manage. This opens the Domain Records page for that domain.

Multi-location restaurants: Domain records are managed from your main location (the apex restaurant). If you open Website Settings on a secondary location, you will see a card directing you to the main location.

"One More Step" Screen

If you click a domain and see a big amber card titled "One More Step Before You Can Manage Records", it means your domain's nameservers still point somewhere else (your old website host, your registrar, etc.).

Update your nameservers to:

  • ns1.vercel-dns.com
  • ns2.vercel-dns.com

Use the Copy button next to each value, paste them at your domain provider (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, etc.), and save. Wait 24-48 hours, then click "Check Again" on the same page.

Detailed per-provider instructions are in the Connect Your Domain guide.

Setting Up Your Business Email

This is the most common reason restaurants come to this page. If you bought email service from Google, Microsoft, GoDaddy, or Zoho, you need to add their MX records so emails sent to you@yourdomain.com actually arrive in your inbox.

In the "Set Up Your Email" section, you will see a card for each supported provider. Just click the "Set Up [Provider]" button on the one you use.

If you have a paid Google Workspace account (Gmail with your own domain), pick one of these:

  • Google Workspace (Gmail) — Google's current single-record setup (recommended).
  • Google Workspace (Legacy MX) — Older 5-record setup. Use this only if Google's instructions specifically tell you to.

A confirmation dialog appears. Click "Yes, Set It Up". Dinevate adds the right records automatically. Your email should start working within a few hours.

Microsoft 365 (Outlook)

If you use Microsoft 365 for your business email:

  1. Click "Set Up Microsoft 365". Dinevate adds an MX record placeholder.
  2. Important: The MX value Microsoft requires is unique to your domain. After Dinevate adds the placeholder, log into your Microsoft 365 Admin Center, find your domain's exact MX value, then come back to this page and update the record (use the trash icon to remove the placeholder, then add the real one through the Advanced Settings section described below).

GoDaddy Email (Titan)

If you bought GoDaddy's Professional Email (Titan), click "Set Up GoDaddy Email" and confirm. Dinevate adds the MX and SPF records that GoDaddy needs.

Zoho Mail

If you use Zoho Mail, click "Set Up Zoho Mail" and confirm. We recommend logging into your Zoho Mail Admin Console afterward to verify the MX values match — Zoho's documentation has changed a few times over the years.

Other Email Providers

If your provider is not in the list (Fastmail, ProtonMail, Apple iCloud Mail, your own server, etc.), you can add the MX records manually using the Advanced Settings section near the bottom. Just paste in the values your provider gave you. If you are unsure, email us — see "Need Help?" at the end of this guide.

How long until email starts working? Usually within a few minutes, but it can take up to a few hours for the change to spread across the internet. Send a test email to yourself once the records are in.

Adding a Verification Record

Some services need you to prove you own your domain before they let you use it. The most common ones are Google (Search Console, Google Business Profile, Google Ads) and Facebook / Meta (Meta Business Suite, Instagram for business).

They give you a small text code that looks like google-site-verification=abc123... or facebook-domain-verification=xyz789.... You add that code as a TXT record on your domain, then go back to the service and click their "Verify" button.

In the "Add a Verification Record" section:

  1. Choose the service from the dropdown:
    • Google (Search Console / Workspace)
    • Facebook / Meta
    • Other Service — for anything else (Pinterest, TikTok, Bing, Canva, etc.)
  2. Paste the verification code they gave you into the input box. Copy and paste the entire value — including the google-site-verification= part if it is there.
  3. Click "Add".

A green message confirms the record was added. Wait a few minutes, then go back to the service that gave you the code and click their "Verify" button.

Tip: You can have multiple verification records at the same time. Adding a Google verification does not remove a Facebook one — they live side by side.

Your Current Records Table

The "Your Current Records" table shows everything that is currently set up for your domain.

  • Type — The kind of record (A, MX, TXT, CNAME, etc.). You can hover over the badge if you are curious.
  • Name / Subdomain — @ means the main domain (yourdomain.com). Anything else is a subdomain (mail, www, etc.).
  • Value — What the record points to.
  • Priority — Used by email (MX) and service (SRV) records. Lower numbers are tried first.
  • TTL — How long the internet should "remember" this record before checking again, in seconds.
  • 🔒 Lock icon — A few records are protected by Dinevate (your SSL setup, Google Search Console verification, and routing records). They cannot be removed because removing them would break your website.
  • 🗑️ Trash icon — Click to remove a record. A confirmation dialog appears with the full record details. Be careful — only delete records you added yourself or that you are sure are no longer needed.

Click the "Refresh" button in the top-right at any time to pull the latest records from the server.

Be careful with email records. Removing your MX records will stop your email from working. Always know what you are removing before you click the trash icon.

Advanced: Adding Custom Records

Open the "Advanced Settings" card (it is collapsed by default and tagged "For tech-savvy users").

Use this section when you, your developer, or a service you signed up for asks you to add a specific record by type and value.

For each row:

  1. Record Type — Choose from the dropdown:
    • Website Address (A) — Points your domain to a specific IP address.
    • Website Address IPv6 (AAAA) — Same as A, but for IPv6.
    • Alias (CNAME) — Points one address to another (e.g. blog.yourdomain.com → something.medium.com).
    • Email (MX) — For email routing.
    • Verification / Text (TXT) — For verification codes, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, etc.
    • Service (SRV) — Used by VoIP and other services.
  2. Name / Subdomain — Leave empty for the main domain, or type a subdomain like mail, blog, shop. Some providers want @ instead of empty — both work.
  3. Value — Paste exactly what the other service told you to enter.
  4. Priority — Only shown for MX and SRV. Lower number = higher priority. If unsure, use 10.
  5. TTL (seconds) — How long to cache the record. 300 (5 minutes) is good for new records. After everything works, you can leave them at 3600 (1 hour).

To add multiple records at once, click "Add Another Row" and fill out the next line. When everything looks right, click "Add Records" at the bottom.

If a record fails to save, the error message at the top of the page will tell you why. Common reasons: duplicate record, invalid value format, or wrong record type for the value you entered.

Common Tasks Cheat Sheet

  • Set up email at you@yourdomain.com (Google, Microsoft, GoDaddy, Zoho) — Use the "Set Up Your Email" preset cards.
  • Verify your domain in Google Search Console — Use the "Add a Verification Record" section, choose Google.
  • Verify your domain on Facebook / Meta Business Suite — Use the "Add a Verification Record" section, choose Facebook / Meta.
  • Add SPF, DKIM, or DMARC for email security — Open Advanced Settings, choose Verification / Text (TXT), paste the value your email provider gave you.
  • Point a subdomain like blog.yourdomain.com to another service — Open Advanced Settings, choose Alias (CNAME), type the subdomain in Name, paste the destination as the Value.
  • Remove a record you added yourself — Click the trash icon next to it in "Your Current Records".
  • Move email to a different provider — Remove the old MX records, then click the new provider's "Set Up" button.

Troubleshooting

"I added my email records but my email still does not work"

  • Wait at least an hour. DNS changes do not happen instantly.
  • Make sure you set up the email mailboxes in your provider's dashboard (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, etc.) — adding the records here just routes mail to them; you still need an actual mailbox at the provider.
  • Send a test email from outside your provider (use a Gmail or iCloud address) to make sure delivery works end-to-end.
  • Check the "Your Current Records" table — make sure the MX records you expect are listed.

"Google / Facebook says my verification code is not found"

  • Wait 5-10 minutes. Verification records sometimes take a few minutes to be visible to the verifying service.
  • Make sure you pasted the full value, including the google-site-verification= or facebook-domain-verification= prefix.
  • Go to the "Your Current Records" table and check that the TXT record is listed with the value you expect.
  • Click the verify button at the service again.

"I deleted a record by accident"

  • For email and verification presets, just click the "Set Up" button again to re-add them.
  • For custom records, you will need to add them manually through Advanced Settings.
  • If you deleted something Dinevate-protected (SSL, Vercel routing), email us — we can restore it.

"I get an error: 'You need to use Dinevate's nameservers'"

  • Your domain's nameservers are not pointing at Dinevate. Follow Connect Your Domain and come back here once the page shows "Connected to Dinevate" with a green badge.

Need Help?

If you are not sure what record to add, or you are nervous about touching your DNS, email us at info@dinevate.com with your domain name and what you are trying to do (set up email, verify with Google, etc.) and we will set it up for you.

You can also open a support case from your Support Center in the Merchant Dashboard. Our team handles DNS setups for restaurants every day — we are happy to do it for you.

Pair this guide with the Connect Your Domain guide for the full picture of how your domain connects to Dinevate.