Adding a domain takes a few minutes. There is no ownership TXT record to publish: a DMARC record that sends reports to your ShieldMarc reporting address proves you control the domain's DNS, and it starts your report data flowing at the same time.
Your first domain
When you first sign in, ShieldMarc asks for your domain, suggests the one in your email address, and scans it. The next screen, Add this DMARC record to your DNS, shows your reporting address, the record the domain has now and the record to publish.
Choose what receivers should do with fakes: Monitoring only, Fakes to spam or Blocking on. If the domain has no DMARC policy yet and you are not sure, start with Monitoring only. If it already sends fakes to spam or blocks them, keep that. Copy the record and publish it, then choose Next: choose monitors and Turn on DMARC monitoring.
Adding more domains
On the Domains page, choose Add domain, enter the domain and confirm that you own or manage its DNS. The next screen shows the TXT record to publish at _dmarc.yourdomain.com, with the policy and advanced options you can change. Publish it, then choose Complete.
Your reporting address
Your organisation has one reporting address, in the form abcd1234@rua.shieldmarc.com, shared by all its domains. A domain added from the Domains page gets a record like this one, with your own address in place of the example. The first-domain screen builds the same record without fo=1.
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:abcd1234@rua.shieldmarc.com; ruf=mailto:abcd1234@rua.shieldmarc.com; fo=1;
If the domain already has a DMARC record, replace it with the new one rather than adding a second. Two DMARC records cancel each other out, and receivers then apply no policy at all.
How verification works
We look for your record every 5 minutes, so there is nothing else to click. The domain is verified as soon as its DMARC record includes your reporting address, and if we spot it before you do, we email you to say it is live. To check straight away, use Check the record now in the domain's menu on the Domains page.
You will not see report data for a domain until it is verified. Reports are stored by domain name, so we only show them once your DNS proves the domain is yours.
What happens next
Most receivers send aggregate reports once a day, so the first data usually appears within a day or two. From then on, the Email page shows who sends email as your domain and whether each message proved it was yours.
Other checks, such as SSL, uptime and lookalike domains, start switched off. Turn them on from the domain's page: under Checks, choose + Add a check, then Set up. Which checks you can use depends on your plan.
We re-check your DMARC record every week. If your reporting address has gone from it, the domain goes back to unverified and we email you.