📧 Organization Settings: Configuring a Custom Email Domain
By default, Guide sends interview emails (e.g. confirmations, reminders, reschedule notices) from a shared Guide domain. To improve deliverability, reduce spam risk, and maintain branding consistency, you can configure a custom domain — so all Guide emails appear to come from your own organization.
✅ Important: Guide requires that the sending domain you configure is exclusively dedicated to Guide. You should use a unique subdomain (e.g., recruiting.yourcompany.com) and not your company’s primary domain (e.g., yourcompany.com), which may already be in use by other email providers like Google Workspace.
🛠️ Step-by-Step Setup Instructions
Step 0: Confirm a Subdomain with Your IT or Security Team
Before setting anything up in Guide:
Choose a dedicated subdomain to use for Guide email sending, such as interviews.yourcompany.com, recruiting.yourcompany.com, or something similar.
Confirm with your IT/security team that this subdomain is not already in use (e.g., by your company’s internal Google Workspace, SendGrid, etc.).
Make sure your IT team is aware they’ll need to add DNS records after you save this subdomain in Guide (see step 3).
⚙️ Step 1: Save the Subdomain in Guide
Go to Settings → Organization Settings → Email Settings
Enter your chosen custom domain
📌 This should be a subdomain dedicated to Guide (e.g., recruiting.yourcompany.com)
Click Set Domain
🔔 When you click “Set Domain,” Guide will generate DNS records required for authentication. These records must be added in your DNS provider before the domain can be verified or used.
Once submitted, Guide will display the DNS records you need to add.
🧩 Step 2: Share DNS Records with IT
After setting the domain in Guide:
Guide will display DNS records that must be added to your DNS provider (GoDaddy, Amazon Route 53, Namecheap, etc.)
These records typically include:
SPF (TXT)
DKIM (CNAME)
MX
DMARC (optional)
Send these records to your IT team along with instructions to add them exactly as shown in Guide
⚠️ Common issue with CNAME records: Some DNS providers (e.g., GoDaddy) automatically append your root domain to subdomain values. For example, if you enter em123.recruiting.yourcompany.com, it may incorrectly save as em123.recruiting.yourcompany.com.yourcompany.com. To avoid this, only paste the subdomain portion (e.g., em123) into the host field.
🔍 Step 3: Verify DNS Records
Once your IT team has completed the DNS setup:
Return to the Email Settings page in Guide
Click Verify Domain
Guide will check for correct configuration of all required DNS records
✅ If verification is successful, your domain will be marked as verified and Guide will begin sending emails from it
⏳ It may take up to 48 hours for changes to propagate across DNS networks. During this time, verification may be temporarily unsuccessful.
❌ If any records fail to verify, Guide will display them with a red ❌ icon. Double-check formatting with your DNS provider.
🚨 Troubleshooting Tips
Double check host fields for DNS entry formatting errors
Wait at least 15–30 minutes before retrying verification (some changes are not immediate)
Use online tools like MXToolbox to verify DNS propagation
If your domain still doesn’t verify:
Email Guide Support with:
A screenshot of your DNS record in your provider’s UI
The name of your DNS provider
The domain you’re trying to verify
🔐 Reminder
Guide will not begin sending emails from your custom domain until all required records are verified.