---
title: Set up email records · Cloudflare Learning Paths
description: If you only need to receive emails, Cloudflare offers Email Routing for free email forwarding to custom email addresses.
lastUpdated: 2024-08-13T19:56:56.000Z
source_url:
  html: https://zt-dark-mode-changelog.preview.developers.cloudflare.com/learning-paths/get-started/domain-resolution/setup-email-records/index.md
  md: https://zt-dark-mode-changelog.preview.developers.cloudflare.com/learning-paths/get-started/domain-resolution/setup-email-records/
---

## Receive email

If you only need to **receive** emails, Cloudflare offers [Email Routing](https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/) for free email forwarding to custom email addresses.

## Send and receive email

To **send and receive** emails from your domain, you need an SMTP provider. Then, create two DNS records within Cloudflare, following the steps below:

1. Get the IP address and MX record details from your SMTP provider ([vendor-specific guidelines](https://developers.cloudflare.com/dns/manage-dns-records/reference/vendor-specific-records/)).

2. [Add an `A` or `AAAA` record](https://developers.cloudflare.com/dns/manage-dns-records/how-to/create-dns-records/) for your mail subdomain that points to the IP address of your mail server.

   | **Type** | **Name** | **IPv4 address** | **Proxy status** |
   | - | - | - | - |
   | A | `mail` | `192.0.2.1` | DNS only |

3. [Add an `MX` record](https://developers.cloudflare.com/dns/manage-dns-records/how-to/create-dns-records/) that points to that subdomain.

   | **Type** | **Name** | **Mail server** | **TTL** |
   | - | - | - | - |
   | MX | `@` | `mail.example.com` | Auto |

Note

If you encounter issues with your email setup, refer to our [troubleshooting guide](https://developers.cloudflare.com/dns/troubleshooting/email-issues/).
