Email Authentication Requirements for Aspire

Purpose

As of February 2024, email providers such as Google and Yahoo enforce strict email authentication requirements to protect people from fraudulent messages and phishing attempts. Email providers can block unauthenticated email or route it to a spam folder.

We recommend configuring DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) for your sending domain so the email Aspire sends reaches your clients .

Important: If you do not take action, email providers might not deliver these Aspire outbound emails: Opportunities, Proposals, Invoices, and Site Audit emails, along with email sent by users who do not have active email syncing.

Am I impacted?

You need to set up DKIM if both of the following apply to your company:

You send email from Aspire without full email syncing. You use Aspire to send outbound messages, and you aren’t using the Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 sync option.
You use a custom domain. You send email from a domain your company owns, such as yourcompany.com or accountingemail.com.

Important: You can set up DKIM only for a custom domain. Free or public email addresses — such as gmail.com, outlook.com, yahoo.com, and icloud.com — cannot use a custom DKIM record.

How do I set up DKIM?

If you’re impacted, follow these steps to request your DKIM records and add them to your domain.

Request your DKIM records. Log a ticket with AspireCare and provide every domain tied to the email addresses you use to send email from Aspire.
Provide the domain of the email address that sends from Aspire. For example, if you send invoices from billing@accountingemail.com, request DKIM for accountingemail.com, even if your primary website domain is yourcompany.com.
Add the records to your Domain Name System (DNS). Add each TXT record that AspireCare provides to the DNS settings for your domain.
Verify the records are live. Look up your domain with the Google Admin Toolbox Dig tool and confirm that aspiresmtp._domainkey appears — for example, aspiresmtp._domainkey.yourcompany.com.

Note: If you don't manage your own DNS records, copy the values AspireCare provides and forward them to your IT team, technical consultant, or domain host so they can add the records for you.

Understanding Aspire email configuration

This chart traces an email from the moment Aspire sends it through to delivery, and shows where DKIM fits in.

Flowchart showing how Aspire routes an outbound email and where DKIM is required.

Frequently asked questions

When should I take action?

You can take action at any time. Major email providers have enforced these requirements since February 2024.

How does DKIM work?

DKIM adds an invisible, cryptographic signature to your outgoing messages:

When Aspire sends an email on your behalf, Aspire signs the message with a private key.
The receiving email server looks up the matching public key published in your DNS records.
If the keys match, the receiving server confirms the email is authentic and delivers it to the inbox.

Five-step diagram showing Aspire signing an email with a private key, the email being sent, the receiving server retrieving the matching public key from your DNS records, the signature being verified, and the email being delivered to your client's inbox.

Where can I learn more about DKIM?

For more information on how DKIM works in general, visit these third-party resources:

Note: AspireCare provides the specific DKIM records you need for email sent from Aspire.

For more information on connecting your mailbox to Aspire, visit Syncing Your Email and Calendar to Aspire.

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