Your website can be hosted with us while your domain's email remains with an external mail provider. Website traffic and email delivery use different DNS records, so moving the website does not require moving the mailboxes. This arrangement is useful when your team already relies on an established business email service and wants to keep its existing mail workflow.
IN THIS ARTICLE
01 Preserve the mail provider's DNS records
- Before changing anything, record the current mail provider's MX records and its required authentication and verification records.
- Connect the website using the account details supplied by us, while preserving the mail provider's records at the authoritative DNS service.
- If you change nameservers, recreate all required records at the new DNS provider before completing the change.
Copy the provider's current instructions rather than inventing MX priorities or authentication values.
02 Match account routing and website sending to your mail provider
The hosting account's email routing should also match the intended setup. Where the domain's mail is handled externally, the account should use the appropriate remote routing arrangement instead of treating local mailboxes as the destination for that domain. Otherwise, mail generated by a website to an address on its own domain may be delivered differently from messages sent by an outside sender.
For contact forms and application notifications, configure an authorized sending method, such as the external provider's supported SMTP service, when suitable. Use an approved sender address and place a visitor's address in Reply-To when the application supports it. Test incoming mail, outgoing mail and website-generated mail separately. Changing DNS does not copy old messages or create users at the external provider. Its subscription, mailbox administration and sending limits remain governed by that provider, and an external email licence is not automatically included with our Web Hosting package.
03 Example: move the website while retaining business email
Your website is moving to us, while staff will keep using their existing Zoho mailboxes. Record the current mail provider's MX, authentication and verification records before changing the website's DNS.
- Connect the website using the hosting details supplied for its service.
- If nameservers change, recreate the required Zoho records at the new authoritative DNS provider using the account's current values.
- Configure the hosting account's appropriate remote mail routing where supported.
- For the contact form, use an approved sending address such as
[email protected]and place the visitor's address inReply-To. - Test external mail and a website message to the business's own domain separately.
Expected result: the website runs on Nabtech while the existing mailboxes continue receiving and sending through their subscribed email service.
How do I keep external email working during a website move?
- Record the external provider's MX, authentication and verification records before changing web hosting or nameservers.
- Recreate the required records at the new authoritative DNS provider when delegation changes.
- Set appropriate remote email routing where supported and test external mail plus messages sent by the website to its own domain.
Moving website files does not copy mailbox messages or provision users at the external provider. Keep that subscription active and arrange a separate mail migration if needed. For forms, use an authorised sender and preserve the visitor's address as Reply-To rather than impersonating it as the sending domain.