Issue symptoms

After adding an external support address to Zendesk Support, your email status shows an error warning in the Admin Center. You may see one or both of the following messages:

  • Forwarding check failed
  • SPF record check failed

Resolving "Forwarding check failed"

This error means Zendesk sent a verification email ("ping") to your custom email address (e.g., support@yourdomain.com), but it was not redirected back to your Zendesk account.

Step 1: Verify your forwarding rule setup

Log in to your email provider (e.g., Microsoft 365, Google Workspace) and ensure that an automatic forwarding rule is active, sending all incoming mail to your Zendesk system address (e.g., support@subdomain.zendesk.com).

Step 2: Check for external forwarding restrictions (Microsoft 365 Users)

By default, Microsoft 365 blocks automatic external email forwarding. If you use Exchange/M365, your admin must enable automatic forwarding in the Defender Security & Compliance Center under Anti-spam outbound policy.

Step 3: Test with a manual email

Send an email from a personal or alternative address directly to your external support address:

  • If no ticket is created: Your email forwarding rule is incomplete or blocked by your mail server's spam filter. Contact your email administrator.
  • If a ticket IS created: Your forwarding is working, but Zendesk's verification ping was delayed or filtered. Return to Zendesk Admin Center and click Retry verification.

For detailed, provider-specific setup steps, see: Forwarding incoming email to Zendesk Support.

Resolving "SPF record check failed"

An SPF (Sender Policy Framework) error does not block incoming emails, but it prevents Zendesk from sending outbound notifications using your custom domain. Without a valid SPF record, emails sent from Zendesk may end up in your customers' spam folders.

Step 1: Locate your DNS TXT record

Log in to your domain registrar or DNS hosting provider (e.g., Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Namecheap, Route 53) and find your existing TXT record starting with v=spf1.

Step 2: Add the Zendesk SPF mechanism

Update your existing SPF record to include include:mail.zendesk.com before the terminating ~all or -all tag.

Example SPF Record:

v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:mail.zendesk.com ~all

Important DNS Rules:

  • Do NOT create multiple SPF records: Having more than one TXT record starting with v=spf1 on the same domain invalidates SPF. Merge all includes into a single record.
  • Propagation time: DNS changes can take up to 24–48 hours to propagate worldwide before Zendesk can verify the change.

For full details on SPF configuration, see: Allowing Zendesk to send email on behalf of your email domain.

Still having issues?

If you have verified your forwarding rule, enabled outbound forwarding, and updated your SPF TXT record, but the error persists, please contact your email administrator or domain host to verify there are no active mail-flow restrictions or propagation delays.

If you would like to reevaluate your email setup and start over, click on the button below to navigate to our in-product guide.

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