Setting Up a Domain

A management company can serve its portal and send its buildings’ emails from its own domain. This page is for the person who manages that domain. You do not need an AppNFlat account.

The company sends you a link to a setup page. It opens on one domain: either the web address or the email domain. The link expires after a few days. Ask the company for a new one if it no longer opens.

How the setup page works

1. Choose the domain	Type the address to use. The page then lists the DNS records to add.
2. Add the records	Add each record with your DNS provider. Pick your provider above the table to see where its DNS editor is.
3. Verify	Click Verify the records. Each row shows whether its record was found. DNS changes can take a few minutes to be visible.

For an email domain, the page starts with one record that proves the domain is yours. Once it is found, the other records appear on the page. Add them too, then verify again.

Record names

The names are given without your domain. Most providers add it on their own. If yours does not, hover over a name to see it in full.

Cloudflare

Leave the cloud grey (DNS only) on every CNAME record. A proxied record cannot be verified.

Until the domain is active, residents keep using the AppNFlat addresses. Leave the records in place once it is active. Removing one stops the domain from working.

After activation

It can take a few hours for the domain to work on every network. Some networks keep old DNS answers for a while. If the domain does not work for you right away, try again later.

Web address

The address residents open the portal at, for example portal.yourcompany.com. Use a subdomain. The page asks for a CNAME record that points it at AppNFlat, and a record that proves it is yours.

Once both are found, a security certificate is issued for the address. This usually takes a few minutes. Verify again after that.

Email domain

The domain the buildings’ emails are sent from. Choose how incoming mail arrives.

Forwarding from your own mail system	Your mail stays with your current provider, such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. You can use your main domain. You create a few addresses and forward them to AppNFlat. See Forwarding addresses.
Direct delivery to this domain	AppNFlat receives all the mail for this domain. Use a subdomain that nobody uses yet, such as mail.yourcompany.com.

Direct delivery on your main domain

Direct delivery takes over all the mail of the domain. On the domain your staff already use, their mailboxes would stop receiving mail. Use a subdomain, or choose forwarding.

The page lists the records for sending: three CNAME records. With direct delivery, it also lists an MX record.

It also suggests a DMARC record. It is not required. If your domain already has one, keep yours.

Forwarding addresses

With forwarding, AppNFlat only receives the addresses you forward to it. The setup page lists them. Each row pairs an address on your domain with the AppNFlat address to forward it to.

Shared group address	The company’s address for requests, for people who don’t know which building they belong to. For example [email protected].
Group invoice address	The address suppliers send their invoices to. For example [email protected]. It must differ from the request addresses.
One row per building	The building’s address for requests.

Every row is optional. An address left blank keeps its AppNFlat address. All the addresses must be on the domain being set up.

For each address:

1. Create it in your mail system, as a shared mailbox, an alias or a group.
2. Forward all its mail to the AppNFlat address shown next to it.
3. Make sure your mail system allows forwarding to outside addresses.
4. Save the address on the setup page.

By mail provider

Microsoft 365

A shared mailbox needs no license, and Microsoft 365 can forward it.

1. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Teams & Groups > Shared mailboxes. Select Add a shared mailbox, enter a name, and set the address shown on the setup page. Select Save changes.
2. Go to Users > Active users and select the shared mailbox. On the Mail tab, select Manage email forwarding.
3. Select Forward all emails sent to this mailbox and enter the AppNFlat address. Choose whether to keep a copy. Select Save changes.
4. Allow these mailboxes to forward outside your organization. In the Microsoft Defender portal, go to Email & collaboration > Policies & rules > Threat policies > Anti-spam. Select Create policy, then Outbound. Under Users, add the shared mailboxes. Under Forwarding rules, set Automatic forwarding rules to On - Forwarding is enabled.

Only emails received after step 3 are forwarded.

External forwarding is often off

Since 2021, new Microsoft 365 organizations block forwarding to outside addresses by default. Without step 4, senders get a bounce that reads 5.7.520 Access denied, Your organization does not allow external forwarding. A policy limited to these mailboxes leaves the rest of your organization as it is.

Exchange Server

For Exchange Server 2016, 2019 and Subscription Edition, on your own servers.

1. In the Exchange admin center, create the mailbox under Recipients > Mailboxes.

2. The Exchange admin center only forwards inside your organization. To forward to the AppNFlat address, run this in the Exchange Management Shell, with your mailbox and the AppNFlat address:

   Set-Mailbox -Identity "help" -ForwardingSMTPAddress "[email protected]" -DeliverToMailboxAndForward $false

   Use $true instead of $false to also keep a copy in the mailbox.

3. Check the result:

   Get-Mailbox "help" | Format-List ForwardingSMTPAddress,DeliverToMailboxAndForward

Google Workspace

A routing rule sends the mail on without a mailbox, so the address needs no user or license.

1. In the Google Admin console, go to Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Default routing. You need the Gmail Settings administrator privilege.
2. Click Configure or Add another rule.
3. Under Specify envelope recipients to match, choose Single recipient. Enter the address on your domain.
4. Under If the envelope recipient matches the above, do the following, select Modify message.
5. Under Change envelope recipient, choose Replace recipient. Enter the AppNFlat address.
6. Under Options, choose Perform this action on non-recognized and recognized addresses. The rule then works whether or not the address belongs to a user.
7. Click Save. Add one rule per address.

Changes can take up to 24 hours, but usually apply sooner.

Keeping a copy

This rule keeps no copy in Gmail. To keep one, use an address map instead. Go to Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Routing, under Email forwarding using recipient address map. Map the address to the AppNFlat address, and check Also route to original destination.

Zoho Mail

Email forwarding needs a paid Zoho Mail plan.

1. Create the address as a user in Zoho Mail.
2. In the Zoho Mail Admin Console, go to Users and select that user. Select Mailbox Settings, then Email Forwarding.
3. Enter the AppNFlat address and add it. Click Add in the confirmation. To keep no copy in Zoho, select Delete Zoho Mail’s copy.
4. Zoho sends a verification code to the AppNFlat address. Click Verify, enter the code, then click Confirm.

Where the verification code arrives

The code arrives in AppNFlat, not in your mailbox. Ask the management company for it. For a request address, it appears as a new request. For the invoice address, it appears in the pending invoices. Once you have the code, they can close the request or reject the invoice.

Other

Look for a shared mailbox, an alias or a group in your mail system. Forward all its mail to the AppNFlat address. Your provider may block forwarding to outside addresses. Check its settings.

Emails from the buildings are sent from your addresses. Replies come back to them, and your forwarding brings them to AppNFlat.

Adding buildings later

A building added to the company after setup needs its own address. Click Edit the forwarding addresses on the setup page, or ask the company to do it from its settings.

Additional Information

Domain settings (for managers)