Manage accepted and remote domains

In Microsoft 365 messaging, managing accepted and remote domains plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth delivery of emails to external recipients. Accepted domains represent the domains for which your organization accepts email messages, while remote domains are used to define settings for messages sent to external recipients or domains. In this article, we will explore how to effectively manage accepted and remote domains in Microsoft 365 Messaging.

Accepted Domains:

Accepted domains in Microsoft 365 allow you to receive emails for specific domains. To manage accepted domains, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft 365 admin center as a global admin or Exchange admin.
2. Go to the Admin centers and select Exchange.
3. In the Exchange admin center, navigate to the Mail Flow section.
4. Click on Accepted Domains to view the list of accepted domains in your organization.
5. To add a new accepted domain, click the plus (+) icon and provide the necessary information, such as the domain name and whether it’s an authoritative domain.
6. Choose whether the domain is an internal relay domain or an external relay domain. An internal relay domain accepts emails for both internal and external recipients, while an external relay domain only accepts emails for external recipients.
7. Save the changes, and the new accepted domain will be added to your organization.
8. You can also set the accepted domain as the primary domain, which will be used for email addresses of new users created in Microsoft 365.

Remote Domains:

Remote domains in Microsoft 365 allow you to define settings for messages sent to external recipients or domains. These settings include message formatting, character sets, and automatic replies.

To manage remote domains, use the following steps:

1. Access the Exchange admin center as mentioned earlier.
2. Go to the Mail Flow section and click Remote Domains.
3. You will see a list of remote domains already configured in your organization.
4. To add a new remote domain, click the plus (+) icon and provide the necessary information, such as the domain name.
5. Configure the settings for the remote domain, including the message format, character sets, and automatic reply options.
6. Save the changes, and the new remote domain will be added to your organization.

Examples of Accepted and Remote Domains:

Let’s consider a scenario where your organization, Contoso Corporation, uses Microsoft 365 for email communication. The primary domain used by your organization is contoso.com. Here’s how you can manage accepted and remote domains in this scenario:

1. Accepted Domain:
   • Log in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
   • Go to the Exchange admin center and navigate to the Mail Flow section.
   • Click on Accepted Domains.
   • Add the accepted domain contoso.com and mark it as an authoritative domain.
   • Save the changes.
2. Remote Domain:
   • Access the Exchange admin center.
   • Go to the Mail Flow section and click Remote Domains.
   • Add the remote domain, such as externaldomain.com.
   • Configure the settings for the remote domain, such as HTML formatting, UTF-8 character set, and enable automatic replies.
   • Save the changes.

By effectively managing accepted and remote domains, you can ensure that emails are delivered smoothly within your organization as well as to external recipients or domains. The flexibility provided by Microsoft 365 enables you to customize the email settings based on your specific requirements.

Conclusion:

Managing accepted and remote domains in Microsoft 365 messaging is vital for establishing effective email communication. By properly configuring these domains, you can ensure the smooth and secure delivery of emails to both internal and external recipients. Follow the steps mentioned in this article to manage accepted and remote domains according to your organization’s requirements effectively.