Microsoft 365 email and your website domain

Microsoft 365 email and your website can live happily on the same domain, because they use different records in the domain's settings. Outlook needs its MX record, its SPF line, an autodiscover entry and a couple of signing records; the website needs only the records for the bare domain and www. When you move or rebuild the website, you change the website's records and leave Microsoft's alone. Problems start when a website move replaces the whole DNS setup and Microsoft's records are not carried across.

How one domain serves two companies

Picture your domain, say harborviewdental.com, as a building with two doors. Visitors who type the address into a browser go through the website door, which leads to wherever your site is hosted. Mail addressed to [email protected] goes through the mail door, which leads to Microsoft.

Each door has its own sign in DNS (the domain's list of records). Changing one sign does nothing to the other, as long as nobody takes the whole list down and puts up a new one.

The records Microsoft 365 uses

If your business email is on Microsoft 365, your DNS list includes some or all of these. You can see the expected values in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Settings, then Domains, then your domain, on the DNS records tab.

MX record on the bare domain, pointing to a Microsoft address. On most existing setups it ends in mail.protection.outlook.com; some newer setups use an address ending in mx.microsoft. This is what delivers your mail.
TXT record for SPF, usually "v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all", so other servers accept the mail Outlook sends.
CNAME for autodiscover, pointing to autodiscover.outlook.com. This is how Outlook on a computer or phone finds your mailbox settings automatically. Without it, mail still arrives, but setting up a new device turns into a struggle.
Two DKIM CNAMEs, named selector1._domainkey and selector2._domainkey, if DKIM signing is turned on. They let receivers verify your messages.
A TXT record starting with MS=, added when you first proved to Microsoft that you own the domain. Leave it in place.
A DMARC TXT record at _dmarc, if you or your IT person added one.

Older setups may also have records for Skype for Business or Teams, such as lyncdiscover or SRV records starting with _sip. If they are there, leave them unless you are sure nobody uses them.

Moving the website without touching Outlook

There are two ways to point your domain at a new website.

Change only the website records. Wherever your DNS is managed, the new website company asks you to change the A record for the bare domain and the record for www. You change those two and touch nothing else. Microsoft's records stay exactly as they were, and your email does not notice. For a business already on Microsoft 365, this is nearly always the simplest choice. Connecting your domain to a new website explains these two records in more depth.

Move DNS to another company. If you change the domain's nameservers (which company holds the DNS list), the new company starts with its own list. Copy every Microsoft record into it before switching the nameservers, then check the admin center's DNS records tab afterwards. It flags anything missing within a few minutes of looking.

A special case: Microsoft manages your DNS

Some businesses, when they first set up Microsoft 365, let Microsoft host their DNS. In that case your domain's nameservers point to Microsoft, and website records are edited inside the Microsoft 365 admin center, under the same Domains page. You can add or change the website's A record and www record there, and leave the mail records alone. Microsoft has been steering businesses away from this arrangement, so if you are rebuilding the website anyway, it can be a good moment to move DNS to your registrar, copying every record carefully.

When your website and email came from GoDaddy

Many small businesses bought Microsoft 365 through GoDaddy, sold as "Microsoft 365 from GoDaddy" or "Professional Email powered by Microsoft". The mailbox is Microsoft's, but the account, the billing and often the DNS are GoDaddy's. Points to know:

Cancelling the GoDaddy website plan does not cancel the email, but cancelling the email subscription does end the mailboxes. Read each item on the renewal notice before you remove anything.
Moving the domain away from GoDaddy is possible while keeping the email, but the email subscription itself stays with GoDaddy unless you move it to a Microsoft plan bought directly. That is a separate project, best done before or after the website move, never on the same day.
GoDaddy's DNS page often hides Microsoft's records under a "managed by" note. They are still there; do not delete them.

Our guide to pointing your domain while keeping Microsoft 365 working has the steps for the most common setups.

Checking that mail still works after the website changes

Within an hour of the website switch:

Send a message from an outside account (a personal Gmail works) to your business address. Check it arrives.
Reply from Outlook and check it lands in the Gmail inbox. In Gmail, use the three-dot menu and Show original to see SPF and DKIM pass.
In the Microsoft 365 admin center, open your domain and look for a green "no issues" message on the DNS records tab.
On a phone that is set up with your business mail, pull down to refresh and send a quick test.
Fill in the contact form on the new website and check the enquiry reaches your Outlook inbox, not the junk folder.

If mail stops, compare your DNS list against your screenshot and the admin center's list. Restoring a missing MX record usually brings mail back within the hour. MX records: why changing your website can break email has the longer recovery steps.

Before your next website change

Find out where your DNS is managed: your registrar, GoDaddy, Microsoft or someone else.
Screenshot the Microsoft 365 DNS records tab and your DNS list.
Tell whoever builds the new site that Outlook must keep working, and agree that only the website records will change.
Plan a test email right after the switch.

If you are ready for a new website but nervous about Outlook, you can see your site rebuilt first as a live preview, and point the domain only once you have checked which records will change.