Connecting domain name from registrar where email is also provided

Hi,

After connecting many websites on Squarespace I have never had to connect a domain name from a registrar that also provides email for that business. Are there any precautions I need to take to not interrupt their email service? I am assuming that if I do not change MX records everything would be okay but not 100%. Is there one process better than the other--going through Squarespace's automated process or doing this manually at the registrar? BTW, the registrar is GoDaddy. Any assurances and direction would be greatly appreciated.

19 hours ago, Gazza said:

I have never had to connect a domain name from a registrar that also provides email for that business. Are there any precautions I need to take to not interrupt their email service? I am assuming that if I do not change MX records everything would be okay

I recommend that you add/edit the CNAME and A records to match the Squarespace requirements (remove other A/CNAME record) and then leave the other records unchanged (MX, TXT and so on).

Did this help? Please give feedback by clicking an icon below  ⬇️

18 minutes ago, paul2009 said:

I recommend that you add/edit the CNAME and A records to match the Squarespace requirements (remove other A/CNAME record) and then leave the other records unchanged (MX, TXT and so on).

Thanks Paul2009 for your quick response and advice. After posting this I sought advice from GoDaddy on a chat--quickest way. They stated that when I change the nameservers at GoDaddy for that domain name the email would be down temporarily until I added the DNS for the email to Squarespace DNS. This includes CNAMEs, MX and TXT records. I have never seen a word of this mentioned anywhere else in Squarespace documentation or with anything searched online. I am a bit skeptical about this even though I am not an expert in email records. So I am at a stalemate.

What I understand you to say is that if I continue the usual process of changing the nameservers at GoDaddy and leave the email records as is on GoDaddy the email service would be okay and not affected by the connecting of that domain name to Squarespace. Is that correct?

40 minutes ago, Gazza said:

I sought advice from GoDaddy on a chat--quickest way. They stated that when I change the nameservers at GoDaddy for that domain name the email would be down temporarily until I added the DNS for the email to Squarespace DNS.

There are two ways to connect the domain to Squarespace:

• Nameserver Connect - their automated [default] method where the nameservers are changed to Squarespace so the domain can be managed from there. This is what GoDaddy were talking about.
• DNS Connect - the manual method where you change the CNAME and A records manually, giving you full control. This is the method I was discussing.

Did this help? Please give feedback by clicking an icon below  ⬇️

Thanks again Paul2009! Understand. GoDaddy's method is so much more complicated (and more chance of error) than just following the standard connecting of a third-party domain name according to Squarespace, manually. With all my research I just now stumbled on this from Squarespace support: To keep using your current email provider, you can connect a third-party domain to Squarespace without disrupting your email service. Connecting your domain to Squarespace only involves changes to CNAME and A records, so if your domain provider also hosts your email, there’s no need to adjust your nameservers or MX records.

It sounds to me I can continue as usual and follow your suggestion and ignore GoDaddy's.