Setting Up Gmail as the Email Provider in Plesk

If you use Google Workspace for email, you can route your domain’s mail through Gmail while continuing to manage DNS in Plesk. This is done by replacing the existing mail records with Google’s MX records so all incoming mail is delivered to Google’s servers.

This configuration is commonly applied on environments managed through Plesk hosting where DNS is controlled at the panel level.

Before You Start

Make sure the following items are completed before changing any DNS records:

• Your domain is verified in Google Workspace
• All users who need email access already exist in Google Workspace

Changing MX records before users are created can interrupt mail delivery.

Updating MX Records in Plesk

Step 1: Open DNS settings

Log in to the Plesk control panel.

From the left sidebar, open Websites & Domains and click DNS Settings.

[Screenshot: Websites & Domains page with DNS Settings icon]

Step 2: Remove existing mail records

Locate and remove the following records for your domain:

• The existing MX record
• The mail host A record
• The webmail host A record

After selecting the records, click Remove, confirm the action, and then click Update.

[Screenshot: DNS records selected for removal]

Step 3: Add Google MX records

Click Add Record and choose MX as the record type.

Leave the mail domain field empty.

Add the following records one by one:

• ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM with priority 0
• ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM with priority 5
• ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM with priority 5
• ALT3.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM with priority 10
• ALT4.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM with priority 10

After adding all records, click Update to activate them.

[Screenshot: Google MX records added]

Activating Gmail in Google Workspace

Log in to the Google Workspace Admin console.

Open the setup tool and navigate to the Gmail section.

Click Activate and follow the on-screen steps to complete the process.

Email delivery may take several hours to fully switch. During this period, messages can still arrive at existing mailboxes.

Verifying Mail Flow

Once DNS propagation is complete:

• Send a test message to a Gmail mailbox on your domain
• Confirm outbound mail is sent from Gmail successfully
• Check that no mail is still arriving at the old mail server

This setup is commonly paired with spam filtering solutions like Spam Experts to improve inbound mail quality.

Practical Notes

• DNS changes can take time to propagate globally
• Avoid modifying MX records repeatedly during propagation
• Keep old mailboxes available until Gmail is fully active

Gmail integration works reliably for business email on scalable platforms such as cloud servers and larger deployments running on dedicated server environments.