Replies to Gmail accounts being rejected

[#1]

I am afraid that I don't use webmail. Were I to set it up I would then need to somehow get a number of relevant incoming emails into it and then reply. I don't understand how webmail works alongside Outlook, for example if I pick up an email an webmail in Webmail is it still downloadable in Outlook. I don't want to be running two email systems.

I am beginning to feel that I have an unsolvable problem and will have to live with it. I can get around it by replying from my old alternate email address, which has no problems.

Thanks nevertheless for all the help and suggestions put forward.

[#2]

MisterW: sorry about the delay in following your most helpful advice' but will probably not be able to do so until tomorrow morning.

[#3]

Hi Mister W:

Sorry for delay in doing this but probably will not be able to before tomorrow morning

(And sorry for duplication too)

[#4]

@grahamt  if you NEVER send via the fasthosts servers, then you can take out the bits you suggest. There is a limit to the the contents of an spf record but I'm not sure exactly what it is!

I suspect the combined one you have will be OK. Use mxtoolbox to check it once you've set it up.

[#5]

Webmail - there is nothing to set up - you just use it.

It looks at the same IMAP server as outlook.

Using its IDENTITY feature you can even set it up to send as your domain email address.

[#6]

Thanks @MisterW . I'll do that once I've left enough time for my changes to propagate. I'll check it and then (in all probability) take out the Fasthosts bit.

[#7]

Having looked at the names.co.uk help page and then the control panel I decided to take the advice on the help page that the inexperienced should contact support. They have now added the text you supplied and I am waiting 12-48 hours for propagation. Will report back later and, with luck, register a fix in due course!

[#8]

Hi Tony,

It should not take too much time to promulgate.  You can check for yourself using nslookup in a terminal window...

PS C:\Users\user> nslookup
Default Server:  UnKnown
Address:  212.159.13.51

> set type=all
> madasafish.com
Server:  UnKnown
Address:  212.159.13.51

Non-authoritative answer:
madasafish.com  text =

        "v=spf1 include:_spf-internal.madasafish.com include:_spf-internal2.madasafish.com include:_spf-external.madasafish.com -all"
madasafish.com
        primary name server = ns1.force9.net
        responsible mail addr = hostmaster.plus.net.uk
        serial  = 2023041901
        refresh = 43200 (12 hours)
        retry   = 1800 (30 mins)
        expire  = 3600000 (41 days 16 hours)
        default TTL = 86400 (1 day)
madasafish.com  text =

        "scstin65tdakho3vae5vqpqf1a"
madasafish.com  text =

        "nk61ryzjl3h19yg0hx538g5pv9xfgrw9"

Just out your domain name where I used madasafish and look for the presence of the v=sf1 one line, which will be similar but referencing Plusnet's server lists.

v=spf1 a mx include:_spf-internal.plus.net include:_spf-internal2.plus.net ~all

[#9]

Very Many thanks for solving this problem for me. Support at names.co.uk implemented the change remarkably quickly and I am now sending emails to the problem Gmail addresses successfully.  If there is an issue with forwarded mail via names.co.uk I haven’t noticed it. Have tested this by emailing myself via the domain. BUT cannot find an option to register this as a fix.

[#10]

Many thanks Townman. Sadly, that procedure did not work for me. No doubt my blundering and poor typing, but you were certainly right about the timing. All was working fine within 3 hours of contacting names.co.uk support and I probably wouldn't have tried so soon without your advice.

[#11]

If there is an issue with forwarded mail via names.co.uk I haven’t noticed it.

@TonyN  you may not notice it. The problem will occur if the person sending mail to you has an SPF record for their domain. When the mail is forwarded by namesco, it now is being sent to you from the namesco server but with the original source address, this now violates the originators SPF since namesco is not an authorised sender for their domain. The mail either gets bounced or tagged as spam. There is a mechanism to avoid this called SRS ( sender rewriting system ) which changes the mail headers so that SPF is still valid but most basic forwarding systems dont implement this.

Sadly, that procedure did not work for me.

If you mean the nslookup, then I think there maybe an incorrect option. On the windows version , set type=all (or any) doesnt seem to work , set type=txt does though and will return the spf record if it exists.

You can also do it as a single command nslookup -type=txt <domain>

[#12]

---

@MisterW wrote:

If you mean the nslookup, then I think there maybe an incorrect option. On the windows version, set type=all (or any) doesn't seem to work , set type=txt does though and will return the spf record if it exists.

You can also do it as a single command nslookup -type=txt <domain>

---

Odd!!

That was a copy and paste from my 'DOS' window, so certainly did work for me on Win11 ... and just to ensure it is not a version issue, I checked on my Win10 platform and that worked as well.

[#13]

@Townman very odd!

Here's a copy/paste (with domain redacted) from cmd windows on my Windows 11 lappie

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22621.1848]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Ian>nslookup
Default Server:  UnKnown
Address:  192.168.5.1

> set type=all
> wa****.org.uk
Server:  UnKnown
Address:  192.168.5.1

*** UnKnown can't find wa****.org.uk: Not implemented
> set type=any
> wa****.org.uk
Server:  UnKnown
Address:  192.168.5.1

*** UnKnown can't find wa****.org.uk: Not implemented
> set type=txt
> wa****.org.uk
Server:  UnKnown
Address:  192.168.5.1

Non-authoritative answer:
wa****.org.uk text =

        "v=spf1 include:_spf.mythic-beasts.com ~all"
>

[#14]

@Townman seems it depends on which server is being used for the DNS lookup.

See below , using an explicit DNS server i.e 8.8.8.8 it works with type=all , using the routers DNS cache it doesnt

NB im not using a PN router, so it MAY just be my router , or the way its configured!. Rather than supply specific nameservers to clients via DHCP, my router supplies its internal caching DNS and then uses specified servers ( OPenDNS ) for the WAN (instead on the PN default ones)

> set type=all
> wa****.org.uk 8.8.8.8
Server:  [8.8.8.8]
Address:  8.8.8.8

Non-authoritative answer:
wa****.org.uk
        primary name server = ns2.mythic-beasts.com
        responsible mail addr = hostmaster.mythic-beasts.com
        serial  = 2010000015
        refresh = 21600 (6 hours)
        retry   = 7200 (2 hours)
        expire  = 604800 (7 days)
        default TTL = 3600 (1 hour)
wa****.org.uk text =

        "v=spf1 include:_spf.mythic-beasts.com ~all"
wa****.org.uk AAAA IPv6 address = 2a00:1098:80::8:1
wa****.org.uk internet address = 93.93.135.80
wa****.org.uk nameserver = ns2.mythic-beasts.com
wa****.org.uk nameserver = ns1.mythic-beasts.com
wa****.org.uk MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mx1.mythic-beasts.com
wa****.org.uk MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mx2.mythic-beasts.com

> wa****.org.uk
Server:  UnKnown
Address:  192.168.5.1

*** UnKnown can't find wa****.org.uk: Not implemented
>

[#15]

@MisterW 

I was coming to the same conclusion - I am not using the router's DNS for reasons you are aware of.

I did a test with server 192.168.1.254 and got failure results I could not understand.

I then did more tests with d2 diagnostics with the default DNS and noted type=all actually queries as type=any.

On reverting to the router DNS server, I then got meaningful results.

Along the way I considered the possibility of a difference between a Windows Powershell and a DOS shell ... but found no variation.

It is indeed ODD!