I’m unable to validate my SPF because it indicates that SPF records are not found. What should I do?

The SPF validation may fail for a few reasons and you might likely encounter the error “SPF record not found”. Here are some steps to troubleshoot and resolve the issue:

1. Multiple SPF Records

If your domain has multiple SPF records, they need to be combined into a single entry. For example, if your domain’s SPF records are include:abc.com and include:def.com, you will also need to include the Zoho Books SPF record, which can be copied from the Sender Email Preference page in Zoho Books. The combined SPF record should look like this:

v=spf1 include:abc.com include:def.com include:sender.zoho-books.com ~all

If you have multiple SPF records, delete the existing records and combine them into a single entry.

2. Incorrect Type or Host Specification

Ensure that the Type is set to TXT and the Host is specified as @. These settings are important for proper SPF validation.

3. Incorrect Symbol before “all”

Make sure that the symbol ~ is placed before “all” in the SPF record. Sometimes, it may mistakenly be entered as a hyphen -, which causes the SPF validation to fail.

4. DNS Lookups

An SPF record can only have up to 10 DNS lookups. If your SPF record exceeds this limit, the validation will fail.