MX Records: Where Your Email Goes
An MX record — short for mail exchanger — tells the rest of the internet which servers should receive email for your domain. Without correct MX records, messages sent to your address have nowhere to go.
These records are separate from the ones that control your website, which is why email and web hosting can live in completely different places.
How Mail Finds Your Server
When someone emails you, the sending server looks up your domain's MX records to discover where to deliver the message.
- The sender's server reads your MX records.
- It picks the record with the lowest priority number first.
- It connects to that mail server and hands over the message.
- If that server is unavailable, it tries the next priority.
Priority and Backups
Each MX record has a priority value. Lower numbers are tried first, so you can list a primary server and one or more backups that only receive mail if the primary is down.
A Common Mistake
Pointing your website to a new host but forgetting the MX records is a frequent cause of “we stopped getting email after the move”. We always confirm mail routing as part of any migration.
If you need a hand with any of this, your Progressive Robot delivery team is ready to help. Raise a ticket from the Support area of your client portal or speak to your account manager and we will guide you through the next steps.