Guide for the Domains Quickstart step-by-step
You’ve checked out Office 365 and learned about the services a bit, you like what you’ve seen. Are you ready to get set up to use Office 365 for your business? You’ll probably want to get email up and running with your own domain name, something like fourthcoffee.com, instead of using the .onmicrosoft.com domain that came with Office 365.
Why use your own custom domain? It probably fits better with your business name. And it’s easier to remember, for both you and your customers.
Do you already have a domain? You’re ready to get started! If you need a domain, check out this topic to learn more: Locate your domain services or buy a new domain. If you’re still trying out Office 365 or you don’t want a custom domain, you can just keep using your onmicrosoft.com domain.
The best way to get started is to follow the step-by-step Domains Quickstart. It walks you through adding your domain to your Office 365 account, switching your Office 365 user ID (which is also your email address) to use your domain name, and setting up your users’ email addresses with your domain. In the first 30 days that you use Office 365, you’ll see links that will take you to the Domains Quickstart at the top of the Admin Overview page. To get started, click Add a domain or Add users. If you’d like this step-by-step guidance after the first 30 days, click Users on the left pane.
Note
The Domains Quickstart feature isn’t available to everyone right now. See the note about the Availability of the Domains Quickstart.
Before you start, check out What do I need before I get started? How long will it take? If you don’t have time for all the steps now, don’t worry. We’ll save your spot, and you can pick up at the step where you left off when it works for you.
In this article
What do I need before I get started? How long will it take?
Why do I need to complete these steps?
Why do I need to verify that I own my domain?
I already have a website. Will it move to Office 365?
Why does adding my domain affect my current website?
What if I want to host my website with Office 365?
What is the IP address for my website? Do I need to find the fully qualified domain name too?
How can I make sure people can get to my website if they don’t type www?
How do I use my email address with my domain in Office 365?
Why should I add users now?
What happens when I flip the switch to Office 365 at the end of the Domains Quickstart?
Availability of the Domains Quickstart
What do I need before I get started? How long will it take?
What info do you need to round up before you get started? Here’s a list:
Your custom domain. This is the domain you’ll be adding to Office 365. It looks something like fourthcoffee.com. Don’t have a domain? Learn how to get one here: Buy a domain name.
Your domain name registrar login and password. This is (typically) where you bought your domain; for example, Go Daddy.
Your DNS hosting provider login and password. This is where your DNS records are managed. It might be the same as your domain registrar, but sometimes it’s a different company. For example, if you host your website with another company, you might also manage your DNS records with that company.
A list of people to add to Office 365. Unless you’re the only person in your organization, you’ll probably want to add other people to Office 365 so they can use the service too.
If you already have a website with your domain name, for example, www.fourthcoffee.com, you’ll need this additional information. Don’t worry if you don’t know what this is. We can help you track down the info later. Here’s what you need:
Your website hosting provider. This is where your website is hosted. This might be the same company as your DNS hosting provider or your domain registrar, but could be another one.
Your website’s static IP address. We’ll need this to set things up so people can still get to your website after you switch your domain over to Office 365. If your web hosting provider doesn’t have a static IP address for your website, you’ll use a fully qualified domain name for your website instead.
Your website’s fully qualified domain name (if needed). This is another way that a company that hosts your website might identify your website location, instead of a static IP address. You don’t need both an IP address and a fully qualified domain name, just whichever one your web hosting provider has given you.
How long will it take to get your domain added and your user emails set up? Typically about an hour of hands-on time. You’ll want to plan on another hour or so (up to 5 hours) for DNS system updates to finish switching email over to Office 365. Be aware that it can take longer for the DNS system propagation to finish, up to 72 hours, but that isn’t typical.
When you’re done, you and other people at your organization will be all set to use Office 365 for your email. If you want to move your email messages from your previous system to Office 365, learn how to do that here: Use Outlook to Move Data Between Accounts.
Why do I need to complete these steps?
If you’re just checking out Office 365, or if you want to keep using your .onmicrosoft.com domain, you can just add users and get started. There’s no need to walk through these steps until you’re ready to use Office 365 for your professional work or your business.
But most businesses and professionals want to use an email address in Office 365 that’s easy to remember, especially for their customers. This means having a custom domain, like fourthcoffee.com. That’s what these steps do—they set up email on your domain in Office 365 so you’ll be ready to go.
Before you can use Office 365 with your domain, we have to make sure that you own it. So that’s the first step you need to complete.
If you already have a website that’s up and running that uses your custom domain, there’s an extra step we’ll walk you through. This step makes sure that people can still get to your current website after you add your domain. Want the details? See Why does adding my domain affect my current website?
Another step is to add users to Office 365. Why take care of that right now? Because you’ll typically want users to have email addresses that use your custom domain, rather than email addresses that use .onmicrosoft.com. If you created users before you added your domain, you probably want to change their email from .onmicrosoft.com to your domain. We’ll walk you through that.
More importantly, if people already use your domain for email outside Office 365, for example, susan@fourthcoffee.com, you need to add those email addresses to Office 365 before you flip the switch to finish adding your domain to Office 365. If you don’t add them to Office 365 first, any messages sent to those email addresses won’t arrive after you flip the switch. Not in your old email system and not in Office 365. So be sure to add all email addresses that have your domain name to Office 365.
The last thing you do to complete these steps is to flip the switch—change your name server records to point to Office 365—so that Office 365 will manage the DNS records for your domain. This lets Office 365 take care of creating the right DNS records for your services so you’ll be all set to work with your domain in Office 365. It also means that we can set up new services for you as they’re added to Office 365 so you don’t have to worry about taking extra steps later.
After you flip the switch by changing your name server records to point to the Office 365 name servers, Office 365 will manage the DNS records for your domain instead of your domain registrar or your former DNS hosting provider. This is also known as redelegation of your domain.
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Why do I need to verify that I own my domain?
Before you set up Office 365 to use your custom domain name, we need to make sure that you own the domain. Otherwise anyone could use any domain name they wanted to. For example, someone could use your domain name with Office 365 and say they were you!
So the first step you need to complete is to show that you own your domain. To do this, you create a record for your domain at your domain registrar or DNS hosting provider, and then Office 365 looks for that record. When we find it, we know you own the domain, because you could sign on to the site where your domain is managed and create the record we were looking for.
The DNS records for your domain are usually managed by the same company where you bought the domain, especially if you’re not using the domain yet for email or a website. But it might be managed by another company; for example, sometimes DNS management might be moved when you host a website with another company. If you’re not sure if that happened, touch base with the company that hosts your website.
Not sure what DNS is? Check out the information here: Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365.
I already have a website. Will it move to Office 365?
If you already have a website hosted outside Office 365, that’s fine. You can keep hosting your website where it is while you use Office 365 to host your email as well as use team sites, Lync, and so on. When you tell us you have a website, we’ll walk you through the steps to make sure the correct redirection records are set up in Office 365 as part of adding your domain. This makes sure that people can still get to your site after you’ve added your domain to Office 365 and have switched DNS hosting over to Office 365.
What does all this have to do with your current website? It’s because of the way domains and DNS work. When you flip the switch to finish adding your domain, Office 365 will start managing your DNS. We do this to make sure your services are set up correctly with the DNS records for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync that are needed to work with your domain name. This makes it much simpler to get everything set up in Office 365.
But when people type in your website’s URL with your custom domain name, the DNS system, which directs network traffic, now looks for your website at Office 365. But it’s not there. It’s still hosted where you’ve had it running all along. We fix that by creating another DNS record, an A record, to point people from Office 365 to your website where it’s hosted outside Office 365.
Why does adding my domain affect my current website?
Why does adding your domain to Office 365 have anything to do with your current website? It’s because of the way DNS and domains work. When you’re done adding your domain, Office 365 will start managing your DNS. We do this so we can make sure your services are set up correctly with the DNS records for email and other services so Office 365 will work with your domain name.
Having Office 365 manage DNS for you makes it simpler for you to use your domain with the services. But when people type in your website’s URL with your custom domain name, the DNS system, which directs network traffic, now looks for your website at Office 365. But it’s not. Your site is still hosted where you’ve had it running all along. We fix that by creating a DNS record, an A record, to point people from Office 365 to your website where it’s hosted outside Office 365. There’s an additional step we walk you through to gather the needed information and create the record.
That’s why, when you add your domain, we ask you whether you have a current website. Then we’ll know to get the required information from you later and create the DNS record to point to your website.
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What if I want to host my website with Office 365?
If you don’t already have a website or if you want to create a new one, you can host a website on your domain in Office 365 by using SharePoint Online. While you can’t move your current website to Office 365, you can create a new website on Office 365 with a similar look and the same functionality.
Your Office 365 subscription includes a website on SharePoint Online that you can customize and then host with your domain name. For example, you can add your organization’s logo, use the colors and layout that you want, and more. When you’re done, you can switch your domain name to use that website.
Want to host your organization’s website on your domain on Office 365? After you’ve finished the steps to add your domain to Office 365, do the following.
Customize your Office 365 public-facing website by adding your organization’s name, logo, and business information. To learn more, see Customize a public-facing website.
Note
Be sure to customize your website before you update Office 365 to use your custom domain name for your SharePoint Online website. Otherwise, customers will see the sample website that’s provided with SharePoint Online.
On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains.
Click Change address, and then step through the wizard.
Tip
If you want to keep your current public-facing website that’s hosted outside Office 365 instead of creating a new public website that uses your domain on SharePoint Online, don’t use the Change address option to point traffic to your SharePoint Online website.
Instead, make sure your website traffic is redirected from Office 365 back to the hosting provider where your website is located. If you noted that you wanted to keep your current public website when you were stepping through the Domains Quickstart, we already created the records for you. If not, you can update the DNS records yourself. To learn how, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.
When you change your SharePoint Online website to use your custom domain name, keep the following in mind:
If you set up Office 365 to use your custom domain name for your SharePoint Online website, you can easily change the site later to use another custom domain name, or change back to the original domain name that you had; for example, contoso.sharepoint.com, by using the Change address option. Or later, you can move the site to be hosted by another service outside Office 365.
You can host only one public-facing website with your Office 365 account. And you can redirect only one domain to the website.
Some DNS records must be overwritten by Office 365 to change the website to use your custom domain name. For example, if you have a DNS record named www., Office 365 must update that record to point to SharePoint Online.
What is the IP address for my website? Do I need to find out the fully qualified domain name too?
If you already have a website and want to keep it where it is, while using your domain name with email on Office 365, Office 365 has to redirect traffic to your website. (Why? Check out the earlier section that explains this: Why do I need to complete these steps?)
To create the DNS record that makes sure people can get to your site, we need to know either the IP address of your website or the “fully qualified domain name.” We’ll use this information to point to your website from Office 365. Which one do we need? That depends on the company that currently hosts your website. Sometimes website hosting providers have a single “static” IP address that is unique for each website they host; for example, 192.168.100.1. In this case, you’ll need the IP address for your website.
Warning
If your web hosting provider does provide an IP address for your website, make sure that it’s a static IP. That is, it must be an IP address that always points to your website rather than being available to be assigned to different website addresses. The web hosting company can confirm this for you.
Sometimes instead of using static IP addresses, companies use a different way of identifying each website: a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). This is different from your custom domain name. This fully qualified domain name is simply an address name where some companies host websites. It looks something like this: sites.web hosting company.com.
Important
If you’re given a fully qualified domain name for your website instead of an IP address and we use the fully qualified domain name to redirect people to your site, be aware that if people type your domain name without including “www.”, they won’t get to your site. For example, https://fourthcoffee.com won’t be redirected to https://www.fourthcoffee.com. How can you fix this? See How can I make sure people can get to my website if they don’t type www?
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How can I make sure people can get to my website if they don’t type www?
If you already have a website outside Office 365, Office 365 will redirect people to your website after the correct DNS records are set up. If your website has a static IP address, people can still find your site by using the domain with or without the “www.” in front. For example, both https://fourthcoffee.com and https://www.fourthcoffee.com typically take you to a fourthcoffee.com website.
However, if Office 365 redirects people to your website by using a fully qualified domain name instead of an IP address, the one without the “www.” won’t work.
Note
Not sure if your website has an IP address or a fully qualified domain name? Check out this earlier section: What is the IP address for my website? Do I need to find out the fully qualified domain name too?
Your web hosting provider will give you either a static IP address or a fully qualified domain name that identifies your website. If you’re given a fully qualified domain name for your website and we use it to redirect people to your site, people who type your domain name without including “www.” as part of the name won’t get to your site. Why? It has to do with the way that simple DNS record redirection works.
To fix this, you can use a company that provides URL redirection services. The company can give you an Internet link to redirect people to your website by using the fully qualified domain name. To learn more, see Using a URL redirection service with Office 365.
How do I use my email address with my domain in Office 365?
After you add your domain and we’ve confirmed that you own it, you can change your Office 365 email address to use your custom domain instead of the .onmicrosoft.com email address. For example, if your current Office 365 email address is terry@contoso.onmicrosoft.com and your custom domain is fourthcoffee.com, your new email address would be terry@fourthcoffee.com. You can always change this later if you’d rather use, for example, terryadams@fourthcoffee.com.
After you change your email address to use the domain you just added to Office 365, you’ll sign out and sign back in again, and then you can use your email address to send mail.
Important
Although you can send email from your new email address as soon as you change it, and then sign out and sign back in, you cannot receive email sent to that email address in Office 365 until you complete the final step to flip the switch and change your name server records to point to the Office 365 name servers. Don’t worry. Email sent to the email address that has your custom domain name won’t be lost. Email will continue to go to your current email system until you complete the switchover.
Why should I add users now?
You can add users to Office 365 at any time. Why do it now? You have to add email addresses that are already using your domain name to Office 365 before you flip the switch to finish adding your domain to Office 365. And you’ll typically want people in your organization to have email addresses that use your custom domain, rather than email addresses with .onmicrosoft.com in them. If people are already using email addresses with your custom domain name with your current email system, like susan@fourthcoffee.com, you’ll probably want them to have the same email addresses in Office 365. That provides continuity for the people in your organization, for your customers, and others.
If you created users in Office 365 before you added your domain, we’ll walk you through switching those users to email addresses that use your domain name.
What if you haven’t added an email address that uses your domain name and you change your domain’s name server records to point to the Office 365 name servers? If you do that, any messages sent to that email address won’t arrive. Not in the person’s current email system and not in Office 365. So be sure to add all email addresses with your domain name to Office 365 before you flip the switch!
Until you flip the switch, people will continue to receive email sent to those email addresses wherever they currently get email. Only after you’ve completed all of these steps and the name server records point to Office 365 will email that’s sent to your domain begin arriving in Office 365.
What happens when I flip the switch to Office 365 at the end of the Domains Quickstart?
The final step in getting Office 365 set up with your domain name is to flip the switch and change the name server records for your domain to use the Office 365 name server records. You make this change at your domain registrar site. When you’ve made the change and the updated name server records have propagated through the DNS system, you’re done! Your domain is added to Office 365 and is ready to use with Office 365 services.
What exactly does this change do? In technical terms, changing your domain’s name server records to point to another set of name servers is called redelegating your domain. Although your domain is redelegated to Office 365, the domain name is still registered with your domain registrar, so you’ll need to keep renewing your domain there. But because the domain is redelegated, Office 365 now manages your DNS records for you, including setting up your Office 365 services such as email and team sites.
Important
Please remember! Although you’ve configure your domain to work with the Office 365 services, you can’t let your domain expire by not paying your domain name registrar. If you don’t renew your domain registration, your Office 365 services won’t work. For example, email won’t be delivered and Lync Online won’t work. Your domain name registrar will tell you when your domain registration is about to expire.
Until you change your name server records, email addresses in Office 365 that use your domain name, for example, susan@fourthcoffee.com, will still get email messages in their previous email system. Let people know when you’re about to make the switch, so they’ll go to Office 365 to find their email when it stops arriving in their current email system. Just a reminder: be sure that you’ve added all the email addresses that use your domain to Office 365 before you switch over!
Where can you find your email in Office 365? Check out this information about using Outlook Web App: Set up and access email using your web browser. You can also set up your Outlook program on your computer to use email in Office 365. For more info, see Connect Outlook to Your Account.
Availability of the Domains Quickstart
The Domains Quickstart feature is available only to organizations that signed up for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses after the December 2011 update of Office 365, and that use Office 365 in English and chose the United States as their country or region during the sign-up process.
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