Postmaster Tools FAQs

What domain do I add to Postmaster Tools?

You can add either the DKIM (d=) domain or the SPF (Return-Path) domain.

If your DKIM and SPF domains are the same, Postmaster Tools will combine traffic that’s signed by either of SPF or DKIM (or both), when generating the dashboards. Keep this in mind when looking at your data.

Should I add the main domain (a.k.a. “domain name”) or the sub-domain(s) to Postmaster Tools?

If you add the domain-name, the data seen in the dashboards will include traffic aggregated over all sub-domains (if any) of that domain, plus any traffic corresponding to the exact domain-name match.

For example, say example.com authenticates mail with 2 other subdomains: a.example.com and b.example.com. Adding example.com will give you analytics for traffic authenticated by "a.example.com," "b.example.com," and "example.com."

Note that you can also independently add multiple sub-domains and view data about each of them separately.

Once you add and verify ownership of a domain name, you can add sub-domains of that domain and view data without having to verify each of them.

Can I add a domain, but prove its ownership later?

Yes, but the dashboards for that domain will be empty until you prove ownership.

Why are some or all of my dashboards empty? Why do I not see any data?

Most of the Postmaster Tools dashboards will display data only when there is a sizable daily volume of email traffic (up to the order of hundreds) coming from your Authentication Domains and/or certain other conditions, in place to prevent abuse. Also, make sure you're following Gmail's best practices.

In addition, some of the dashboards, like Spam Rate and Feedback Loop, need your traffic to be signed by DKIM in order to show any data.

I’d like to set up Postmaster Tools access for multiple accounts for our domain. Do I have to set up separate DNS verification records for each of them?

Yes, each account needs its own DNS verification record at this time.

Can I use my G Suite account to set up access to Postmaster Tools?

Yes, you may use a Google Account or a G Suite account to access Postmaster Tools.

Do you exclude forwarded mail when generating the data seen in the dashboards?

Yes, we make a best effort to exclude forwarded mail.

Why is it that sometimes I don’t see all my sending IPs in the IP reputation dashboard tables?

We cap the number of IPs shown in the tables to 500 Ip-ranges per reputation group. While this covers the majority of the sending IPs for most senders, sometimes it might not.

Why do I see an IP that I don’t send mail from in the IP reputation dashboard tables?

Due to mail forwarding, the IP reputation dashboard in rare cases might display IPs from which you have not sent any mail. For the most part, all forwarded mail is already filtered out when computing the data.

I see data in my dashboards, but why do the 30, 60, 90, and 120 days all show only 7 days of data?

The last 30, 60, 90, and 120 day options will all start showing relevant data based on how long it’s been since you verified your domain.

Why do I see 0.0% as a value in some of the dashboard tables that show up when I click a data point on a graph?

This just means that the number is low enough to be almost negligible, and has been rounded down to zero. The value is included because the triggering reason (seen in the table), might still be of interest to the sender.

What timezone does Postmaster Tools use?

Postmaster Tools uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

What accessibility options are available?

You can use common accessibility options with Postmaster Tools, including screen readers and keyboard navigation.

Screen readers & browsers you can use

Windows: NVDA with FireFox
Mac: VoiceOver with Chrome
Chromebooks: ChromeVox with Chrome