Proofpoint Essentials SPF Setup 

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication protocol that helps prevent unauthorized senders from sending emails on behalf of your domain. By validating which mail servers are allowed to send on your behalf, SPF helps protect against spoofing and phishing attacks.

This guide explains how to set up SPF for Proofpoint Essentials, an email security solution that filters and protects your organization’s inbound and outbound messages.

Proofpoint Essentials SPF Requirements

Important: To authorize Proofpoint to send emails on your behalf, you will have to include it in your SPF record.Please get your region code for your ProofPoint Instance from your ProofPoint Setup Guide for domain onboarding.

Note: If you’re already using Sendmarc for SPF management, simply copy your region code, (e.g. “include:_spf-us.ppe-hosted.com ~all” for the US) and follow the steps here. If you’re unsure of your region code, check the Setup guide linked above.

To authorize Proofpoint to send emails on your domain’s behalf:

  1. Log in to your domain’s DNS dashboard.
  2. Go to the page where you can update the DNS settings on that domain.
  3. Check if a TXT record starting with v=spf1 already exists.
    • If it exists, modify the existing record to include Proofpoint (details in the table below).
    • If not, create a new TXT record.

Example of an updated SPF record:

HostTypeValue
@ or blankTXTv=spf1 include:another.net include:[your region] ~all

Example of a new SPF record:

HostTypeValue
@ or blankTXTv=spf1 include:[your region] ~all
  1. Save your changes in the DNS control panel.

Allow up to 48 hours for DNS propagation, depending on your DNS host.

How to update your SPF settings using Sendmarc

For detailed instructions on how to update your SPF record through Sendmarc, refer to the Sendmarc SPF Setup Documentation. 

Proofpoint Essential’s Documentation

Refer to Proofpoint Essential’s official documentation for SPF setup here.

Looking for DKIM Settings?

Find out how to configure your Proofpoint Essentials DKIM settings here.