FastMail is a very popular email hosting service, and definitely a favorite of ours. It's fast, powerful, and easy to use. They offer a 30-day trial to get started so you can check out the service without obligation. Their Standard and Professional plans both support using your own domain name.
These instructions are for those who have already registered a domain name. If you haven't done that yet, you will need to complete that first.
Creating your FastMail account
To get started, go to the FastMail signup page.
Fill in the FastMail signup form with your details. Be sure to click on the USE MY OWN DOMAIN button, since you want to set up email addresses for your iwantmyname domain name, not for @fastmail.com.
The email address you create there (hello@lookatmynewdomain.com in this example) will be your FastMail account login and admin email address. BUT completing setup on this page doesn't complete all the setup yet to get your email account(s) working. Keep reading!
Make sure you use a strong password that's different from any other passwords you have. Once everything looks good (check for typos!) click the green START 30-DAY FREE TRIAL button.
The page will refresh and take you to your inbox, which will have a welcome email from FastMail.
That welcome email has a lot of useful information, so be sure to give it a read.
- How to send/receive email from existing email accounts using your new email addresses.
- Instructions for how to set up more email accounts with your own domain name.
- How to get FastMail working mobilely on your phone or tablet, as well as a variety of email clients.
- How to set up billing at the end of your free trial if you decide to stick with FastMail.
- Where the documentation is and how to get help from their support.
FastMail setup using DNS records
You need to connect FastMail to your domain name, so next you will login to your iwantmyname account and go to your domain dashboard. You can quickly type "FastMail" in the dashboard search field to get to the install page for FastMail's DNS records.
For this example, we're just going to go to the domain's dashboard page and search for FastMail.
On the next page, click on the green Install FastMail button. Or, if you want to set up email addresses for a subdomain, like hello@mail.lookatmynewdomain.com instead of just hello@lookatmynewdomain.com, click the or add on a subdomain link first.
The page will refresh and display a Finished! message, letting you know the DNS records for FastMail were installed in your dashboard.
They will look like this:
If you have any questions, the corresponding instructions from FastMail are here.
FastMail setup using nameservers
Alternatively, if you would prefer to use FastMail's nameservers instead of DNS records, you can do that on your domain's update nameservers page using these instructions and the two nameservers they list. Once you've changed the nameservers, save the new settings.
Note that if you use external nameservers:
- You have to delete ALL the iwantmyname nameservers and only enter the FastMail nameservers.
- DNS records will have to be stored/updated in your hosting account now, so in this case in your FastMail account. If you want to have a website and email using your domain name, we recommend using the DNS records setup instead, since the records for both can all be set up in your iwantmyname dashboard.
Verifying FastMail DNS setup
Next we're going to confirm that FastMail has detected your DNS settings or nameservers.
Back in your FastMail account, click on the area beside the downward arrow at the top left corner to drop down the menu, then click on Settings to access your account settings.
Click on Domains in the left side menu on the next page, then click the Recheck DNS button to see if your iwantmyname dashboard DNS setup is active yet.
This shows the records are active and verified. If you choose to use the nameserver setup option, to edit or update DNS records, you'll click on that Edit button on the right to access the page you need.
If the records aren't active yet, give it an hour or two for propagation, then try again.
Add a new user/email address
Here are FastMail's instructions for adding additional users/email addresses. The account will need to be verified before you can do this.
To add additional users/email addresses, in Settings you'll click on Users in the left side menu. Enter your account password, then click on Unlock.
While you are in your free trial period, you will be able to create and use 5 active user accounts. Any additional ones you create will require that you upgrade to a paid plan before they will work.
To add a new user, click on the New User button in the top menu bar.
Account Verification
A Verify Account popup will appear, and you will need to add a mobile phone number to which FastMail will send a one-use verification code. This is a security function to prevent fraud and other security issues.
ENTER A VALID MOBILE/CELL PHONE NUMBER. DO NOT USE A LANDLINE NUMBER.
Click on the green Send Verification Code button.
On the next popup screen, enter the code sent to you via SMS, then click the green Verify button. If the code didn't arrive or you accidentally entered an incorrect phone number, you can correct that or resend the code from this screen.
The screen will refresh and confirm the account is now verified and unlocked. Click the green Done button.
Click on the New User button in the menu at the top of the page and begin the setup process for a new user email address/account.
Some features will not be accessible on the free trial plan, and others will only be available to the account admin.
When you're done, click the Purchase button at the top of the page. You won't start a paid plan until you provide payment details, so creating users is still free at this point.
Change Password & Account Security
If you need to update your account password, you can do that from Settings by clicking on Password & Security in the left side menu. You can also add an account recovery phone number or email address to receive a code if you lose your password or your account login details are stolen.
You can also set up two-step verification (or two-factor authentication) from this page, which we highly recommend.
Email Forwarding
If you would like to be able to access your new domain email address and messages from another account or email client you already use, you can set that up from Settings by clicking on the Rules link under Mail in the left side menu.
On the Rules page, click on New Rule in the menu at the top of the page.
Fill out the specifics, then click the Save button in the menu at the top of the page.