Domains in Zoho Creator

In a nutshell

Domains in Zoho Creator (supported by Zoho Directory) allow you to add and verify the custom domains you own. While domain authentication in Creator is primarily used to authenticate sender email addresses, the Domain feature (via Zoho Directory) offers broader capabilities. It helps you simplify the user onboarding process, create group aliases for email communication, and host your mailbox with Zoho Mail. This is one of the features offered in Zoho Creator under Governance that enhances centralized domain control.

Availability

Domains can be accessed only in the paid plans of Creator.
Only the super admin and admins can access Domains.

1. Overview

Domain, in simple terms is the location of where a website is situated on the internet. It helps access one or more services provided in the virtual world. A company may have one or more registered domains depending on the necessity. Several domains can be hosted in the same IP address or one domain can be mapped to several IP addresses if necessary. Some examples of different domains can be "zoho.com", "zylker.edu", and so on.

In Creator, we use Zoho Directory's support to add and verify domains. Adding verified domains helps you build more brand recognition for your organization.

Important:

To perform actions in Zoho Directory, you will have to be an admin in ZD or be set up with a custom role who can make changes to ZD.
For the configurations made in Zoho Directory to be applicable to the users in Creator, they will have to be assigned to the Creator application from the Users module in Zoho Directory. Learn more

The addition of domains facilitates:

Easy enrollment - Avoid waiting for Pending Users in Zoho Directory to accept your invitation. To add someone directly as a Confirmed User, enter their email address based on their pre-verified domain. These confirmed users can then be assigned to Creator easily from the Users module of Zoho Directory.
Custom email addresses - By giving your staff members domain-based addresses, you can raise brand awareness and bring about uniformity amongst employees mail addresses.
Mailbox Hosting - Host your mailboxes to Zoho Mail and manage all your emails from one place.
Group aliases - Establish a domain-based email alias for all members of a group to facilitate easy communication. In Creator, these group aliases can be used in scripts and workflows to address a specific group of users.
Active Directory sync - Automate the employee enrolment process by syncing users with domain-based email addresses from your AD or LDAP server. This ensures easier syncs, after which these users can be assigned to Creator from the Users module of Zoho Directory.

You can add domains in Zoho Directory and verify them through three verification methods - TXT Method, CNAME Method, or HTML method.

Note: You can delete added domains if necessary.

1.1. Navigation guide

Once you sign in to your Creator account, you can find Governance under the MANAGE section on the left-side pane of your dashboard. Once there, you can navigate to the Domains tab.

Clicking Configure Domain here will take you to Zoho Directory's Admin Panel, from which you can add and manage domains.

2. Configuration of domains

The documentation to the detailed configuration of a domain is present in Zoho Directory's resources. Refer to Zoho Directory's:

Add and Verify Domain - Learn to add and verify domains and simplify user onboarding and communication.

Note: Before adding a new domain, ensure that you have permission to update your domain's DNS records in your domain registrar's domain manager.

3. Points to note

General

When users are synced from Microsoft Active Directory to Zoho Directory using the Sync Tool, you have the option to replace the domain of the AD users with a verified domain that exists in Zoho Directory. Doing this will add them directly as confirmed users.

Users

For the configurations made in Zoho Directory to be applied to the users in Creator, they need to be assigned to the Creator application from the Users module in Zoho Directory.
All users added in Creator will be listed In Zoho Directory. New users can also be created from Zoho Directory and be assigned to Creator. They will be added automatically in Creator's Users module.
A two-way bridge exists between Creator and Zoho Directory. Actions done with Creator users, such as addition, renaming, deletion, deactivation, activation, etc., get synced in the other product automatically.
Users can only be assigned to Creator from Zoho Directory until the Creator plan's user limit is attained.

4. Related topics

What's next

Learn about the security policies you can enforce in Zoho Creator for enhanced protection.