Custom Domain

Custom Domain

Custom Domains are used in form URLs to promote your organization's brand to all form respondents.  If you do not want any reference to Zoho Forms in your form URL, you can use your own custom domain.

Customized Forms - Zoho Forms
Customize Form - Zoho Forms

 


By default, your form URL will be in the format as shown in this example:

https://forms.zohopublic.com/zylker/form/ContentMarketingWorkshop/formperma/136dhmA8E00j0G216Ag44kF9d


Let's say your website is zylker.com and you wish to embed your form in it with the domain forms.zylker.com, you can use such custom domain instead of the default Zoho Forms domain to showcase your organization's brand in the form URLs shared to all your respondents.

 

Using a custom domain can help:

  • Promote your brand

  • Increase the number of responses you receive via your forms

  • Makes it easier for your respondents to find and remember your organization

Branding with custom domain

Pre-requisites

Before adding a Custom Domain for your forms, follow the below steps:

CNAME Record Mapping for Your Domain   

  1. Ensure you own a domain or subdomain for your organization and can edit its DNS  (Domain Name System) records at your domain provider.

  2. Open your domain provider's DNS settings and create a subdomain. For example, if your domain is zylker.com, create a subdomain: forms.zylker.com.

  3. Add a CNAME (Canonical Name) record for your subdomain in the DNS records section of your domain provider and point it to: forms.cs.zohohost.com.
    For example: forms.zylker.com CNAME forms.cs.zohohost.com

A CNAME record allows you to use your domain as an alias for another domain. Refer to the table below for the correct hostname based 
on your data center.

Zoho Forms Public URL

Map your domain or sub-domain to the Hostname

forms.zohopublic.com

forms.cs.zohohost.com

forms.zohopublic.eu

forms.cs.zohohost.eu

forms.zohopublic.in

forms.cs.zohohost.in

forms.zohopublic.com.au

forms.cs.zohohost.com.au
forms.zohopublic.ca
forms.cs.zohohost.ca
forms.zohopublic.com.cn
forms.cs.zohohost.com.cn
forms.zohopublic.jp
forms.cs.zohohost.jp
forms.zohopublic.sa
forms.cs.zohohost.sa
forms.zohopublic.ae
forms.cs.zohohost.ae


Notes
Note: If your Zoho Forms account is on the China data center (CN DC), the SSL certificate validation is blocked by the Great Firewall. To allow SSL validation, add a second CNAME record in your DNS settings with the Name as _acme-challenge.<your-subdomain> and the Value as _acme-challenge.forms.cs.zohohost.com.cn.
Info
You can search for DNS propagation checker tools online to perform a DNS propagation lookup for your sub-domain name (Eg:  forms.zylker.com ) and confirm if the DNS records are fully propagated.
Notes

Note:

  1. It could take upto 48 hours for the changes to your domain to appear on the internet
  2. CNAME records need time to propagate. If you have already updated your DNS, wait for 24-48 hours. If you try to add the custom domain in Zoho Forms before this time period, you may see an error. 

Adding a Custom Domain

To add your domain for your forms in Zoho Forms,
  1. Log in to Zoho Forms as a Super Admin.
  2. On the forms listing page, under Setup, click Control Panel.
    Navigate to Control Panel
  3. Click Custom Domain under Customization.
    Click Custom Domain

  4. Your domains will be listed here, and you can check the verification status of your domain. 

    List of custom domains and their verification status

  5. To add a new domain, click + Add New Domain. The Custom Domain Popup will open.
  6. Review the CNAME mapping instructions and confirm your DNS is configured, then click Next. Learn more about CNAME record mapping

    CNAME Record Mapping for Your Domain
  7. In the second step, enter your domain name in the Domain Name field. Enter the host of your CNAME only, not the URL prefix. For example: forms.zylker.com.
  8. Click Add. A confirmation message will appear indicating that your domain has been added successfully.

    Add Custom Domain
  9. The domain status will be listed as Pending.
  10. We will process the SSL certificate for your domain and send a confirmation email in 3-5 days.
  11. Once confirmed, the domain status will be changed to Verified.
To start using the custom domain in your forms,
  1. Log in to your Zoho Forms account.
  2. In your form builder, navigate to  Settings > Branding > Custom Domain.
  3. From the Domain dropdown, select the domain which you wish to use for your form. 
    Custom Domain
Once configured, the custom domain will appear in the URLs of all the forms created in your Zoho Forms account.
Note:
  1. Custom domains can be used only for public forms.
  2. The option to add Custom Domain is available only in our paid plans.
  3. An organization can add only upto 5 custom domains.
Refer to the FAQs related to custom domain.