How we solved the problem of connecting Gmail to Squarespace

Image of Google Apps for business website

With Squarespace we saw that we could connect our business Gmail to the website.  This was perfect for us.  The problem started when we tried to set it up, we could not work it out.  We scoured Squarespace for the solution and the community section for an answer to our problem.  So if you are looking for a solution to connect Gmail to your Personal Squarespace site, then this is it.

Solution 1 – You haven't signed up to Google business apps

If you take Squarespace’s personal service, it is better to buy it through Squarespace.  To do this, go to ‘settings’ and then go to ‘emails’.  This should bring you up a screen that says ‘Professional email with Google Apps’ with the two options.  Choose the option you want and that should be it.  We assume Squarespace will set up your professional email; we didn’t do it this way.

Solution 2 – You signed up Google apps separately from Squarespace

The problem is due to the fact that the Google apps you have is external from Squarespace.  Your Gmail won’t work due to the fact that you need to set up the MX Records and you need access to your domain.  Please ensure that the Google Apps HTML code is embedded in your domain for verification before attempting this part.

Approach these steps with caution because changes you make can affect your domain on Squarespace. 

Begin by going to Opening DNS Settings. 

• Follow Step 1 to Request access to your DNS Settings.
• Step 2 should result in you receiving an email granting you access to your DNS Settings
• Then in Step 3 you need to log in to the Hosting account to make DNS changes
• Step 4 involves editing the records by going to the MX Records section and click on ‘Add’.  This should bring up your domain name (‘subdomain’), ‘priority’ and ‘Hostname’.

For the Priority and Hostname, we used Google Apps MX record values.  Place the priority and destination from Google support in to priority and hostname.  Ensure you place the alternate Google sites as well.

Example – In the MX records section put         1 (priority)       ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM (hostname)

Then go and use Google Apps Toolbox CheckMX tool to investigate if there are any potential problems with your DNS record configuration that might affect mail delivery to your domain.  You should see a majority of green ticks.

Finally, test your domain by sending an email.  If done correctly, the email you send to your domain should end up in your Gmail account. 

We like to give special thanks to Jennifer at Squarespace support for pointing us in the right direction to help solve our problem.  If people have gained Gmail through Squarespace, we’d like to know if they set it up for you.  Did this help solve your problem of setting up your separate Gmail and Squarespace accounts?