Email · Fix guide
SPF policy is too open
- SPF
- Sender Policy Framework
The SPF record does not finish with a controlled all mechanism.
What does the SPF “all” mechanism do?
The final all mechanism describes how mail from unlisted senders should be treated. A minus sign is a hard fail, a tilde is a soft fail, a question mark is neutral and a plus sign permits every sender.
What to do next
- Remove obsolete senders from the record.
- Use ~all during a monitored transition or -all once the sender list is complete.
- Keep the total DNS lookup count within SPF’s limit.
Useful links
How to verify the fix
Test mail from every legitimate platform and confirm SPF passes.
When this result may be wrong
Some providers require a soft-fail transition. A strict policy applied too early can affect legitimate mail.
Ready to check again?
Check a domain
Run a fresh report after DNS caches and platform changes have had time to update.