Email Routing in cPanel: local, remote or automatic, and the mail that vanishes

The short answer: cPanel decides, for each domain, where the mailboxes are: here (local) or on another service (remote). If your domain’s e-mail is on another service (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365) but cPanel thinks it is local, messages sent from the website to those addresses stay here and never arrive. It is the classic cause of “the form works, but the e-mail does not arrive”.

The four options

Option When
Automatically detect cPanel looks at the domain’s MX record and chooses. Works in most cases.
Local mail exchanger The mailboxes are on this hosting. The MX points to us.
Remote mail exchanger The e-mail is on another service (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, another host). The MX points there.
Backup mail exchanger This hosting only keeps the mail if the main one fails. Rare.
How to know your case Look at the domain’s MX record: DNS records.

Step by step

1 See where the MX points: in cPanel (Zone Editor) or with a DNS lookup. If it points to us, the e-mail is local; if it points to another service, it is remote.
2 Open “Email Routing” in cPanel and choose the domain.
3 Choose the option that matches the MX and save. If in doubt, leave “Automatically detect”.
4 Make an end-to-end test: from your site’s form, send a message to an address on that same domain and confirm it reaches the right mailbox.
5 If the MX changed recently, wait for propagation: How long DNS takes.
Do not change this by trial. Setting “local” on a domain whose mailboxes are on another service (or the other way round) makes mail vanish without an error. If there are mailboxes here and others there, ask for help before touching it. For the Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 setup: Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 on your own domain.
The same symptom has other causes: Why your e-mail is not sending or receiving and A contact form that actually reaches your inbox. When sending fails with a code, see Bounce message 550.

Messages from the site to your own domain do not arrive? Open a ticket with the domain and where your e-mail is.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 on your own domain: MX records, and keeping your website with us

DNS records explained: A, CNAME, MX, TXT and TTL

Why your e-mail is not sending or receiving

A contact form that actually reaches your inbox

Bounce message 550: user unknown, relay denied and rejected, what each one means

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