Domain verification and invite enforcement

Updated Mar 13, 2024
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This article discusses a feature that is only available to customers on Dropbox Advanced, Business Plus, and Enterprise. Teams on an Enterprise plan also have access to two additional features: domain insights and account capture.

Some Dropbox teams offers domain verification and invite enforcement to make the process of onboarding faster and easier for companies, organizations, and businesses.

 

What is domain verification and invite enforcement?

Domain verification allows certain types of admins to verify ownership of an email domain with Dropbox. Invite enforcement can be enabled after domain verification is completed.

Invite enforcement will require all invited users with a personal Dropbox account created using an email on the verified domain to select from one of two options:

  • Join the team with their existing account.
  • If their account has mostly personal content, they can change the email address associated with this account to a new personal email address. This will keep their existing content separate from the team account.

See domain verification and invite enforcement in action on the Dropbox blog.

How to enable domain verification and invite enforcement

checklist Step 1: Establish domain ownership

  1. Log in to dropbox.com using your admin credentials.
  2. Click Admin Console in the left sidebar.
  3. Click Settings.
  4. Under Members, click Domains.
  5. Click Add domain.
  6. Enter the organization domain you'd like to verify ownership of.
  7. Select one of the three verification methods:
    • Add a meta tag
    • Upload an HTML file
    • Create a TXT record   
  8. Follow the instructions on the screen—once you've completed the verification, you'll receive an email notifying you that your domain ownership was successful.

Which verification method is right for me?

There are three different ways you can verify your domain:

  • Add a meta tag
  • Upload an HTML file
  • Create a TXT record

For either of the first two options (adding a meta tag or uploading an HTML file), you'll likely need access to modify the code on your website. This is a secure and relatively fast option, since Dropbox will be able to see the changes as soon as they are live on your website.

If you don't have access to modify your website directly, or you don't have a website hosted at the domain you'd like to verify, you can create a TXT record on your domain host's website.

Most domain hosting services should have this functionality, however the specific steps on each service will vary. If you are unable to locate the steps for modifying your DNS configuration, please contact your domain host's support team or documentation for help. Dropbox can't provide domain host support.

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Note: Once you've made the changes on your domain host, it may take as long as a day for your changes to propagate across your website's domain servers. Dropbox will continue checking until the process is complete, and email you once the changes are live.

What if I have more than one domain to verify, or I want to verify a subdomain?

When you verify a primary domain, you’ll see a checkbox next to Include all subdomains. Leave this checked to verify all subdomains of the primary domain. You can also verify a subdomain individually.

Step 2: Enable invite enforcement for your domains

Once you have established domain ownership, you can enable invite enforcement for each domain. 

Enabling invite enforcement will cause all existing and future invites on this domain to be enforced—that is, users will be forced to either join your team, or to change the email on their existing Dropbox account to an address that doesn't use your verified domain. 

To enable invite enforcement:

  1. Log in to dropbox.com using your admin credentials.
  2. Click Admin console in the left sidebar.
  3. Click Settings.
  4. Under Members, click Domains.
  5. Click the gear icon beside the domain you have verified ownership of.
  6. Click Change capture settings.
  7. Select Invited users.

Once you have completed these steps, all existing and future invites will be enforced on this domain.

 

What if I wasn't able to complete domain verification?

If you were unable to complete the domain verification process, you can do so later using the Fix verification option.

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Note: Dropbox won't provide any user information or enable invite enforcement until you successfully verify domain ownership.

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