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Home›Building Your Website›Custom Domains

How to connect a custom domain to Workspace

A custom domain lets people reach your Workspace website through an address owned by your business, such as www.yourdomain.com.

You continue to manage and renew the domain through your registrar or DNS provider. Workspace connects the domain to your site and requests the security certificate automatically after the DNS is correct.

Before you begin

  • Register the domain through a domain registrar if you do not already own it.
  • Make sure you can edit its DNS records.
  • Decide which address will be primary, usually www.yourdomain.com.
  • Keep the Workspace Custom Domains page open so you can copy the current DNS value exactly.

Open Custom Domains

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Select Custom Domains.
  3. Review your Base Workspace URL. This remains available even when you use a custom domain.

Add the domain in Workspace

  1. Under Your Domains, select Add Custom Domain.
  2. Enter the domain you want to connect.
  3. Save it.

You can add the domain before its DNS record is active, but setting up the DNS first may allow the connection to complete sooner.

Connect the www address

In the DNS manager used by your registrar or DNS provider, add the CNAME record shown on the Workspace Custom Domains page:

  • Type: CNAME
  • Name or host: www
  • Value or target: copy the current Workspace Routing value shown in Settings
  • TTL: Auto or 3600

Do not use IP addresses copied from an older Help Centre article. The routing value displayed inside your Workspace account is the authoritative value.

Set up the root domain if required

A CNAME normally connects www.yourdomain.com. If you also want yourdomain.com without www to work, use one of the options supported by your DNS provider:

  • forward the root domain to https://www.yourdomain.com using a permanent redirect; or
  • use an ALIAS, ANAME or flattened CNAME record at the root when your provider supports it.

The record type and terminology vary by provider. Use the root-domain instructions displayed on the Workspace Custom Domains page.

Wait for secure activation

Workspace checks the DNS and requests the AWS security certificate automatically. You do not need to create the SSL certificate manually.

Once DNS has propagated, activation is usually quick but can take up to 30 minutes. The domain status may show that secure setup is pending while the certificate is issued.

Choose the primary domain

When the domain is active, use Change Primary Domain to select the public address you want people to use. Review any available redirect settings so visitors reach the intended domain and page.

Check the result

  1. Open the www address in a private browser window.
  2. Check the root domain as well, if you configured it.
  3. Confirm that the site loads securely using HTTPS.
  4. Check important website, gallery, form and booking links.

If the domain does not activate

Compare the CNAME name and value with the current instructions in Workspace. Common problems include entering the full domain where the provider expects only www, leaving an older conflicting record in place, or using a proxy setting that prevents the initial check.

If the domain is still inactive after the DNS has updated, contact info@queensberry.com with your account number, domain name and a screenshot of the relevant DNS records. Do not include registrar passwords, authentication codes or unrelated DNS records.