How to Add or Edit DNS Records in cPanel’s Zone Editor

If your domain’s nameservers point at your hosting account, cPanel’s Zone Editor is where you manage every DNS record for it.

Opening the Zone Editor

In cPanel, go to Domains > Zone Editor. If you host more than one domain on the account, select the correct one from the list — each domain has its own independent zone.

Adding a record

1. Click + A Record, + CNAME Record, + MX Record, or + TXT Record depending on what you need (these shortcut buttons cover the common types; use Manage for anything else).
2. Enter the record name — for the bare domain leave it as your domain name; for a subdomain, prefix it (e.g. mail for mail.yourdomain.com).
3. Enter the value: an IP address for an A record, a hostname for a CNAME, or the relevant text for a TXT record.
4. Set the TTL (Time To Live) — 14400 seconds (4 hours) is the cPanel default; lower it temporarily to something like 300 seconds before a planned change so updates propagate faster.
5. Click Add Record.

Editing or removing a record

Click Manage next to the domain to see every record in the zone. Each row has Edit and Delete actions. Be careful editing existing MX or A records for a live domain — an incorrect value takes effect as soon as it’s saved and can take email or the website offline until corrected.

A quick safety habit

Before editing an existing record (rather than adding a new one), note down the current value somewhere first. If a change causes a problem, you can revert immediately instead of trying to remember what it was.

After saving, changes typically take effect within minutes on cPanel’s own resolvers, but full internet-wide propagation follows the TTL and general DNS propagation timing — see our dedicated article on that.