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
- 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).
- Enter the record name — for the bare domain leave it as your domain name; for a subdomain, prefix it (e.g.
mailformail.yourdomain.com). - Enter the value: an IP address for an A record, a hostname for a CNAME, or the relevant text for a TXT record.
- 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.
- 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.