--- title: "The Mechanism Of SPF ‘~All’ And How It Is Different From ‘-All’ | DuoCircle" description: "Join the thousands of organizations that use DuoCircle Find out how affordable it is for your organization today and be pleasantly surprised.Interested in" image: "https://www.duocircle.com/images/og-default.png" canonical: "https://www.duocircle.com/content/spf-validator/spf-all/" --- Content # The Mechanism Of SPF ‘\~All’ And How It Is Different From ‘-All’ Join the thousands of organizations that use DuoCircle Find out how affordable it is for your organization today and be pleasantly surprised.Interested in [ Talk to an Expert → ](/contact/) [ See what we make ](/products/) ## The Mechanism Of SPF ‘\~All’ And How It Is Different From ‘-All’ The SPF syntax incorporates specific mechanisms, such as ‘all,’ ‘ip4,’ ‘ip6,’ ‘a,’ ‘mx,’ ‘ptr,’ ‘exists,’ and ‘include.’ The mechanisms can be prefixed with qualifiers like + (Pass), – (Fail), \~ (SoftFail) and ? (Neutral). As shown below, the SPF ‘\~all’ tag that appears at the end is crucial in a typical [SPF record example](/content/spf-validator/spf-record-example). `v=spf1 ip4:123.45.67.128 ip6:ab4d:2c4e:b35a:da21:5a3d:04ae:e13a:ca43 include:_spf.google.com ~all` _The [SPF syntax](/content/spf-validator/spf-syntax) specifies which mail server is authorized to deliver emails on behalf of the domain_. The ‘all’ tag is prefixed with the qualifiers’ \~’ (tilde) or ‘–‘(hyphen), which declares that ’emails from servers that are not listed aren’t authorized.’ However, there is a difference between the two qualifiers. [Fix Your SPF Errors Now](/email/spf-record-check) ![spf record example](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2021/06/spf-all.png) ### SPF \~All [Prefixing](https://wordtothewise.com/2014/06/authenticating-spf/) the ‘all’ tag using the ‘\~’ (tilde) qualifier, in the form ‘\~all,’ _allows the incoming mail server to treat the email as suspicious_, which results in a ‘SoftFail,’ indicating that the host server was not authorized to send the email. The email, in this instance, will be delivered but marked. ### SPF -All _Using ‘-all’ is interpreted as any email originating from any server other than those listed in the **SPF record** will not be delivered to the recipient’s inbox_. The action performed by the incoming server is to reject it. The mail server could either discard the email or send a bounce message warning to the sender if configured to do so. ![spf generator](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2021/06/spf-all-1.png)![spf validator](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2021/06/spf-all-prefix.png) ### Should An SPF Record Incorporate ‘-All’ Or ‘\~All’? A user may need to consider various scenarios to decide which ‘all’ tag to use in their SPF record. - While using DMARC, it is safer to use ‘\~all’ as the user is **protected against fraudsters** that make unauthorized use of a domain using the “From” address. - If in doubt, it is recommended to use ‘\~all,’ ensuring all mail servers listed in the SPF record can send an email, and the ones not listed can still be delivered but will be marked. - If the SPF record is set up perfectly correctly, the use of the ‘-all’ tag is acceptable. _Any fraudulent email that does not pass SPF will face rejection_. Using the mechanism of SPF \~all will ensure the clients receive important business emails from an organization while also **protecting them from email spoofing** and spam. SPF \~all is the best option when combined with techniques like [DMARC and DKIM](https://www.csoonline.com/article/3254234/mastering-email-security-with-dmarc-spf-and-dkim.html) to manage unauthorized emails. _Improperly configured SPF records also lead to emails being dropped_. Therefore, it is advisable to use [SPF validators](/content/spf-validator) to check for an ‘all’ tag, evaluate the whole SPF record, and highlight errors, if any. If there is no SPF record yet, one may consider using an [SPF generator](/content/spf-validator/spf-generator) to create one for the domain. ##### Join the thousands of organizations that use DuoCircle --- Find out how affordable it is for your organization today and be pleasantly surprised. [Auto SPF - Sign Up FREE](/email/spf-record-check)Interested in our Partner Program for MSPs and VARs? Visit Our [MSP Partner Program](/msp-partner-program). ## Ready to talk? Same-day response from someone technical. We tell you yes or no quickly. If yes, we get to work. [Talk to an Expert→](/contact/)[See what we make](/products/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. We deliver about 90% of category-leader capability at roughly half the price, backed by experts who own the outcome. 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