Editing Merge or update existing SPF records (section)

== Step-by-step instructions ==
=== Adding ActiveCampaign’s Include to an Existing SPF Record ===
If you already possess an SPF record and need to add ActiveCampaign as an email sender, you can do this by adding the required include statement to the current record.

1. Retrieve your existing SPF record. For example:
   ```
   v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com -all
   ```

2. Add the include statement for ActiveCampaign:
   ```
   v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:emsd1.com -all
   ```
   - Ensure that the new string is placed before the **-all** part.
   - Do not incorporate unnecessary spaces; each string should be separated by a single space.
   - Ensure the recording starts with **v=spf1**.

=== Merging Existing SPF Records ===
If you have multiple SPF records, you will need to merge them into a single record, as having dual or more SPF records is invalid.

1. Identify your existing SPF records:
   ```
   v=spf1 ip4:20.33.1.86/32 include:_spf.google.com -all
   v=spf1 include:emsd1.com -all
   ```

2. Delete one record and modify the other to combine both sets of information:
   ```
   v=spf1 include:emsd1.com ip4:20.33.1.86/32 include:_spf.google.com -all
   ```

=== Important Points to Remember ===
- The SPF record may contain various qualifiers (like **-all**, **~all**, **?all**, or **+all**). It is recommended to use either **~all** (soft fail) or **-all** (fail).
- Merging SPF records offers a perfect chance to tidy the list. Remove outdated includes or strings.
- Since SPF records are processed from left to right, place the most frequently used includes at the top.
- Do note that SPF records have a limit of 10 DNS lookups; thus, you may need to optimize accordingly.