Tools
Does your logo
show up in the inbox?
Read a domain or an email address and see the BIMI record as published, the logo it points at, and the reason an inbox is not drawing it.
What BIMI is
- BIMI
- Brand Indicators for Message Identification. A TXT record at default._bimi.yourdomain.com that tells a mailbox provider where your logo lives, so your mark is drawn beside your mail instead of a grey circle with a letter in it.
- l=
- The logo. It has to be an SVG Portable/Secure file served over https: a tightly restricted SVG with no scripts, no external references and no raster images inside it. An ordinary SVG exported from a design tool is usually rejected.
- a=
- The authority, meaning a Verified Mark Certificate. It costs money every year and requires a registered trademark. Gmail and Apple Mail only draw a logo that has one, which is the honest reason most domains publish BIMI and still show nothing.
- DMARC
- The thing underneath all of it. BIMI is only read on a domain at p=quarantine or p=reject, so a record published while DMARC sits at p=none is never looked at. It is the last step in getting mail trusted, never the first.
Nothing is stored. The record is a public DNS query made when you press the button, and the logo is fetched and stripped of scripts and remote references before it is drawn.
Questions this raises
What is BIMI?
Brand Indicators for Message Identification. It is a DNS record that tells a mailbox provider where to find your logo, so your mark is drawn beside the messages you send instead of a grey circle with a letter in it. It is published as a TXT record at default._bimi.yourdomain.com.
Why is my logo not showing even though I published BIMI?
Almost always one of three things. DMARC is not at p=quarantine or p=reject, so the record is never read. There is no a= authority, and Gmail and Apple Mail only draw a logo backed by a Verified Mark Certificate. Or the file is not an SVG Portable/Secure file, which is a tightly restricted SVG with no scripts, no external references and no raster images inside it.
Do I need a Verified Mark Certificate?
For Gmail and Apple Mail, yes. A VMC costs money every year and requires a registered trademark, which is the honest reason most domains publish BIMI and still show nothing. Some providers draw the logo without one, so publishing the record is not wasted, but do not expect Gmail to display it.
Does OpenEmail use BIMI to decide what to show?
Only as one source among several for a sender avatar, and never as a trust signal. A logo is not drawn on a message that failed DMARC, because a brand mark beside a forged address is the most useful thing a mail client can do for an attacker.
