Invalid Record

What Does “Invalid Record” Mean?

“Invalid record” means the candidate BIMI TXT value cannot be parsed as the required tag-value record. The BIMI draft says receivers must not repair syntax or capitalization errors. Brand Indicators for Message Identification draft 14 documents the controlling requirement or boundary.

The invalid candidate cannot be used for BIMI assertion. Parsing is deterministic; DNS presentation and display policies remain external.

Why Does Invalid Record Appear?

Invalid record appears when a tag lacks =, a required value is malformed, capitalization is wrong, or separators do not match the grammar. The exact diagnostic should be read at the scope of BIMI Assertion Record syntax rather than as proof that every BIMI layer failed.

How Do You Fix Invalid Record?

To fix Invalid record, rebuild the value from the BIMI grammar with v=BIMI1 first and one well-formed value for each applicable tag.

A parseable record can still fail semantic, DMARC, asset, or evidence checks.

What Should You Verify After Fixing Invalid Record?

After fixing Invalid record, parse the final DNS value exactly as published rather than relying on a provider UI preview. Verification should use the exact public selector, URL, record, or file evaluated by the receiver.

The correction clears only this condition; it does not guarantee that a receiver will display an indicator.

Key Takeaways

• The affected object is BIMI Assertion Record syntax.
• The direct correction is to rebuild the value from the BIMI grammar with v=BIMI1 first and one well-formed value for each applicable tag.
• A parseable record can still fail semantic, DMARC, asset, or evidence checks.