Mail forwarding and redirects explained

Mail forwarding (also called a redirect) is a rule that automatically sends any email arriving at one address on to another address. Once it’s set up, mail is passed along in the background — the person sending the message doesn’t need to know the final destination, and nobody has to forward messages by hand.

This article explains what forwarding and redirects are, when you’d use them, and the general steps for setting one up with any email or domain provider.

What is a redirect?

A redirect takes mail sent to a “from” address and delivers it to a different “to” address. For example, a rule on hello@yourdomain.com could forward every message on to yourteam@gmail.com . The sender still writes to hello@yourdomain.com ; your provider quietly relays each message to the destination.

You’ll see a few closely related terms used for this, sometimes interchangeably:

Forwarding / redirect — mail for one address is relayed on to another address, often on a completely different domain or provider.
Alias — an extra address that drops into an existing mailbox on the same account (for example sales@ and support@ both landing in one inbox). No separate mailbox is created.
Catch-all — a rule that forwards mail for any address at a domain (anything @yourdomain.com ) to a single destination.

When would you use one?

Use your own domain — publish a branded address like members@yourdomain.com while the mail actually lands in an existing inbox or service.
Bring several addresses together — funnel multiple addresses into one place so you only check a single inbox.
Route mail to a service — point an address at a mailing list, help desk, or group platform that will handle the message.
Move addresses without losing mail — keep an old address working by forwarding it to a new one during a migration.

Where forwarding is set up

The single most important thing to understand is where the rule lives. Forwarding is configured wherever the email for the “from” address is hosted — that is, the provider that controls the domain or mailbox you’re forwarding from. This is usually one of:

Your email provider (for example Gmail / Google Workspace or Microsoft 365), or
Your domain registrar or web host (for example GoDaddy, Namecheap or 123 Reg), if that’s where your domain’s email is managed.

You do not set forwarding up at the destination. The destination address simply needs to be able to receive mail.

General steps to set up a redirect

The exact menus differ between providers, but the process is almost always the same:

Sign in to the provider that manages the address you want to forward from.
Open the email, forwarding, or aliases settings (sometimes under “Domains” or “Mailboxes”).
Create the address you want to use if it doesn’t exist yet, or select an existing one.
Add a forwarding rule and enter the destination address mail should be sent to.
Confirm any verification email. Many providers send a confirmation link to the destination address and won’t start forwarding until it’s clicked.
Send a test message to the “from” address and check it arrives at the destination.

Things to watch out for

Confirmation emails — if forwarding never starts, check the destination inbox (and its spam folder) for a verification request.
The “from” address doesn’t change — a redirect delivers the message, but replies still go to whoever originally sent it, and the original sender’s address is preserved.
Deliverability and spam — forwarded mail sometimes lands in spam because it arrives via an intermediary. Sender-authentication settings (SPF, DKIM and DMARC) on the domains involved affect this; most mainstream providers handle it automatically.
Avoid loops — don’t forward address A to B and B back to A, or messages can bounce between them.
Keeping a copy — some providers let you keep a copy in the original mailbox as well as forwarding; others relay only. Check the option if you want both.

Provider set-up guides

For step-by-step instructions specific to your provider, see their own documentation:

Other registrars and hosts — such as GoDaddy, Namecheap or your web-hosting control panel (cPanel) — offer the same feature, usually under “Email”, “Forwarding” or “Aliases”. Search their help centre for “email forwarding” if you’re not sure where to look.

If you’re setting up forwarding so you can use your own domain with a Gaggle Mail group, see How to use your domain for sending group messages: Custom redirects.