Definition
💡 Automatic forwarding is an email feature that makes it possible for users to automatically send (forward) a message from one address to another.
Maybe you have an old mail address that's slightly embarrassing and you would like to stop using it. Instead of going through the effort of changing your email address on every account and notifying all your contacts, you can simply set up forwarding to your new address so that you can still receive notifications and messages from old friends.
How does automatic forwarding work?
When an email arrives at the original address, your email client automatically makes a copy of the message and sends it to the designated forwarding address.
This process happens in real-time, so there's virtually no difference in usability between the two addresses, except for one extra point of failure. That extra hop in the email's journey introduces a small but potential risk of delay or delivery issues, but it's rarely a problem in practice in our experience.
How to set up automatic forwarding?
To successfully set up automatic forwarding, you need to prepare the mail address where you want to forward your messages.
In Gmail
If you're a Gmail user, then you can set up automatic forwarding by following these steps:
- Log in to Gmail, click the Settings gear icon, and then choose the See all settings option.
- Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab and then click the Add a forwarding address option.
- Enter the email address you want to forward your emails to and click Next.
- Complete the verification process and return back to Gmail.
- Select Forward a copy of incoming mail to and choose your forwarding address.
In Outlook
Outlook users can also set up automatic forwarding, but the steps they need to follow are a bit different:
- Sign in to your Outlook.com account and click on the gear icon to access Settings.
- Navigate to Mail and then Forwarding.
- Toggle the switch next to the Enable forwarding option.
- Enter the email address where you want the forwarded messages to be sent.
- Optionally, tick the box to keep a copy of the forwarded messages.
- Click Save.
You can also follow these same exact steps in the new version of Outlook for Windows. If you're using Outlook for Mac, then forwarding can be configured from the Rules section of Settings.
How to stop the automatic forwarding of emails?
Turning off automatic forwarding is just as easy as setting it up, but the process differs depending on which service you use.
In Gmail
To stop automatic forwarding of mails in Gmail, you need to:
- Go back to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab in Gmail settings.
- Select Disable forwarding.
- Click Save Changes.
In Outlook
Follow these steps to disable automatic forwarding in Outlook.com or the new Outlook for Windows:
- Sign in to your Outlook.com account and click on the gear icon to access Settings.
- Navigate to Mail and then Forwarding.
- Toggle the switch next to Enable forwarding.
If you're using Outlook for Mac, then you need to delete your forwarding rule from the Rules section of Settings.
