How To Create An Email Forward Inside cPanel
Adding Email Forwarders is a way for you to create unique email addresses that are domain-specific without having to create another account that you have to manage.
For example, you main run sports.com and music.com but your email account is [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3940564c795e54585055175a5654). By adding email forwarders, you could forward [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e79e8892a7949788959394c984888a) and [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c9b0a6bc89a4bcbaa0aae7aaa6a4) to [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a7dec8d2e7c0cac6cecb89c4c8ca). This way, people that visit each website will have an easy address to contact and you will get all of your mail in one place.
To create one, login to cPanel -> Forwards:
You can then create an individual email account forward (i.e. [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dba8b4b6beafb3b2b5bc9ba2b4aea9bfb4b6bab2b5f5b8b4b6)) or an entire domain (i.e. [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#197877606d7170777e5960766c6b7d7674787077377a7674)):
Add Forward - This is the most common type of email forward, useful for forwarding [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5821372d2a3639353d1821372d2a3c3735393136763b3735) to [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e59c8a90978088848c89a58288848c89cb868a88):
You can also set specific email addresses to fail (Discard and send an error to sender) which is beneficial when terminating an existing account (i.e. employee leaves company).
Finally, there are some advanced options when forwarding email:
Forward to a system account - cPanel creates a default, or system mail account, which can act as a "catch all." You can send email here, putting it into one centralized mailbox.
Pipe to a Program - Some software applications allow email to be forwarded and be treated like a web form submission. This is common in applications such as WHMCS which use this feature to create helpdesk tickets where people can simply send their request to an email address vs. logging in and filling out a form.
Discard - As noted in the screenshot above, you can use a forward to discard email, but it's not recommended as the sender doesn't know the email is simply deleted. A better option would be choosing the option to send the sender an error message.
Add Domain Forward - In addition to forwarding individual mail accounts, you can forward all email from one domain to another:
Domain forwarders only forward email when the system cannot deliver it to an address or autoresponder.
For example, if you create a domain forwarder from ryangray.com to namehero.com and someone sends an email to the [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f580869087b5878c949b9287948cdb969a98) address, the following actions will occur:
If a [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8efbfdebfccefcf7efe0e9fceff7a0ede1e3) address or autoresponder exists, the system will not forward the email.
If a [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dda8aeb8af9dafa4bcb3baafbca4f3beb2b0) address or autoresponder does not exist, the system will forward the email to [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#fb8e889e89bb959a969e939e8994d5989496).
Domain forwarders override the settings in cPanel’s Default Address interface (cPanel >> Home >> Email >> Default Address).
The domain does not retain a copy of domain forwarded mail.
To send all email for a domain to a single email address, change the Default Address for that domain.
For example, you main run sports.com and music.com but your email account is [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3940564c795e54585055175a5654). By adding email forwarders, you could forward [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e79e8892a7949788959394c984888a) and [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c9b0a6bc89a4bcbaa0aae7aaa6a4) to [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a7dec8d2e7c0cac6cecb89c4c8ca). This way, people that visit each website will have an easy address to contact and you will get all of your mail in one place.
To create one, login to cPanel -> Forwards:
You can then create an individual email account forward (i.e. [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dba8b4b6beafb3b2b5bc9ba2b4aea9bfb4b6bab2b5f5b8b4b6)) or an entire domain (i.e. [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#197877606d7170777e5960766c6b7d7674787077377a7674)):
Add Forward - This is the most common type of email forward, useful for forwarding [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5821372d2a3639353d1821372d2a3c3735393136763b3735) to [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e59c8a90978088848c89a58288848c89cb868a88):
You can also set specific email addresses to fail (Discard and send an error to sender) which is beneficial when terminating an existing account (i.e. employee leaves company).
Finally, there are some advanced options when forwarding email:
Forward to a system account - cPanel creates a default, or system mail account, which can act as a "catch all." You can send email here, putting it into one centralized mailbox.
Pipe to a Program - Some software applications allow email to be forwarded and be treated like a web form submission. This is common in applications such as WHMCS which use this feature to create helpdesk tickets where people can simply send their request to an email address vs. logging in and filling out a form.
Discard - As noted in the screenshot above, you can use a forward to discard email, but it's not recommended as the sender doesn't know the email is simply deleted. A better option would be choosing the option to send the sender an error message.
Add Domain Forward - In addition to forwarding individual mail accounts, you can forward all email from one domain to another:
Domain forwarders only forward email when the system cannot deliver it to an address or autoresponder.
For example, if you create a domain forwarder from ryangray.com to namehero.com and someone sends an email to the [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f580869087b5878c949b9287948cdb969a98) address, the following actions will occur:
If a [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8efbfdebfccefcf7efe0e9fceff7a0ede1e3) address or autoresponder exists, the system will not forward the email.
If a [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dda8aeb8af9dafa4bcb3baafbca4f3beb2b0) address or autoresponder does not exist, the system will forward the email to [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#fb8e889e89bb959a969e939e8994d5989496).
Domain forwarders override the settings in cPanel’s Default Address interface (cPanel >> Home >> Email >> Default Address).
The domain does not retain a copy of domain forwarded mail.
To send all email for a domain to a single email address, change the Default Address for that domain.
Updated on: 11/10/2024
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