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This article will show you how to Automatically Forward Outlook Emails. With auto-forwarding, you can make sure you never miss an email, no matter where you are. Forwarding is usually set up by a rule in your main email address that tells the email server or your email client (like Outlook) to send that email to another address automatically. To forward emails at the server level, you need to be an administrator, but any Outlook user can forward emails using the Outlook client, as long as they leave Outlook open and their computer on all the time.
There are times when you might want to send email that comes into Outlook automatically to another account. For example, if you’re going on vacation, it can be helpful to have your messages automatically sent to a coworker. Need to send some emails to a different address, or maybe you want to send all of your emails from Outlook or Gmail to a different inbox? Both Outlook and Gmail have easy ways to automate the forwarding process that you can set up once and forget about. Whether you use Outlook on the web or on your computer, we’ll show you how to Automatically Forward Outlook Emails.
What is automatic email forwarding?
Automatic email forwarding is a feature that lets you send all or some of your emails to another email address without having to do anything. Automatic email forwarding is a feature of email services that lets users automatically send emails from one email address to another email address. When this feature is turned on, any email sent to the original address is automatically sent to the destination address. The user doesn’t have to forward each message individually.
Why Use Outlook Automatic Forwarding?
Automatic forwarding is a useful feature of Outlook that can help you manage your emails more efficiently. If you have more than one email account, automatic forwarding can send all of your messages to your preferred address. This way, you won’t miss any important messages. It can also help you balance work and personal communications by putting each type in its own account, which makes it easier to keep track of.
It can also protect you against accidentally deleting an email, since forwarded emails add another layer of backup. By using automatic forwarding, you can make your digital communication easier, reduce clutter, and focus on what’s really important. Once you know how to auto forward emails in Outlook, you can set up certain messages that end up in one email account to go to your preferred address. This keeps unwanted messages from going to your work or home address, so you can keep up with what’s important.
How to Automatically Forward Outlook Emails

- Sign in to your account at Outlook official Website.
- Choose the icon that looks like a gear from the toolbar.
- Click the option to View all Outlook settings at the bottom of the Settings pane that just showed up.
- In the Settings box, click on “Mail” and then “Forwarding.”
- Check the box that says “Allow forwarding.”
- Enter the email address where you want the messages you’re forwarding to go.
- Check the box next to Keep a copy of forwarded messages if you want to keep copies of the messages in your Outlook account after you have forwarded them.
- Click Save to finish.
How to Set Up Email Forwarding Rule in Outlook
- Click “File” and then “Manage Rules & Alerts” in the top menu.
- In the “Apply changes to this folder” box, choose the folder you just made and click “Input.”
- Just below, click on “New rule…”
- On the new prompt, choose “Apply rule to messages I receive” in the “Start from a blank rule” section. Click the “Next” button.
- “Which conditions do you want to check?” will be written on the next screen. Don’t click “Next” and confirm by choosing any of the options.
- “What do you want to do with these messages?” will appear on the next screen. Choose “Forward it to people or public groups”
- Click on the “people or public group” link in the Rule Description at the bottom of the prompt and enter the email addresses of the people to whom the emails should be sent. When you click “OK,” the addresses will show up in the rule description text.
- When you click “Next,” you’ll see a new prompt that says “Finish setting up rules.” You can give your forwarding rule a name on this screen.
- Lastly, there is a checkbox on this screen that says “Run this rule on messages already in.” Click “Finish” after you check this box. This will immediately start the process of forwarding.
How to Forward New Incoming Emails in Outlook with Rules
- Click “File” and then “Manage Rules & Alerts” in the top menu.
- In the “Apply changes to this folder” box, choose the folder you just made and click “Input.”
- Just below, click on “New rule…”
- On the new prompt, choose “Apply rule to messages I receive” in the “Start from a blank rule” section. Click the “Next” button.
- “Which conditions do you want to check?” will be written on the next screen. On this screen, you’ll choose which emails should be sent to another address. What you choose here depends on how you plan to use it. Most of the time, you’ll want to use the “Subject” or “From Address” as a condition.
- “What do you want to do with these messages?” will appear on the next screen. Choose “Forward it to people or public groups”
- Click on the “people or public group” link in the Rule Description at the bottom of the prompt and enter the email addresses of the people to whom the emails should be sent. When you click “OK,” the addresses will show up in the rule description text.
- When you click “Next,” you’ll see a new prompt that says “Finish setting up rules.” You can give your forwarding rule a name on this screen.
- Lastly, there is a checkbox on this screen that says “Run this rule on messages already in.” Click “Finish” after you check this box. This will immediately start the process of forwarding.
Security and Privacy Concerns with Email Forwarding
Security Concern | Privacy Concern |
---|---|
Emails can be intercepted by unauthorized individuals. | Forwarding emails can reveal personal information to unintended recipients. |
Emails can be modified or deleted without the sender’s knowledge. | Forwarding emails can make it difficult to track the original sender. |
Forwarding emails can expose users to spam and phishing attacks. | Forwarding emails can violate company policies or data protection laws. |
Benefits of Email Forwarding
Creates A More Professional Appearance
With email forwarding, you can use your domain name to make a more professional email address that can be sent to more personal email addresses. For example, you can use a professional-looking email address like support@yourdomain.com to send messages to other people by setting up email forwarding.
On the other hand, emails sent to this address will be sent to a more personal address that you choose. You won’t have to wait until you log into a proprietary platform to check your emails. Instead, you can do so whenever you want. Changing the email forwarding credentials is as easy as changing the email address when you need to change where an email really goes, like when you hire new employees.
Saves Time & Reduces Clutter
Are you tired of having to check several accounts every morning? Having so many email accounts can make it hard to keep track of them all. Not only do you have to check each mailbox for new mail and messages, but you also have to worry about keeping the contents of each inbox safe from cybercriminals. By using email forwarding in your mail accounts, you can set up many email forwarding rules that let you combine multiple email addresses into a single mailbox that is easy to manage.
You can Reply From A Separate (Personalized) Email Account
When you reply to an email sent to a professional address but sent to your personal Gmail or Outlook account, the address associated with your personal Gmail or Outlook account will be used. You can also send emails from Google or Microsoft Outlook when you have your own domain name.
The Difference: Gmail App vs. Microsoft Outlook
Feature | Gmail | Microsoft Outlook |
---|---|---|
Pricing | Free for personal use, paid plans for businesses | Free for personal use, paid plans for businesses |
Storage | 15 GB of free storage, unlimited storage for Google Workspace subscribers | 15 GB of free storage, 50 GB, 1 TB, or 10 TB storage plans available for purchase |
Interface | Web-based interface with a clean and simple design | Desktop app with a more traditional email client interface |
Features | Rich text formatting, threaded messages, labels, search, offline access, mobile apps | Rich text formatting, threaded messages, rules, search, offline access, mobile apps, calendar, contact management, task management |
Integrations | Integrates with other Google products, such as Google Calendar and Google Drive | Integrates with other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office and Microsoft Teams |
Security | Two-factor authentication, encryption, spam protection | Two-factor authentication, encryption, spam protection |
Questions and Answers
Choose Mail > Accounts > Forwarding from the Options menu. Choose one of these: To start forwarding, click Start forwarding, type in the email address you want to forward to, and click Save.
Click on Mail settings, then on Email forwarding, and then on Edit. On the page for email forwarding, turn the switch to “On,” enter the forwarding address, and decide if you want a copy of the emails you forward. If you don’t see this choice, make sure the user account has a license. Choose Save.
Click the tab for Mail. After that, you can change the settings for Forwarding and Auto Reply. Click the Mail tab, then click either Manage email forwarding or Manage automatic relies. You can enter the email address you want to forward to for forwarding.
In Outlook.com, you can set up your email to automatically forward. This is helpful if you want to read and reply to messages from another email account or if you want someone else to get your email and reply to it while you are away.