How Do I Set Up Email Forwarding in Outlook?

What do a Dungeons & Dragons game master, a serial shopper, and a corporate executive have in common?

They can all benefit from email forwarding! Whether you want to stay responsive while you're away, sort your correspondence, or make sure you don't miss any important emails, this tool is useful for all types of users.

We'll explain what email forwarding is and how to auto forward an email in Outlook across different versions.

What Is Email Forwarding?

The Advantages of Email Forwarding

As a super-active internet user, you probably use several email accounts for different activities.

Work email address, dedicated address for your Dungeons and Dragons club, "compulsive-online-shopper-I-promise-this-is-the-last-pair-of-shoes" address... All these accounts can quickly become confusing, with the risk of missing an important email.

By setting up email forwarding from your various accounts and hosts to a single address, you ensure global visibility of all your emails.

This feature also saves you from having to constantly switch between accounts. Say hello to time and energy savings!

Did you know that there's another tool for gathering all your correspondence in one place while protecting your data? It's called an email alias! Find out how to create an Outlook alias now.

Thanks to the various filters in your email service, redirecting and centralizing your emails also allows you to automatically sort your correspondence. All your emails arrive in the same place and are immediately sorted into categories.

This way, you won't miss any important emails, whether they're from a major client or your D&D partner (okay, enough with the role-playing).

Redirection also makes it easier to access your emails on different devices (smartphone, tablet, or computer). This is more convenient for keeping up with your correspondence, whether you're at the office, at home, or on a trip.

And to add a professional touch to your important emails, consider adding an email signature. Here's how to add an Outlook signature in a few simple steps.

Going on vacation and want your contacts to be able to find answers to their questions while you're away? Setting up a colleague's email as a forwarding address may be the right solution.

This way, you remain professional by showing your contacts that their requests are important to you at all times. You also avoid impatience and disappointment on the other side of the screen...

And if your colleagues end their emails with a nice professional email signature, your perceived value as a brand will increase tenfold. It's scientifically proven.

Outlook Forward vs Redirect: What's the Difference?

You've probably come across the terms "forwarding" and "redirect" during your digital travels, without being quite sure of the difference. In fact, although relatively subtle, the distinction is easy to make.

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The use of forwarding or redirection will depend on the situation. For example, you can use forwarding to sort your correspondence or when you are away from the office. A redirect, on the other hand, is used if you want to include a specific person "in the loop" of a correspondence or simply to bring a particular email to their attention.

To complicate matters further, note that some email services do not explicitly distinguish between forwarding and redirect. Outlook, for example, refers to the forwarding option as "automatic transfer." Take a deep breath and read on, everything will become clearer very soon!

How Do I Forward Emails to Another Address?

To set up automatic email forwarding to another address regardless of your email software, you generally need to follow these steps:

1. Go to your email software settings.
2. Find the feature dedicated to forwarding.
3. Enter the forwarding email address.
4. Choose whether or not to keep a copy of the incoming message in your main inbox.
5. Save the settings.

How to Forward Emails From Outlook Automatically

Do you use Microsoft email? Let's take a closer look at how to set up Outlook automatic forwarding in its different versions!

Important note: The names of tabs, sections, and features may vary slightly depending on the version of Outlook you are using. If you cannot find the exact tab, section, or feature mentioned in this guide, look for a similar option in your own menu.

Forward Email Office 365 Setup

To set up forwarding on the desktop version of Microsoft's email service, Outlook 365, you can either adjust the settings directly or set up a forwarding rule.

With a Direct Setting

1. Go to Settings (gear icon) in the top right corner.
2. Click See all Outlook settings.
3. Go to Mail > Forwarding.
4. Check the Turn on forwarding box.
5. Enter your forwarding email address.
6. Choose whether or not to keep a copy of the email in your main inbox.
7. Select Save.

Forward Rules Outlook Setup

1. Go to Settings (gear icon) in the top right corner.
2. Click Show all Outlook settings.
3. Under the Mail tab, go to the Rules section.
4. Create your forwarding rule:
   • Click Add a new rule
   • Name your rule
   • Under Add a condition, select Apply to all messages
   • Under Add an action, click Forward and enter the forwarding email address.
5. If necessary, you can also Add another action or Add an exception.
6. Click Save

Alternative Path - Older Version of Outlook

Can't find these steps? Your version of Outlook may be older. Here is another possible path using rules:

1. In the Home tab, click Move > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts
2. Check that the Apply changes to this folder option applies to your primary email address.
3. Click New Rule
4. Under Start from a blank rule, click Apply rule to messages I receive, then click Next.
5. Under What condition(s) do you want to check?
   • You can make changes to your rules or leave them as they are.
   • Click Next, then Yes to the message "This rule will be applied to every message you receive."
6. Under What do you want to do with the message?
   • Step 1: Select one or more actions, click on Redirect to people or a public group, then Stop processing other rules
   • Step 2: Change the rule description, click on the link People or public group
7. A Rule Address dialog box will open: under Address Book, choose the contact list containing the address to which you want to forward your emails
   • in To, enter the forwarding address, then click OK
8. Click Finish, Apply, then OK.

On Outlook.com

To set up forwarding (called "automatic forwarding") on the free version of Outlook.com, just follow these simple steps:

1. Go to Settings (the gear icon) at the top of the page.
2. Click Mail, then Forwarding.
3. Select Turn on forwarding, then enter the forwarding email address.
4. You can choose whether or not to keep a copy of the email in your main inbox.
5. Click Save.

Forward Email by Domain to Another Tenant‍

For organizations looking to forward emails based on domain criteria to another tenant, this typically requires advanced Exchange Online or Microsoft 365 admin center configuration. Contact your IT administrator to set up domain-based forwarding rules that can redirect emails from specific domains to designated tenants or external addresses.

Autoforward BCC Outlook Configuration

While Outlook doesn't have a direct "autoforward BCC" feature, you can achieve similar results by creating rules that automatically forward emails while keeping the original recipient unaware. This can be set up through the Rules wizard by creating conditions that forward copies of incoming or outgoing emails to specified addresses.

Redirect Certain Emails to Another Email Address Outlook

To redirect specific emails rather than all messages, use Outlook's rule-based system:

1. Go to Rules in your Outlook settings
2. Create a new rule with specific conditions (sender, subject, keywords)
3. Set the action to "redirect to" your chosen email address
4. This allows you to filter and redirect only emails that meet your criteria

Redirect Emails to Another Email Address Outlook Desktop

For Outlook desktop users, redirecting emails follows the same rule-based approach but through the desktop interface:

1. Access Home > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts
2. Create rules with specific conditions for the emails you want to redirect
3. Set redirect actions to send filtered emails to your designated address

How to Stop Mail Forwarding in Outlook

No longer want to use forwarding for an email address? No problem! Here's how to disable forwarding in Outlook.com and Outlook 365.

In Outlook.com

1. Go to Settings (gear icon) in the top right corner.
2. Click See all Outlook settings.
3. Select Mail > Forwarding.
4. Uncheck the Enable forwarding box.
5. Click Save.

In Outlook 365

1. Go to Settings (gear icon) in the top right corner.
2. Select View all Outlook settings.
3. Go to Mail > Forwarding.
4. Uncheck Enable forwarding.
5. Click Save

How Do I Manually Forward an Email to Another Email Address in Outlook?

It is not always necessary to set up automatic forwarding. Sometimes you may need to forward an email to another address on a one-off basis. For example, when your grandmother sends you her secret yogurt cake recipe and you want to share it with your siblings...

To manually forward an email in Outlook (all versions), simply click on the drop-down menu under the Reply arrow, then select Forward. All you have to do is add your forwarding addresses!

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With email forwarding, make your correspondence smoother and more professional!

Our extra tip for emails that hit the mark: include a professional email signature. Here are some Outlook signature templates to give you some ideas.