How to set up and manage automatic email forwarding in Microsoft 365

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to set up and manage automatic email forwarding in Microsoft 365. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

Automatic email forwarding in Microsoft 365 lets you redirect incoming business emails to another address — for example, a personal inbox, a colleague covering your role, or a shared team mailbox. This article explains how to set up forwarding, how to manage existing forwarding rules, and how to avoid common pitfalls that can cause missed messages.

Before you begin

You must have administrative access to the Microsoft 365 mailbox you want to forward from. If your mailbox is managed by your organisation's IT administrator, forwarding may be restricted by policy. In that case, contact your administrator or Open a Ticket for assistance.

Quick Fix Steps

1. Sign in to Outlook on the web with your Microsoft 365 business account.
2. Go to Settings (gear icon) > Mail > Forwarding.
3. Select Enable forwarding.
4. Enter the destination email address.
5. Choose whether to keep a copy of forwarded messages in your Microsoft 365 mailbox.
6. Click Save.

Detailed Instructions

Set up forwarding using Outlook on the web

1. Open a web browser and go to outlook.office.com/mail.
2. Sign in with your Microsoft 365 work or business email address and password.
3. Click the Settings gear icon in the top-right corner.
4. At the bottom of the Settings panel, click View all Outlook settings.
5. In the Settings window, select Mail from the left menu, then choose Forwarding.
6. Under Forwarding, select the Enable forwarding checkbox.
7. In the Forward my email to field, type the full email address you want messages forwarded to.
8. If you want to retain copies of forwarded emails in your Microsoft 365 mailbox, tick Keep a copy of forwarded messages. If you leave this unticked, forwarded emails will not remain in your original mailbox.
9. Click Save at the top of the Settings window.

Set up forwarding using the Exchange admin centre (for administrators)

If you are an administrator managing forwarding for another user in your organisation, you can configure it from the Exchange admin centre.

1. Go to admin.exchange.microsoft.com and sign in with your administrator account.
2. In the left navigation, expand Recipients and select Mailboxes.
3. Click the display name of the mailbox you want to configure.
4. In the mailbox properties panel, click Mail flow settings.
5. Under Email forwarding, click Manage email forwarding.
6. Toggle Forward all emails sent to this mailbox to On.
7. Enter the forwarding destination address in the Forwarding address field.
8. If you want to keep copies in the original mailbox, tick Keep a copy of forwarded emails in this mailbox.
9. Click Save changes.

Manage forwarding rules to avoid missed messages

Forwarding rules can be more granular than simple mailbox forwarding. You can create rules that forward only specific messages, or that forward to different addresses based on conditions.

Create a forwarding rule in Outlook on the web

1. Go to Settings > View all Outlook settings > Mail > Rules.
2. Click Add new rule.
3. Give the rule a descriptive name, such as "Forward invoices to accounts".
4. Under Add a condition, choose the condition that matches the emails you want to forward (for example, From, Subject includes, or Message body includes).
5. Under Add an action, select Forward to and enter the destination email address.
6. Optionally, add an exception or additional actions such as Stop processing more rules.
7. Click Save.

Check for conflicting forwarding rules

• Sign in to Outlook on the web and go to Settings > Mail > Rules.
• Look for any rules that forward or redirect messages. Multiple rules forwarding to different addresses can cause confusion about where emails end up.
• Disable or delete rules that are no longer needed by selecting the rule and clicking Disable or Delete.

Turn off automatic forwarding

1. Go to Settings > View all Outlook settings > Mail > Forwarding.
2. Untick Enable forwarding.
3. Click Save.

If forwarding was configured by an administrator, you may need to ask your administrator to disable it in the Exchange admin centre.

Troubleshooting

Forwarded emails are not arriving at the destination address

• Check the destination email address for typos. Even a single incorrect character will prevent delivery.
• Check the destination mailbox's spam or junk folder. Forwarded emails are sometimes flagged as spam by the receiving email provider.
• Verify that the destination mailbox is not full. A full mailbox will reject incoming forwarded messages.
• If you are using a forwarding rule, confirm the rule is enabled and the conditions match the emails you expect to be forwarded.
• Allow up to 30 minutes for forwarding changes to take effect, especially if configured through the Exchange admin centre.

Emails are forwarded but not kept in the original mailbox

This is expected behaviour if you did not tick Keep a copy of forwarded messages. To change this:

1. Go to Settings > Mail > Forwarding.
2. Tick Keep a copy of forwarded messages.
3. Click Save.

Forwarding is greyed out or unavailable

Your organisation may have disabled automatic forwarding through Microsoft 365 security policies. This is common in industries with strict data protection requirements. If forwarding is unavailable, contact your administrator or Open a Ticket to discuss alternative solutions.

Emails are being forwarded to the wrong address

This usually means a forwarding rule is redirecting messages before the mailbox-level forwarding setting is applied. Check your inbox rules for any unexpected forwarding actions:

1. Go to Settings > Mail > Rules.
2. Review each rule that has a Forward to or Redirect to action.
3. Disable or delete any rules that forward to an unintended address.
4. Click Save if you made changes.

Still Having Issues?