How to Set Up Email Forwarding in DirectAdmin #

A forwarder automatically sends email received by one account to another account — local or remote (e.g., a Gmail or Outlook address). This is useful for consolidating multiple addresses into a single inbox or routing mail to a different destination without creating a full mailbox.

How to Create a Forwarder #

A forwarder will forward email messages received by an account to another account. The destination email can be either local or remote.

To create a forwarder in DirectAdmin, do:

1. Log in to your DirectAdmin control panel by accessing https://yourdomain:2222
2. Go to Forwarders (under E-mail Manager)
3. Click the Create new E-Mail Forwarder link
4. Enter the details. First, enter the Forwarder Name. This is the email username you want to forward.
   

   You can also specify multiple entries in the “Forwarder Name” field: billy,bob This will simply add multiple forwarders.

5. Enter the Destination Email. 
   

   Note, you can specify multiple email addresses in the “Destination Email” field if you wish: email1@domain.com,email2@domain.com

6. Click the Create button. The new forwarder(s) will be created.

Want the original mailbox to keep a copy too? Forwarding only sends mail to the destination(s) you list — it does *not* automatically leave a copy behind. To keep a local copy, include the original address itself in the Destination Email field alongside the forward-to address.

A note on forwarding to external addresses: forwarded mail can occasionally fail SPF/DKIM checks at the destination, since it now appears to come from our server on behalf of the original sender. If forwarded mail lands in the recipient’s spam folder, this is usually why — contact us if you’d like help tuning your setup.

Need messages sent to any unused address on your domain to land somewhere? See how to create a catch-all email account instead.