How to Setup an Email Forwarder in cPanel & Webmail

cPanel includes two types of email forwarding: Email Account Forwarders, which redirect messages from one specific address to another, and Domain Forwarders, which redirect all incoming mail for an entire domain. This guide covers how to set up both, plus how to configure forwarding directly from the Webmail interface.

A few things worth knowing before you start:

• Email Account Forwarders are configured per address. If you want [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected] all routed to a single inbox, you set up three separate forwarders.
• Domain Forwarders redirect every message sent to a domain. If you forward domain1.com to domain2.com, the corresponding email accounts must already exist on domain2.com or delivery will fail. They are not created automatically.
• Catch-All addresses are only available on VPS and Dedicated Server accounts. Shared hosting plans do not support them.

Creating a Forwarder in cPanel

1. Log into cPanel.
2. Click the Forwarders button in the Email section.
   
3. On the forwarders page, click Add Forwarder.
   
4. On the Add a New Forwarder page, type the email address username in the Address to Forward space.
5. Select the domain from the drop-down box.
   
6. For the Destination option, type the full email address that you want to forward emails to in the text box.
   

   Note! You can add multiple email addresses to your forwarder separated by commas, for example:
   [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

7. Click Add Forwarder.
   
   You will then see a summary of the forwarder you created, similar to this:
   “All email sent to [email protected] will now be copied to [email protected].”

Congratulations, the email forwarder was created in the cPanel mail forwarders section. Now when going to the Email Account Forwarders page, the forwarder will show up on the list.

Creating a Forwarder in Webmail

1. Start by logging into webmail. Remember, you can log into webmail by visiting example.com/webmail. Also be sure to use the full email address as the username and the password associated with the email account you are logging into.
   
2. Now, verify you are logged into the correct email address and click “Forwarders“.
   
   
3. This screen shows you currently have no forwarders set up. Click “Add Forwarder”.
   
   
4. Fill in the field with the address to forward to and click “Add Forwarder”.
   
5. Now, go back to “forwarding options” and verify that your forwarder is set up properly!
   
   

Forward All Email for a Domain

1. Log into cPanel.
2. Click Forwarders in the Mail section.
3. Click Add Domain Forwarder.
   

   

4. Select the Domain you want to forward email from, in the drop-down box. Then, enter the domain you want to forward to. The official cPanel documentation notes: “Domain forwarding takes place only when a delivery is not successful. For example, a user sends an email to [email protected]. If [email protected] is an existing email address or auto responder, then the email will not be forwarded.”
5. Click Add Domain Forwarder.
   
   

   

   
   You are finished when you see a message similar to: “File updated ‘/etc/vdomainaliases/example.com’ All email sent to example.com will now be copied to domain.com”.
   
   

   

Congratulations! You now know how to set up email forwarders in cPanel! Check out our Email section for more helpful tutorials.