How to Configure Email Forwarders in StackCP

Not every email address needs its own full mailbox. Email Forwarders let you create an address that automatically redirects incoming mail to a different address — useful for role-based addresses, temporary redirects, or simply consolidating multiple addresses into one inbox you actually check.

Individual Forwarding vs. Catch-All Forwarding

StackCP offers two distinct types of forwarding, and it's worth understanding the difference before setting either up:

• Individual (Email) Forwarding — covered in this guide — lets you create a specific address that forwards to a different address, either instead of having its own mailbox, or in addition to an existing mailbox.
• Catch-All Forwarding — covered in our companion guide — only kicks in for mail sent to an address on your domain that doesn't match any existing mailbox or individual forwarder.

Step 1: Open Email Forwarders

1. Log in to StackCP.
2. Go to Manage Hosting, then Manage on your package.
3. Select Email Forwarders under the Email section.

Step 2: Create a Forwarder

1. Enter the account name — the part before the @ symbol for the address you want to create (for example, enter sales to create sales@yourdomain.com).
2. Enter the destination email address — where you want mail sent to that address to actually land.
3. Select Add Forwarder.

Mail sent to your new forwarding address will now be redirected to the destination you specified, without needing its own separate mailbox.

Step 3: Forward an Existing Mailbox's Mail (Optional)

You're not limited to addresses without a mailbox — a forwarder can also be applied alongside an existing mailbox, so mail continues arriving in that mailbox while also being copied to a second destination. This is useful, for example, if you want a manager to receive a copy of everything sent to a staff member's address without needing shared mailbox access.

Step 4: Test Your Forwarder

Send a test email to the new address and confirm it arrives at the destination you configured. It's good practice to do this immediately after setup, rather than assuming it's working correctly.

Common Use Cases

• Role-based addresses without a dedicated mailbox — careers@yourdomain.com forwarding straight to your HR team's actual mailbox.
• Temporary redirects — forwarding a departing employee's address to their manager or replacement during a transition period.
• Consolidating addresses — forwarding several different addresses (info@, contact@, hello@) into one mailbox you actually check daily, so you don't need to log into multiple inboxes.

Common Mistakes Beginners Make

• Forgetting to test after setup. A typo in the destination address means mail silently goes to the wrong place — or nowhere at all.
• Creating a forwarder and a mailbox with the same name and expecting both to work independently. Check how your specific configuration behaves, since forwarding rules interact directly with any existing mailbox of the same name.
• Using forwarders for high-volume, business-critical addresses without a backup plan. If the destination mailbox has an issue (full storage, wrong credentials), forwarded mail can be affected too — periodically confirm forwarders are still working as expected.

Troubleshooting

"My forwarded emails aren't arriving." Double-check the destination address for typos, and confirm the destination mailbox isn't full or otherwise unable to receive mail.

"I want to stop a forwarder without deleting the address entirely." Return to the Email Forwarders section and remove or edit the specific forwarder as needed.

"I set up a forwarder but I'm also getting mail directly." This can happen if a forwarder is configured alongside an existing mailbox rather than replacing it — review your specific setup in the Email Forwarders and Email Accounts sections to confirm which behaviour you intended.

Building a Simple Forwarding Structure for a Small Business

For a small business setting up email from scratch, a practical structure often looks like this: create one or two genuine mailboxes for the people who need full inbox access (checking, replying, organizing folders), and use forwarders for every other public-facing address your business needs. For example, info@, hello@, and contact@ might all forward to the same one or two real mailboxes, rather than each needing to be checked separately. This keeps your public-facing email presence looking comprehensive and professional while keeping your actual day-to-day inbox management simple.

Forwarders and Deliverability

It's worth knowing that forwarded mail can sometimes be treated slightly differently by spam filters at the destination than mail sent directly to a mailbox, since the forwarding step changes some of the technical routing information attached to the message. If you notice forwarded mail landing in spam more often than directly-addressed mail, this is a known, common pattern with email forwarding in general (not specific to StackCP) — configuring SPF, DKIM, and DMARC correctly (covered in our companion guides) helps reduce this effect, though it can't always be eliminated entirely due to how forwarding technically works across different mail systems.

A Note for Hosting Resellers Managing Customer Domains

If you're setting up email on behalf of customers, forwarders are a useful default to configure during onboarding, even before a customer has decided on their exact mailbox structure. Creating a forwarder from a sensible default address (like info@) to the customer's own personal or existing email address means they start receiving domain mail immediately, without needing to commit to a full mailbox setup or connect a new email app on day one. They can always convert this into a full mailbox later as their needs become clearer.