Set Up Email Forwarding in Microsoft 365 (Admin Portal)

📧 Set Up Email Forwarding in Microsoft 365 (Admin Portal)

🔑 Prerequisites

• Admin access to Microsoft 365 Admin Center
• An existing user mailbox to forward from
• A valid destination email address

🧭 Method 1: Forward Mail from a User Mailbox (Most Common)

1. Sign in to Admin Portal

• Go to: https://admin.microsoft.com
• Log in with your admin account

2. Go to Active Users

• In the left sidebar:
  • Click Users
  • Then Active users

3. Select the Mailbox

• Find and click the user whose emails you want to forward
• This opens the user details panel

4. Open Mail Settings

• In the user panel:
  • Go to the Mail tab (or “Mail settings” depending on UI version)

5. Configure Email Forwarding

• Click Manage email forwarding
• Toggle Forward all emails sent to this mailbox
• Enter the destination email address

6. Choose Delivery Option

You’ll see an option:

• ✅ Keep a copy of forwarded emails (recommended in most cases)
• ❌ Unchecked = emails only go to the forward address

7. Save Changes

• Click Save changes

⚙️ Method 2: Forward via Shared Mailbox (Alternative)

Useful when:

• You don’t want to license a user
• Multiple people need access

Steps:

1. Go to Teams & groups → Shared mailboxes
2. Select or create a shared mailbox
3. Click Email forwarding
4. Enable forwarding and enter destination
5. Save

⚠️ Important Notes

• External forwarding may be blocked by default in some tenants
  → Check this in:
  • Exchange Admin Center → Mail flow → Remote domains
  • Or anti-spam outbound policies
• Security consideration:
  Forwarding to external addresses can create data leakage risks

🧪 Quick Test

After setup:

1. Send a test email to the original mailbox
2. Confirm:
   • It arrives at the forwarding address
   • (Optional) It remains in the original mailbox if enabled