Forwarding an email in Gmail is very convenient when you want to send an email you’ve received to someone else. There are many reasons why you might want to forward your Gmail messages:
- If you’re in an organization, forwarding is a great way to circulate information to different groups of people.
- If your favorite company sent out a great promotion, you could forward it to your friends.
- If you want to forward all emails from one of your accounts to another, you can auto-forward all incoming messages there
No matter the reason, forwarding emails on Gmail is a simple process that can be done in a few clicks. Gmail offers two different ways to forward your emails: manually and automatically. We’ll take a look at both methods so you can learn how to forward in Gmail.
How to forward an email on Gmail manually
If you’re looking to send an individual message to one or a few people, manually forwarding the email is the way to go.
Step 1: Open the email you want to forward
The first step is finding the email in your Gmail inbox that you want to forward. If you’re having trouble finding it among the many emails you receive, use the search bar at the top.
Once you’ve found the email, open it up.
Click on the “Forward” button
Once the email is open, look for the "Forward" button in the bottom right-hand corner of the message. It should be an arrow pointing to the right (“Reply” points to the left). Click on it.
If the email is long and you don’t want to scroll, you can go to the three dots at the top right of the email. Click on them and you should see a “Forward” option.
Choose a forward address and send
A new window will pop up. In the "To" field, type in the email address of the person you want to send the message to.
Above the forwarded message, you can write a message to the address you’re forwarding to. This message may provide them context for why you’re forwarding the email to them.
When you're finished, click the "Send" button.
That's it! You've successfully forwarded an email message in Gmail manually. Let's take a look at how to set up automatic forwarding.
Accidentally sent an email? Learn how to retract an email in Gmail here
How to Forward Emails Automatically in Gmai
Can you redirect emails to a new email address automatically in Gmail? Yes, you can. If you want your emails automatically forwarded to a different address, you can set up mail forwarding on Gmail.
Step 1: Go to Settings
The first step is to go to Settings. To do this, click on the gear icon in the top right corner of your Gmail page. This will open up a drop-down menu with a bunch of different options.
One of these options is "See all settings.” Click on this. It'll take you to a new page with all of your Gmail settings.
Step 2: Go to Gmail Forwarding and POP/IMAP Settings
On this new page, find the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" tab, which should be after the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” tab. Once you click on this, a new section will open up with your forwarding options.
Step 3: Choose a forward address and send
In the "Forwarding" section, click on the "Add a forwarding address" button. This will open up a popup window where you can add the email address you want your Gmail emails to be forwarded to. Then click on ‘’Next’’ > ‘’Proceed’’ > ‘’OK’.”
Step 4: Confirm verification link
After you've added the forwarding address, Gmail will send a verification link to that address. You’ll need to log in and click on this link to confirm that you want your Gmail emails forwarded there.
Step 5: Refresh your browser
After you've confirmed the verification link, go back to your original email and the settings page. You may need to refresh your browser before the changes take effect.
Step 6: Enable forwarding
Once you're back on the settings page, find the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" tab again and click on it. In the "Forwarding" section, select ''Forward a copy of incoming mail to'' and the email address you want your Gmail emails forwarded to.
You can also choose what will happen to the emails after they're forwarded. There are four options:
- Keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox (recommended): This will keep a copy of every email that's forwarded to your Gmail inbox. This way, even if you accidentally delete an email from your forwarding address, you'll still have a copy in Gmail.
- Archive Gmail's copy: This will archive the email in Gmail after it's been forwarded. This means that it'll still be in your Gmail account, but will be moved out of your inbox.
- Mark Gmail's copy as read: This will mark the email as read in Gmail after it's been forwarded.
- Delete Gmail's copy: This will delete the email from Gmail after it's been forwarded.
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Step 7: Save Changes
After you've chosen what you want to happen with the forwarded emails, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the "Save Changes" button. This will save your forwarding settings and start forwarding all new emails to your chosen address.
That's it! You've now learned how to set up an automatic email forwarding rule in Gmail.
However, there are a few things to keep in mind with automatic forwarding.
First, you can only forward emails to one email address at a time.
Second, you can disable email forwarding at any time by going back into your settings and checking the "Disable Forwarding" box and saving.
Third, if you want to forward certain emails only (e.g., emails with a certain subject line), then you'll need to set up filters. This is a bit more complex and is outside the scope of this article, but you can learn more about it in our article on creating rules in Gmail.
Get more out of your Gmail account with YAMM
There you have it! You now know how to forward emails on Gmail both manually and automatically. If you send out mass emails, you may use an alias or reply-to address for replies. However, replies will not arrive at the address where the mail merge was sent. With YAMM, this is easy to configure and involves the same settings for automatic forwarding!
YAMM is a mail merge that allows you to manage your email lists and send out personalized messages to recipients. With YAMM, you can schedule when your mail merge is sent out and track results in real-time. Plus, YAMM integrates seamlessly with Google Workplace!
Install YAMM today and start sending powerful messages to more people than ever before!