Let’s face it: in the modern workplace, email doesn’t just sit still. People change roles, go on vacation, or move on to new adventures, but the messages sent to them keep coming. Setting up email forwarding in Exchange Online sounds straightforward. But there are often a few surprises along the way, especially since external forwarding is blocked by default in many Microsoft 365 tenants for security reasons.
This guide will walk you through the primary ways to configure email forwarding for a mailbox in Exchange Online.
Configure Email Forwarding for a Mailbox in Exchange Admin Center
This is the standard method for Exchange administrators to manage mailbox-specific forwarding settings.
- Sign in to the Exchange admin center.
- Go to Recipients > Mailboxes. Click on the specific mailbox you want to configure.
- In the properties pane that appears, select the Mailbox tab and then click Manage email forwarding.
- To enable email forwarding for a Exchange mailbox, toggle Forward all emails sent to this mailbox to On.
- To configure email forwarding for internal recipients, use the Search email button to locate and select a user within your organization.
- For external recipients, select Forward to an external email address and manually enter the external email address.
- Check the box for Deliver message to both forwarding address and mailbox if you want the original recipient to still receive the emails.
- Click Save and close the pane.
Note: External email forwarding can increase security risks and is often restricted in Microsoft 365 environments. If forwarding to external recipients is required, administrators may need to allow it through outbound anti-spam policies. Also, mailbox owners can view and modify forwarding configured to external addresses, but they cannot modify forwarding configured to internal recipients.
Manage Email Forwarding in Microsoft 365 Admin Center
This method is often faster for basic user management tasks.
- Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Navigate to Users > Active users. Click the name of the user.
- Select the Mail tab and click Manage email forwarding.
- Turn on the Forward all emails sent to this mailbox toggle, enter the destination address, and choose whether to keep a local copy.
- : Click Save changes.
🚩 Limitation: While both admin centres work for one-off changes, it has real limitations. There is no bulk-edit capability, so forwarding fifty leavers requires clicking through fifty separate mailbox records. For anything at scale, PowerShell is the more reliable path.
Manage Email Forwarding in Microsoft 365 Mailbox Using PowerShell
For bulk updates or advanced automation, you can use the Exchange Online PowerShell module. The Set-Mailbox cmdlet in the ExchangeOnlineManagement module handles both internal and external forwarding, but the two cases use different parameters. Mixing them up is a common source of silent failures.
| Parameter | Use Case |
|---|---|
-ForwardingAddress | Forward to internal recipients within your Microsoft 365 organization. |
-ForwardingSmtpAddress | Forward to external recipients outside your organization. |
-DeliverToMailboxAndForward | Controls whether a copy remains in the original mailbox. |
Firstly, connect to Exchange Online PowerShell and run the following.
1. Forward to an Internal Recipient (Keep a Copy)
Use -ForwardingAddress when forwarding emails to another user within your organization.
Set-Mailbox -Identity "user@contoso.com" -ForwardingAddress "manager@contoso.com" -DeliverToMailboxAndForward $true 2. Forward to an External Address (Forward Only)
Use -ForwardingSmtpAddress for external partners or personal accounts.
Set-Mailbox -Identity "user@contoso.com" -ForwardingSmtpAddress "external@partner.com" -DeliverToMailboxAndForward $false Important: External forwarding is blocked by default. If this fails, check your Outbound Anti-Spam Policy in the Microsoft Defender portal and ensure “Automatic Forwarding” is enabled.
3. Remove All Forward in Mailbox
Clear both forwarding parameters to completely disable forwarding for the mailbox.
Set-Mailbox -Identity "user@contoso.com" -ForwardingAddress $null -ForwardingSmtpAddress $null 4. Verify Mailbox Forwarding Settings
Always verify the mailbox configuration after making changes.
Get-Mailbox -Identity "user@contoso.com" | Select-Object ForwardingAddress, ForwardingSmtpAddress, DeliverToMailboxAndForward 🚩 Critical Watchouts
- Mail Loops: Ensure the destination address doesn’t forward back to the original sender, which creates a loop that can crash a mailbox or trigger NDRs.
- Licensing: Even if forwarding is active, the source mailbox must remain licensed (unless it is a Shared Mailbox).
- Testing: Always test with a non-production account first to ensure your tenant’s spam policies allow the traffic.
Before applying forwarding at scale, map the routing path end to end. Microsoft 365’s Message Trace tool (under the Exchange Admin Center) is useful for tracing where messages end up after forwarding rules are applied.
Simplify Setting Up Email Forwarding for a Mailbox Using EasyEntra
For teams that prefer a no-PowerShell workflow, EasyEntra surfaces email forwarding configuration directly in the user properties panel. There is no need to know which parameter handles internal vs external addresses, as EasyEntra autodetects the forward type based on the address you enter.
How to Configure Mailbox Forwarding in EasyEntra
Learn how to manage mailbox forwarding settings using EasyEntra.
- Open the required user’s properties panel for the relevant account.
- Navigate to the Mailbox tab. Click Delivery Options.
- Check in the Email forwarding option and enter the forwarding address. EasyEntra detects whether the target is internal or external and applies the correct Exchange parameter automatically.
- Use the Keep a copy in this mailbox checkbox to control whether the original recipient still receives the message.
- Click Ok to save the changes.
EasyEntra’s forwarding configuration works for both standard mailboxes and shared mailboxes from the same interface, eliminating the need to switch between the EAC and PowerShell for different mailbox types.
