Email forwarding automatically sends a copy of incoming messages from one address to another. You can use it to consolidate multiple addresses into one inbox, forward business email to your personal account, or create simple aliases that do not need their own mailbox.
cPanel > Email > Forwarders
Click "Add Forwarder," enter the address you want to forward from, and specify where it should go. You can forward to any email address, even one at a different provider like Gmail or Outlook.com.
01. How to Create a Forwarder
- Log into cPanel at my.ultrawebhosting.com
- Go to Email > Forwarders
- Click "Add Forwarder"
- Enter the address to forward (the local part before the @). Select your domain from the dropdown.
- Enter the destination - Where the forwarded email should go. This can be any email address.
- Click "Add Forwarder"
02. Forwarding With or Without a Mailbox
There are two approaches:
Forwarder Only (No Mailbox)
Create a forwarder without creating a corresponding email account. Messages sent to the forwarding address go directly to the destination. No storage is used on your hosting account. Ideal for simple aliases like info@ or sales@ that should just land in your main inbox.
Mailbox + Forwarder
Create both an email account AND a forwarder for the same address. Messages are delivered to the local mailbox AND forwarded to the destination. Useful if you want a copy on the server (accessible via webmail) plus a copy in Gmail or another inbox. Uses disk space for the local copy.
03. Common Uses
- Business aliases - Forward
[email protected],[email protected], and[email protected]all to your main inbox - Team distribution - Forward
[email protected]to multiple team members' personal addresses - Gmail integration - Forward your hosting email to Gmail for reading, and configure Gmail to send from your domain address via SMTP. See setting up Google email for a more robust approach.
- Catch-all alternative - Instead of a catch-all that accepts email for any address, create specific forwarders for the addresses you actually need
Large email providers use strict spam filtering. If forwarded messages are flagged as spam by the receiving provider, your server's IP may be penalized, which can affect all email from your domain. To avoid this, make sure your domain has proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. See Understanding Email Authentication.
04. Domain-Level Forwarding
You can also forward all email for an entire domain to another domain. In cPanel > Forwarders, look for "Add Domain Forwarder." This sends every message addressed to [email protected] to the same address at the destination domain.
This is useful during domain migrations when you want all email for the old domain to arrive at the new one.
Need Help With Email Configuration?
For more on creating email accounts and aliases, see our email accounts guide or open a support ticket.
Open a Support TicketQuick Recap
- Set up in cPanel > Email > Forwarders
- Forwarder-only uses no disk space - Good for simple aliases
- Mailbox + forwarder keeps a local copy - Good if you also need webmail access
- Verify SPF/DKIM when forwarding to Gmail - Prevents deliverability issues
- Domain-level forwarding - Useful during domain migrations
Email forwarding made simple · Last updated March 2026 · Browse all Email articles
