There are administrator and user options for forwarding Google Workspace email.
Email forwarding for Google Workspace admins
Google Workspace administrators can use the methods in this section to set up email forwarding for their organization.
Set up address maps
Create address maps to redirect incoming messages to email addresses that are different from the original recipient or destination. Learn how to Redirect incoming messages with address maps.
Advantages
- Administrators have control and visibility over where user mail is forwarded.
- This feature can be managed from your Google Admin console.
Limitations
- You can map a single email address to up to 12 other addresses.
- Depending on your email sending practices, we may reduce the recipient address limit for your domain. This can affect recipient limits for your address maps. We recommend you follow our best practices for sending mail to Gmail users.
Set user-level routing
Set up user-level routing to create more destinations where messages are delivered for specific user accounts. Learn how to Route users' email to another address.
Advantages
- Administrators have control and visibility over where user mail is forwarded.
- This feature can be managed from your Google Admin console.
Limitations
Administrators can't forward mail to any email address hosted by Google Workspace, which includes other addresses in your domain. To forward a user's email to a Google Workspace address, have the user set up a forwarding address from their Gmail account.
Email forwarding for Google Workspace users
If users in your organization want to set up forwarding for their own account only, they can use one of these options.
Automatically forward messages to another account
Gmail lets your users automatically forward incoming mail to another email address. For details, direct your users to Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account.
Advantages
- Easy for users to set up after they follow the instructions and get the forwarding account confirmed with Google.
- Users have control and can change where their messages are forwarded to.
Limitations
- Users can set up only one forwarding address.
- Administrators have no visibility or control over this feature on a per-user basis. However, admins can disable automatic forwarding for users their organization.
Use filters to forward messages
Your users can manage the flow of incoming messages with filters. Filter can automatically take actions on messages (archiving, deleting, forwarding messages) based on user rules. For details, direct your users to Create rules to filter your emails.
Advantages
Instead of forwarding all incoming messages, Gmail filters can forward messages based on certain rules. For example, you can forward messages from certain addresses or that have a particular subject.
Limitations
- Users can create up to 20 filters that forward to other addresses.
- Administrators have no visibility or control over this feature on a per-user basis. However, administrators can disable the ability to forward messages for all users in the Google Admin console.