How-To

How to Automatically Forward Email from Outlook

By Brian Burgess

Updated October 1, 2023

Want to centralize your emails into one inbox? You can forward your Outlook emails to help you. This guide explains how.

If you have multiple Microsoft email accounts and want all of your emails to be forwarded to a specific account, you can. You can configure Outlook to automatically forward emails to another address.

Keeping your emails under one umbrella makes email management much easier. You can set this up for all Microsoft-based email addresses, including @outlook, @live, or even your old @hotmail address.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to set up forwarding in different versions of the Outlook mail app.

How to Automatically Forward Emails from Outlook

If you want to ensure emails are forwarded from a specific account, you can set it up on Microsoft’s Outlook email site. Also, once you set the forwarding option, it will sync across all devices you’re signed in with the same Microsoft account.

To forward an email from Outlook on the web:

1. Launch a browser on your computer.
2. Head to the Outlook website and sign in with your Microsoft account credentials.
3. Click the Settings button (gear icon) in the top right corner of the page.

4. When the Settings window opens, select Mail from the left column.

5. Click Forwarding under the Layout section.

6. Check the Enable forwarding box and type the email address you want messages sent to. Optionally, press the Keep a copy of forwarded messages box to ensure you have backups if the transfer process goes wrong.

7. Once you complete the steps, click the Save button in the lower-right corner to confirm.

How to Forward Emails from the Outlook App

If you are using the new Outlook mail app on Windows, you can forward email messages to a specific account from within it.

To forward emails from the Outlook app:

1. Launch the Outlook app from the Start menu on your Windows PC.

2. When the app launches, click Settings (gear icon) in the top-right corner of the app.

3. Select the Mail option in the left column and click Forwarding under the Layout column.

4. In the Forwarding section, select the account to apply forwarding to if you have multiple ones.
5. Check the Enable forwarding box, type in the address to forward emails to, and optionally choose to keep a copy of forwarded messages.

6. Click the Save button at the bottom of the screen to confirm the changes.

7. Close out of the Settings screen, and your emails will be automatically forwarded to the address you set up.

How to Configure Forwarding in the Microsoft 365 Version of Outlook

If you use the traditional Microsoft 365 desktop version of Outlook, setting up forwarding is straightforward, but the instructions vary.

To configure email forwarding in Outlook (Microsoft 365):

1. Launch Outlook on your PC.
2. Select the Home tab and select Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts in the Move section on the ribbon.

3. When the Rules and Alerts screen opens, click the New Rule button.
4. Select the Apply rule on messages I receive option and click Next.

4. When the Rule Wizard appears, you have different options. You can set certain conditions. For example, set emails from specific users, level of importance, or ones that contain specific words.

5. In this example, we’re choosing specific people and groups. Click the People or public group link in the Step 2 section.

6. Select the contacts you want forwarded and click OK.

7. To forward all emails, select the box next to the rule that will apply to all emails sent to your address and complete the wizard.

Managing Your Emails in Outlook

If you need to consolidate your emails for easier management, you can automatically forward emails from Outlook using the above steps. It’s worth noting you currently can’t set up forwarding from the mobile app, but whatever you set up to forward will sync to your phone.

There are more ways to get more from Outlook. For example, if you have a crowded inbox, you may want to pin emails in Outlook, or if you’re not getting emails in a timely manner, you can fix Outlook not syncing.

Also, if you need a physical copy of important email messages, learn how to print email from Outlook. And if you’re a Mac user, check out how to enable Out of Office Assistant in Outlook on macOS.