Email forwarding and aliases
How to create an email forwarder or alias
What's the difference between a forward and an alias?
An email forward is used to transfer emails sent to the forwarding address to one or more other email addresses, including email addresses "external" to Gandi. For example, you could forward all emails sent to "contact@example.com" to "contact@gmail.com".
Aliases are "alternative" addresses to a single mailbox. Emails sent to an alias will always be delivered to the main email address of the alias. An alias must therefore end with the same domain as the main email address. Some examples are given below in the section dedicated to Aliases.
Forward or Alias?
The two functions have different purposes:
- An alias allows you to have several email addresses redirecting to a single mailbox.
- A forward allows you to have one email address redirecting to several mailboxes (internal and/or external).
Important
Avoid having identical aliases and mailboxes, as this can cause problems ( emails will either only be delivered to the alias, or not at all). You should also avoid using email forwards to a large number of external addresses, as this could result in your domain being blacklisted. For this sort of case (newsletters, etc...) it's best to use an external mailing-list service (like SendinBlue for example). An email forwarder is not and must not be used as a mailing list.
Create an email forwarding address
Forwarding addresses enable you to redirect emails sent to one or more email addresses belonging to your domain to an "external" address, e.g. by forwarding emails from name@yourdomain.tld directly to your@usualemailaddress.com.
Note
Forwarded emails are not distributed to a Gandimail mailbox with the same name, but instead are sent directly to the "external" address. You will therefore need to retrieve them via the management interface of this external mailbox. If, however, you wish to retrieve emails intended for forwarding to a mailbox "at the same address", you'll need to include this mailbox in the list of forwarding recipients. If you follow the example above, the recipients will be your@usualemailaddress.com and name@yourdomain.tld. However, this kind of practice can increase your "spam score" and negatively impact the "reputation" of your email addresses.
Before creating your mail redirection, check that you are using Gandi's MX servers (in the Domain menu / DNS records). This is a prerequisite for email to transit through Gandi's servers.
Once you're certain that your domain uses our MX servers:
Go to the Domain menu / Email tab.
Click on the "Forwarding address" option.
If you haven't created email forwarding yet, you'll see the option to "Create a forwarding address", otherwise you'll be able to "Create" a new forwarding by clicking on the button.
Enter the name of the email address (the system adds the "@" and your domain automatically) and the email address (or addresses) to which you want to forward your emails.
Click on "Create" to finalize the process.
Note
If you're creating an email forward AND an email inbox using the same address, and you want to receive the emails on your external address AND your internal address, simply enter the internal address as an additional recipient of the forward. This way, the email will be forwarded to all destination addresses.
example: info@example.com -> info@example.com, me@anotherexample.com
Important
As the SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is designed to verify that the emails you receive come from the intended sender, emails that you forward via a forwarding method may fail the SPF test, as they are sent from Gandi's outgoing email server and no longer from the original outgoing server. This can result in an email not being received, or received with a "SPAM" label. Make sure that Gandi's SPF is in place (in the Domain name / DNS records menu), and keep this in mind when creating an email forward.
Specific case of forwarding to Gmail
The Gmail anti-spam filters treat forwarded emails more strictly. As a result, a forwarded email already is scored higher by their filters, and is thus more likely to be considered as spam. This may give the impression that the forwarding doesn't work, when in fact it's Gmail that directly filters out such messages. To prevent this, make sure that Gandimail's SPF record is in place (in the Domain Name / DNS Records menu). However, this may not be enough (especially if the Gmail address is already a spam target), in which case please refer to this Gmail help (see the second part): https://support.google.com/mail/answer/175365
Create an email alias
Unlike a mail forward, where addresses are forwarded to an email address associated with a different domain (to a Gmail address, for example), an alias will redirect (or rather make available) emails to an address on the same domain name. This allows you to specify variants or alternatives to the "name" of an email address (the part before the @).
Important
An email server does not "duplicate" incoming emails. If you create an email address AND an alias with the same name (michael@example.com and "michael" alias of andrew@example.com), emails sent to "michael@example.com" will either NOT be delivered, or will only arrive in one of the mailboxes. We therefore strongly discourage the use of identical aliases and email addresses.
To add an alias to an existing address :
Go to the Domain menu / Email tab.
Click on "Email" in the navigation menu.
Click on the email address for which you want to add one or more aliases, then on "Manage" to the right of Aliases in the Configuration section on the next page.
Enter the alias name in the "alias" field. Add only the name (i.e. the part before the @); the system will add the @ and the domain automatically. Add as many aliases as you like, but only one per line.
Example:
For an address such as "micheal.smith@example.com" you can set up the aliases as follows:
michaelsmith(@example.com)
m.smith(@example.com)
michael(@example.com)
smith(@example.com)
All emails sent to these aliases will be delivered to the "michael.smith@example.com" mailbox.
Note
You can also use the wildcard character "*", which stands for "everything". For example, if you use "super*" as an alias, all emails sent to an address starting with "super" (supervisor@, supercomputer@, etc.) will be delivered to the mailbox corresponding to the alias. You can also use it alone (as in "*@example.com") to create a "catchall" address that will accept any email sent to your domain name.
When you've finished, click on " Save " at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
"Dynamic" Aliases
Gandi offers another way to create aliases "on the fly". All you need to do is add a "+" after the name of an existing email address, and before the arobase (@). The email address will be fully functional, and emails sent to it will be delivered to the original mailbox.
For example, with the "donner@example.com" address, I can create a "donner+google@example.com" address if required, for example when signing up on a website. Emails sent to donner+google@example.com will then be delivered to donner@example.com.
Advantages
- There is no limit to the number of aliases you can create this way.
- There is no need to create the alias via your Gandi account interface.
- They can literally be created "on the fly".
- They can be specific to a particular use.
Disadvantages
- Gandi's interface doesn't "list" aliases created in this way.
- If this alias is used by spammers, it is the original mailbox that will be "spammed" ( although this can be regulated via a filter).
- Not all email services (as email address providers) offer this. Gandi does, of course.
Application
These dynamic aliases are generally created for convenience on a mailbox that you think may be "spammed". If your alias does indeed "leak" via spam, you'll know which site is the source of the leak (for example, if you use the site or company name in the alias), and you'll be able to keep your original address while filtering the leaked alias.
Technical limitations
The number of aliases for a given domain is theoretically unlimited.
That being said, the number of mail forwards is limited to a total of 1000 for a given domain, whether you create 1000 forwarding addresses to 1 external address or 1 email forward to 1000 external addresses. Please note, however, that the purpose of an email forward is not to replace a mailing list (there are specific services for this: https://mailchimp.com/en/ is just one example). The more recipients you add to a mail forwarding, the greater the risk that this address will be considered as sending SPAM (since by default, for each mail received, it will send out just as many as the number of recipients).