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Redirecting vs. Forwarding Email
Not many email programs can redirect, but it's a useful tool nonetheless
By Heinz Tschabitscher Heinz Tschabitscher Writer University of Vienna A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on March 27, 2022 Reviewed by Ryan Perian Reviewed by Ryan Perian Western Governors University Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Email Yahoo! Mail Gmail Most people either reply to or forward emails. However, a rarely implemented redirect protocol gets a message from a sender to the right recipient through an intermediary recipient. Redirecting is also known as remailing. Lifewire What Is an Email Redirection
Redirection is a special case of an email forward. In a standard forward, the person forwarding the message appears to be the sender. In a redirection, the message appears to come from the original sender. For example, if bob@xyz.com receives a message from sally@abc.com, and Bob forwards it to his colleague fred@xyz.com, it appears to Fred as a forward from Bob. However, if Bob redirects Sally's message, it looks as if it came from Sally directly. Most modern email clients don't support per-message redirection. The exceptions include The Bat! and Thunderbird. How Can I Redirect a Message
Email How-Tos, Help & Tips One exception is Mozilla Thunderbird. It doesn't support redirection natively. However, it supports add-ons that include this capability. But unlike The Bat!, which inserts a redirect-from header, Thunderbird add-ons rewrite the sender line to indicate the redirecting sender, but on behalf of the original sender. This functionality mimics a pure redirection, but imperfectly. Can I Redirect All Messages
Some modern programs support rules-based redirection. For example, the desktop version of Microsoft Outlook supports custom rules that allow for mail meeting specific criteria to be automatically redirected to a different user. Although these rules apply without end-user intervention—meaning, you can't individually redirect messages—it's a great tool for redirecting classes of messages. For example, an Outlook rule can redirect messages from a generic inbound account to a specific user. Redirection is not the same as configuring an email account to automatically forward all emails (or all emails that meet a rule) to a different address. That process is still forwarding, even if the email program calls it redirection. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire Learn How to Properly Redirect an Email in Outlook How to View Full Message Headers in Mozilla Thunderbird How to Forward an Email as an Attachment in Outlook How to Set Up an Incoming Mail Filter in Windows Live Hotmail How to Forward Outlook Mail to Another Email Address How to Indent Text or Decrease Quote Level in iPhone Mail How to Recover Missing Emails in Gmail How to Load Images in a Message in Evolution How to Streamline Conversations in Outlook How to Change the Default Font and Size in Outlook How to Forward a Message With Outlook How to Recover Mail From the Outlook Junk Mail Folder How to Schedule an Email in Gmail What You Need to Know About Mailer Daemon Spam Filter One Sender's Mail to a Certain Folder in Outlook How to Find All Mail From a Sender Quickly in Outlook Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies