Configuring Email Forwarding for a User in Office 365

Email forwarding in Office 365 allows administrators and users to automatically redirect incoming messages to another email address. This can be useful for transitioning employees, shared inboxes, or forwarding emails to external contacts. This guide covers how to configure email forwarding for a user using both the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and PowerShell.

Requirements

• Admin access to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center or Exchange Online PowerShell
• A licensed user mailbox in Office 365

Method 1: Configure Email Forwarding Using the Microsoft 365 Admin Center

Step 1: Log into the Admin Center

1. Open a browser and go to https://admin.microsoft.com
2. Sign in with your administrator credentials

Step 2: Open the User's Mail Settings

1. In the left-hand menu, navigate to Users > Active users
2. Find the user whose email you want to forward and click on their name
3. Click Mail to access mailbox settings

Step 3: Enable Email Forwarding

1. Scroll down to Email forwarding and click Edit
2. Toggle the Forward all emails sent to this mailbox switch to On
3. Enter the email address where emails should be forwarded
4. (Optional) Check the Keep a copy of forwarded emails box if you want emails to stay in the original mailbox
5. Click Save to apply the changes

📌 Note: It may take a few minutes for the changes to take effect.

Method 2: Configure Email Forwarding Using PowerShell

For bulk configurations or scripting needs, PowerShell is a more efficient way to set up forwarding.

Step 1: Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell

1. Open PowerShell on your computer
2. Run the following command to connect to Exchange Online:

Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName [email protected]

Step 2: Enable Email Forwarding

Run the following command to forward a user's emails:

Set-Mailbox -Identity "[email protected]" -ForwardingSMTPAddress "[email protected]" -DeliverToMailboxAndForward $true

📌 Explanation:

• [email protected] → The user whose emails will be forwarded
• [email protected] → The recipient of the forwarded emails
• -DeliverToMailboxAndForward $true → Keeps a copy of the email in the original mailbox. Set to $false if you don't want to keep a copy

Step 3: Verify Email Forwarding Settings

To check if forwarding is enabled, run:

Get-Mailbox -Identity "[email protected]" | Select ForwardingSMTPAddress,DeliverToMailboxAndForward

This will display the forwarding email address and whether copies are retained.

Step 4: Disable Email Forwarding (If Needed)

To remove email forwarding, use:

Set-Mailbox -Identity "[email protected]" -ForwardingSMTPAddress $null -DeliverToMailboxAndForward $false

Testing the Configuration

• Send a test email to the user's address and confirm that it arrives at the forwarding address
• If you enabled the Keep a copy of forwarded emails option, verify that the email also remains in the user's inbox

Best Practices

✅ Review forwarding rules regularly - Ensure forwarding is still needed and remove outdated rules ✅ Use caution with external addresses - Forwarding to external domains can pose security risks ✅ Document forwarding rules - Keep records of who has forwarding enabled and why ✅ Consider using shared mailboxes instead - For team inboxes, shared mailboxes are often a better solution