Forwarders, auto-replies, spam and catch-all

The Forwarders & replies page in the panel holds the extra mail tools that sit around your mailboxes: forwarders, automatic replies, the spam filter and the catch-all setting. Every change is active within a minute.

Before you start#

• You need a plan with mailboxes, and at least one domain with mail on FiniteHost. See Email accounts.
• Open the page: in the panel menu, under Email, choose Forwarders & replies.

Forwarders#

A forwarder sends mail for an address on your domain on to other addresses. For example, mail to sales@acme.in can go to priya@acme.in and to a partner's address elsewhere.

1. Find Forwarders and enter the address on your domain, for example sales@acme.in.
2. Add where it should go. You can enter up to 5 addresses, on your domain or anywhere else.
3. Tick Keep a copy if mail should also be delivered to the mailbox of the same name. This needs that mailbox to exist.
4. Save the forwarder.

An address does not have to be a mailbox to forward. sales@acme.in can be a forwarder only, which saves a mailbox on your plan.

How many forwarders you can have depends on your plan: 4 forwarders for each mailbox your plan includes, and always at least 4. For example, a plan with 5 mailboxes allows 20 forwarders.

Automatic replies#

An automatic reply (autoresponder) answers incoming mail for you, for example while you are on leave.

1. Find Autoresponders and pick the mailbox.
2. Write the Subject and Message of the reply.
3. Set From and Until dates if you like. They are in India time. Without dates, the reply stays on until you remove it.
4. Save.

Each sender gets at most one reply a day, so a long conversation does not fill their inbox with copies. Use Edit to change the reply and Remove to turn it off.

Spam filter#

Every incoming message is checked for spam:

• Clear spam is refused and never reaches you.
• Likely spam goes to the Junk folder of each mailbox that has this ticked. It is on by default for every mailbox.

Untick a mailbox only if you want likely spam delivered to the inbox instead. Check the Junk folder now and then for good mail that was caught by mistake.

Catch-all address#

Mail sent to an address that does not exist on your domain, such as sales-team@acme.in when there is no such mailbox, is rejected by default. The sender gets a bounce message, so they know to check the address. This is the recommended setting.

You can instead send all such mail to one existing mailbox or forwarder on the same domain, per domain:

1. Find Catch-all and pick the domain.
2. Choose the mailbox or forwarder that should receive mail for unknown addresses.
3. Save.

Deleting a mailbox#

To delete a mailbox, press its delete (trash) button on the Email accounts page. New mail to that address is then rejected. Mail that was stored in it stays in our backups for 30 days; if you need it back, open a support ticket. See Email accounts.

Troubleshooting#

• "Keep a copy" is refused: there is no mailbox with that address. Create it first under Email accounts, or leave the box unticked.
• I cannot add more forwarders: you have used your plan's allowance. Remove one you no longer need, or upgrade your plan.
• A sender got my auto-reply only once: that is expected. Each sender gets at most one reply a day.
• Good mail is in Junk: move it to the inbox. If it keeps happening, ask the sender to check their own mail setup; see Keep your mail out of spam.
• Forwarded mail does not arrive at an outside address: check that address's spam folder first.

What's next#

• Email accounts: create a mailbox
• Email DNS records
• Email limits and policies