Quicktion

How to Automatically Forward Emails in Gmail

Gmail can forward email automatically in two ways. You can forward every new message that arrives, or you can forward only the emails that match a filter, such as everything from one sender or anything with "receipt" in it. Both need the receiving address added and verified first, so that is step one either way.

Step 1: Add and verify the forwarding address

  1. Open Gmail, click the gear icon in the top right, then See all settings.
  2. Go to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
  3. Click Add a forwarding address, enter the address and click Next, then Proceed.

Gmail sends a confirmation email to that address. Open it and click the link. Until that happens, the address won't show up anywhere else in Gmail.

If the address belongs to Quicktion (it looks like xyz@in.quicktion.io), the confirmation never reaches your own inbox, because it was sent to Quicktion. Quicktion recognizes it and hands you the link in two places:

  • By email. Within a few seconds you get a message from Quicktion titled "Gmail is waiting for you to confirm forwarding" with a Confirm forwarding button.
  • In the dashboard. Open the destination in Quicktion. A yellow banner at the top says "Gmail forwarding verification required" with a Confirm button.

Click either one. Google opens a page confirming that your Gmail account may forward to that address. If you added the address during setup, before creating a destination, the banner appears on the setup page instead.

Can't find the confirmation? Check that you typed the address exactly as shown in Quicktion, then remove it and add it again in Gmail to get a fresh one.

Forward every new email

Only do this if you really want everything to go somewhere else, spam excluded.

  1. Back on the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab, select Forward a copy of incoming mail to and pick the verified address.
  2. Choose what happens to Gmail's copy: keep it in the inbox, or archive it.
  3. Click Save Changes at the bottom.

The forward-all setting takes one address at a time. If you only want some emails forwarded, leave this off and use a filter instead.

Forward only specific emails with a filter

  1. In Gmail, click the search options icon on the right side of the search box.
  2. Fill in what you want to match:
    • From for a specific sender's address or domain.
    • To for emails sent to a particular address, handy with aliases or a shared inbox.
    • Subject for words in the subject line.
    • Has the words for words anywhere in the message.
    • Doesn't have to leave certain emails out.
  3. Click Search first to see what the filter would catch, then click Create filter.
  4. Tick Forward it to and choose the verified address from the dropdown.
  5. Click Create filter to save.

Every new email that matches now goes to that address. Gmail applies all the fields you filled in together (AND logic), so leave a field blank if you don't need it. To forward to more than one address, create one filter per address.

Examples

  • Everything from a client: From client@company.com.
  • Invoices and receipts: Has the words invoice OR receipt OR payment. The OR has to be in capitals.
  • A shared alias: To support@yourcompany.com.
  • A newsletter: From the sender, plus Has the words unsubscribe to be safe.

Forward emails you already have

Filters only touch mail that arrives after you create them. Google's help page says it plainly: a filter that forwards messages only affects new messages. The Also apply filter to matching conversations checkbox applies labels, stars and archiving to older emails, but it does not forward them.

For emails already in your inbox you have a few options. Tick them in the inbox list, click the three-dot menu above the list and choose Forward as attachment, and Gmail bundles them into one new message. Or open each one and click Forward, which is fine for a handful. If the point is to get emails into Notion, Sheets, Airtable, Linear, Trello or Drive, the Quicktion Gmail add-on saves an open email with one click, no forwarding involved, which is a lot less tedious for a backlog than forwarding dozens of messages by hand.

When forwarding doesn't work

  • The address isn't in the dropdown: it hasn't been verified yet. See step 1.
  • Nothing arrives: check the receiving side's spam folder, then run the filter's search in Gmail to see whether it catches what you expect.
  • Replies don't get forwarded: a reply in a filtered thread is only forwarded if the reply itself matches the filter.
  • The option is missing on a Google Workspace account: an admin can turn off automatic forwarding for the whole organization. Ask whoever manages your Workspace.
  • You see a forwarding notice you didn't set up: someone else may have access to your account. Change your password, then disable forwarding.

Stop or change forwarding

  • To stop forwarding everything: Settings > See all settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP, choose Disable forwarding and click Save Changes.
  • To stop or edit a filter: Settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses, then edit or delete next to the filter.

Forwarding into Quicktion

If the destination is Quicktion, every forwarded email is saved automatically to the tool you connected, with the original sender, date, subject, body and attachments. A few habits that keep it tidy:

  • Start narrow. A filter on one sender or one subject word forwards exactly what you expect. Widen it later.
  • One filter per kind of email. Receipts in one, client mail in another. Easier to switch off one without touching the rest.
  • Send a test. Right after creating the filter, email yourself something that matches it and check the destination.

Related guides: set up email forwarding, Gmail to Notion, Gmail to Google Sheets and save emails from Gmail.

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