How to Set Up Email Forwarding in ISPConfig

This guide shows you how to set up email forwarding in the ISPConfig control panel on your Noiz hosting account, so that mail sent to an address on your domain is automatically passed on to one or more other addresses. Those destinations can be on the same domain, on another domain hosted with Noiz, or completely external (for example a Gmail or Outlook.com address). An email forward is sometimes called a redirect or a forwarder, and this guide also explains how it differs from an email alias and from sending a copy of a mailbox's mail elsewhere.

Last reviewed: 27 July 2026, against ISPConfig 3.3.1p1. This article follows the official ISPConfig manual procedure for creating an email forward, cross-checked against the current interface. ISPConfig evolves between releases, so if a screen differs from this guide, check the official documentation links below.

Official Documentation Reference

• ISPConfig 3 Documentation: Mail module
• ISPConfig official documentation and manual overview
• ISPConfig developer guidance on forwarding to external mailboxes

Prerequisites

• You can log in to the ISPConfig control panel.
• The domain you want to forward from is already set up as an email domain on your account. You can check this under the Email tab, in the Domain list under Email Accounts.
• You know the destination address or addresses the mail should be delivered to.
• If you want to keep a copy in a mailbox as well as forwarding, that mailbox must already exist. See how to create an email mailbox in ISPConfig.

Forward, alias or mailbox copy: which one do you need?

ISPConfig offers three related features, and picking the right one saves you time:

• Email Forward: passes mail for an address on to one or more destination addresses, which may be internal or external. No mailbox exists for the forwarding address itself, so no copy is stored on the server. This is the feature covered by this guide.
• Email Alias: an alternative name for exactly one existing mailbox on your hosting account. You pick the destination mailbox from a drop-down list, so an alias can never point to an external address and cannot have multiple targets. Use an alias when you want [email protected] and [email protected] to be the same mailbox.
• Send copy to on a mailbox: the mailbox keeps receiving and storing mail as normal, and a copy of each incoming message is also sent to another address. Use this when the address already has a mailbox, because ISPConfig will not let you create an Email Forward for an address that already has an active mailbox.

Create an email forward

Step 1: Open the Email Forward list

1. Log in to the ISPConfig control panel.
2. Click the Email tab in the top menu.
3. In the left-hand menu, under Email Accounts, click Email Forward. A list of any existing forwards on your account appears.

Step 2: Add the forward

1. Click Add new Email forward. The Email Forward form opens.
2. The Email field is split in two. Type the part of the address before the @ sign, known as the local part, into the text box, then select your domain from the drop-down after the @ sign. For example, to forward mail sent to [email protected], type sales and select yourdomain.com. The local part must not already exist as a mailbox or alias on the domain.
3. In the Destination Email box, enter the address the mail should be forwarded to, for example [email protected]. The destination can be any valid email address, internal or external.
4. Make sure Active is ticked, otherwise the forward is saved but does nothing.
5. Leave Send as and Enable greylisting unticked unless you need them (both are explained below).
6. Click Save.

ISPConfig applies the change to the mail server through a background job, so allow a minute or two before sending a test message to the new address.

Forward to multiple destinations

To send incoming mail to several people at once, enter one address per line in the Destination Email box:

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Every destination receives its own copy of each incoming message. This is a simple way to run a small group address, for example [email protected] reaching everyone in the team, without creating a mailing list.

Optional settings on the forward

• Send as: if the destination is a mailbox hosted on your Noiz account, ticking this lets the person logged in to that mailbox use the forwarding address as the sender address on outgoing mail. ISPConfig spells this out beside the checkbox: it only applies if the target is internal, so it has no effect for external destinations.
• Enable greylisting: briefly delays the very first message from an unknown sender as an anti-spam measure. Legitimate mail servers retry automatically, but expect a short delay on first contact from new senders if you enable this.

Forward mail for an existing mailbox

If the address already has a mailbox with Enable receiving switched on, ISPConfig refuses to create a forward for it and shows the error There is already a mailbox with this email address. Use the mailbox's copy setting instead:

1. Go to Email and click Email Mailbox in the left-hand menu.
2. Click the mailbox address to open it. Stay on the Mailbox tab.
3. In the Send copy to field, enter the address that should receive a copy of every incoming message. Separate multiple addresses with commas, for example [email protected], [email protected].
4. Click Save.

The mailbox keeps a full copy of everything, and the destination receives a copy too. If you want the mail passed on without a copy building up in the mailbox, tick Disable (local) delivering on the same tab. Mail is then forwarded to the Send copy to address instead of being delivered to the inbox, and the mailbox, its password and its existing mail all stay in place. The other option is to delete the mailbox and create an Email Forward for the address as described above, but only do that after saving any messages you still need, because deleting a mailbox deletes its stored mail.

Edit, disable or delete a forward

1. Go to Email and click Email Forward in the left-hand menu.
2. Click the forward you want to change.
3. Add or remove lines in the Destination Email box to change where mail goes, or untick Active to switch the forward off while keeping it saved.
4. Click Save, or click Delete to remove the forward entirely.

Troubleshooting

Symptom: saving the forward fails with There is already a mailbox with this email address. Fix: the address has an active mailbox, so use the mailbox's Send copy to field instead, as described above, or delete the mailbox first if you no longer need it.

Symptom: forwarded mail bounces at the destination or lands in its spam folder. Fix: forwarding passes messages on with the original sender's address, and strict sender-checking policies (SPF and DMARC) at the receiving provider can mark such mail as suspicious. Ask the recipient to add the forwarded address to their contacts or safe senders list. For important mail, a more reliable setup is a real mailbox with Send copy to, or collecting mail directly from a mailbox on your domain instead of forwarding it.

Symptom: the error The max. number of email forwarders for your account is reached appears. Fix: your hosting package has reached its forward limit. Open a support ticket with the Noiz support team to discuss raising the limit.

Symptom: a new forward does not work straight after saving. Fix: allow a minute or two for the server to apply the change, confirm Active is ticked, and check every destination address for typing errors. Each destination must be a complete, valid email address.

Symptom: saving fails with The destination contains at least one invalid email address. Fix: the Destination Email box must contain only email addresses, one per line, with no extra text, angle brackets or trailing punctuation.

If you get stuck at any point, open a support ticket with the Noiz support team and include the forwarding address, the destination addresses, and the exact error message or what happened to your test message.