Email routing & catch-all
How to set up email routing rules and a catch-all address in Google Workspace — so email reaches the right person and nothing falls through the cracks.
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
Email routing rules let you control what happens to email before it reaches a user's inbox. A catch-all address receives any email sent to addresses that don't exist on your domain. Together, these two features make your email setup more resilient.
Quick summary
A catch-all address receives any email sent to your domain that doesn't match a real user. For example, if someone emails typo@yourcompany.com, the catch-all receives it instead of bouncing. Routing rules let you redirect or forward email to specific people or groups. Both are set up in the Admin console.
What is a catch-all?
A catch-all receives email sent to any address at your domain that doesn't exist. Without a catch-all, those emails bounce (get returned to the sender with an error). With a catch-all, they land in a mailbox where someone can see and respond to them.
Common uses:
- Catch typos or old email addresses
- Catch email from people who guess your address wrong
- Receive all incoming email to a shared inbox
Setting up a catch-all
First decide which mailbox should collect the misaddressed mail. It can be an existing user account, a new user account, or a Google Group — a group is handy because several people can then check it.
Go to admin.google.com and sign in.
Go to Menu → Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Routing. This needs the Gmail settings administrator privilege. On the Routing tab, scroll to the Routing section (not Default routing).
Click Configure or Add Another Rule, and give the setting a descriptive name. Without a name you can't save it.
Under "Select when this action is applied", check Inbound messages.
For the action, select Modify message, check Change envelope recipient, select Replace recipient, and enter your catch-all address. Then click Show more options.
Under "Select all account types this action applies to", check All inactive and unrecognized accounts, and make sure Active user account and Group account are unchecked. That's what limits the rule to addresses that don't exist.
Click Save. Google notes changes can take up to 24 hours, though they usually happen sooner.
Catch-all can attract spam
A catch-all receives email to any address at your domain — including random addresses that spammers send to. Monitor the catch-all mailbox and don't make it a primary inbox. A group address (like catchall@yourcompany.com) that only a few people receive is better than directing it to someone's main Gmail.
Email routing rules
Routing rules let you redirect, forward, or transform email based on conditions. Common uses:
| Use case | Rule setup |
|---|---|
| Send everything for sales@ to a different mailbox or system | Modify message → Change envelope recipient |
| Send a copy of one person's email to someone else as well | Modify message → Add more recipients |
| Deliver to two inboxes across your whole organization | Default routing (dual delivery) |
| Route messages based on what's in them | A content compliance rule, which is a separate Gmail setting |
To create a routing rule:
Go to Menu → Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Routing in the Admin console.
Click Configure in the "Routing" section (not "Default routing"), and name the setting.
Choose when the rule applies — for example, inbound messages, internal messages, or both.
Set the action — for example Modify message, then change the envelope recipient or add more recipients. Use the envelope filter if it should only apply to specific senders or recipients.
Click Save. Changes can take up to 24 hours, but usually apply sooner.
Google splits this into two settings on purpose: Default routing sets the default delivery for the whole organization, and Routing adds more specific rules that can override it.
Simple email forwarding for a single user
To send one person's incoming email to someone else (useful when a person leaves), an admin sets up an address map in the Gmail routing settings in the Admin console — Google's own instructions for redirecting or forwarding one user's email use address maps, not a setting on the user's account page.
Alternatively, the person can set up forwarding themselves in Gmail: Settings → See all settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP → Add a forwarding address, verify the address from the email Google sends, then choose Forward a copy of incoming mail to and what happens to Gmail's copy. Admins control whether users are allowed to forward their own mail automatically.
Common questions
Can I forward email from one Workspace user to another?
Yes. Users can set this up themselves in Gmail Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP, or an admin can route it in the Admin console.
Will a catch-all work for my other domains too?
Check it rather than assume. A routing setting can be narrowed with the envelope filter, so what it covers depends on how it was set up. Test each domain you care about.
How do I test if my catch-all is working?
From an external email address (not on your Workspace domain), send an email to a made-up address at your domain — like xyzabc123@yourcompany.com. It should arrive in the destination mailbox. Allow time for the setting to take effect first: Google says routing changes can take up to 24 hours, though they usually apply sooner.
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