Plesk can do far more than store mail in a mailbox. You can forward copies to another address, give one mailbox several names, catch mail sent to non-existent addresses and reply automatically when you are away. All of this is set per address under Mail.
Before you start
- The domain's mail service is enabled and the address exists. See create email accounts in Plesk.
- Mail DNS (MX and SPF) points to the Plesk server.
Forward email to another address
- Go to Mail (or Websites & Domains → Mail Accounts) and click the address.
- Open the Forwarding tab.
- Tick Switch on mail forwarding.
- Enter one or more target addresses, one per line.
- Click OK.
If the address has a mailbox, Plesk keeps a copy and forwards another. To forward only, untick Mailbox on the General tab – the address then works purely as a forwarder.
Note: forwarding spam to Gmail or Outlook can hurt your server's reputation. Keep spam filtering enabled on the source mailbox so obvious spam is not forwarded, and keep SRS enabled in mail server settings so forwarded mail passes SPF checks.
Add email aliases
- Open the address and go to the Email Aliases tab.
- Click Add Email Alias, type the alias (for example
sales) and click OK.
Mail to sales@example.com now lands in the same mailbox. Aliases do not count as separate mailboxes and cannot have their own password.
Handle mail to non-existent users (catch-all)
- Go to Mail → Mail Settings and click the domain.
- Under Mail to nonexistent users, choose Reject (recommended), Bounce with message or Forward to address.
A catch-all forwarding attracts large amounts of spam, so use it only for short migrations. Administrators may disable this option server-wide.
Set an auto-reply
- Open the address and go to the Auto-Reply tab.
- Tick Switch on auto-reply.
- Enter a Subject (Plesk can prefix the original subject with
Re:) and your message. - Set Reply to the unique email address not more than to 1 time per day, so senders are not flooded.
- Optionally set Switch off auto-reply on to an end date.
- Click OK.
Users can also set auto-replies themselves in Roundcube under Settings → Out of Office, if that plugin is enabled.
Troubleshooting
- Forwarded mail lands in spam at Gmail: check SPF, DKIM and SRS. See email authentication in Plesk.
- Forwarding loops: two addresses forward to each other; remove one rule.
- Auto-reply not sent: auto-replies are not sent to mailing lists or bulk senders, and the reply limit may already be reached for that sender.
- Alias rejected as existing: another mailbox or alias already uses that name.