Email - Automated Forwarding


This article shares information about forwarding your primary email account at UA to an external account. 

Since automated forwarding can create compliance and security challenges, the university recommends that you do not set up automated forwarding of emails outside of your official university-provided account. 

Note: A revised email policy will be published soon and it will affect this article. Notably, the updated policy will introduce new restrictions on forwarding email messages to external accounts. 

Alternatives to Forwarding

Instead of forwarding your university email, try these options:

Add an Account
If you need to use multiple email accounts, add them to your main account rather than setting up a forward.  See the Outlook - Adding Multiple Accounts article for help.

Use a Rule
Create an
Inbox rule in Outlook to automatically forward or redirect messages to another account. Forwarded messages show they came from you, while redirected messages appear to come from the original sender. 

Additional Considerations
Forwarded emails from your university account to an external account may not be successfully delivered.

  • Forwarding typically breaks DMARC policies, leading to many forwarded messages not reaching their intended destination. These issues are known to impact the email services of UAGC and Banner, even though they are trusted partners.
  • Forwarded emails may be identified as Spam or Junk due to security tools used to protect your primary email account.
Browser Options

If you don't want to set up multiple accounts in Outlook, try these options:

Option 1: Use browser profiles
Most modern browsers let you switch between profiles. In Chrome or Firefox, select the profile icon in the top-right corner to toggle between your university and personal accounts.

Option 2: Use private browsing
Open a private browsing window to access your secondary inbox without affecting your main session.

Option 3: Use a different browser
Access your secondary inbox in a different browser than you use for your primary account. This keeps sessions separate and prevents conflicts.

Forwarding Best Practices

Non-university accounts may not be as secure or private as your UA account.

Never use email to transfer confidential data — including financial information, passwords, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, employment records, or grades.

You can change your forwarding settings anytime. Turn forwarding on or off, or change the forwarding address whenever you need. Keep in mind: messages received before you set up forwarding won't be re-delivered to your new address.

Rules for Forwarding

Please consider the following before forwarding any University email.

Allowed:

  • Individual forwards are allowed. 

Not Allowed: 

  • Autoforward settings where all mail is automatically sent to another address are strongly discouraged and may be restricted outright in the near future (policy updates pending).

Current Rules for Health Sciences and College of Medicine:

  • These accounts do not allow automated email forwarding.
  • This feature is completely disabled for these accounts.
  • This specifically refers to a user’s ability to set forwards in OWA. 
  • A request to IT may be required to overwrite this, but this is not guaranteed.