by Jon Price

Created on: November 04, 2008   Last Updated: November 19, 2008

Even though Google's Gmail is trailing behind Yahoo Mail and Microsoft's Hotmail, it is quickly becoming a standard among young adults and people that like more features in how their email is handled. For a while, Gmail was "invite only", but recently they've opened it up to everyone, so finding someone with an extra invite available is no longer necessary. But switching email from one provider to another (or even one account name to another) can be a bit of a process - no one wants to miss out on important emails because someone forgot to write to your new address! And that's just one reason Google offers Email Forwarding and this guide will explain how to use it.

Email forwarding is basically when an email comes to one account and is instantly forwarded to a new account of your choosing. This makes it a lot easier keeping track of your email instead of having to go back and check multiple addresses. Google makes this very easy to do in Gmail.

Step 1:

After logging into Gmail, notice the hyperlink options at the top right of the screen. Find "Settings" and click it.

Step 2:

The settings window offers many customizable options to make using Gmail a lot easier. Find "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" along the top row of options and click it.

Step 3:

On the top of the "Forwarding" window, there is a spot for "Forward a copy of incoming mail to" and a space to enter in a new email address. Click the button to the left of that sentence and then enter in your chosen email address in the box. Make sure this email address is not the one you are currently logged into. Here you can also choose to keep a copy in this email inbox, archive the email or delete it from this inbox.

Step 4:

Click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the box and that's it! (Make sure you don't click "Cancel" as that will undo the changes you made.)

Optional Step

Gmail also gives you the option of creating a custom filter to forward only certain emails to a new email account. You can sort by Sender or Recipient, Subject line or certain keywords. For instance, if you'd like to filter out and send to a new address only emails from your Cousin Larry where he talks about starfish, then that is completely possible with this filter option.

Gmail is a very customizable, fast and user-friendly email option. Email forwarding is just one of the options that many email providers offer, but few offer the kind of customization that Gmail does.

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