Ivona Mikulčić | Updated September 4, 2026 | 9 min read

How to Forward Gmail Emails the Right Way (6 Methods, Step by Step)

Last week, a sales rep on our team asked me to help him forward prospect replies from four different Gmail accounts into one place. We spent 20 minutes setting up filters before I realized: this is a problem that shouldn’t require duct-tape.
If you’ve ever juggled multiple Gmail accounts, switched roles, or needed a teammate to cover your inbox while you’re out, you’ve dealt with forwarding. I’ve configured it dozens of times across personal accounts, client mailboxes, and Workspace orgs. It’s simple when you know the exact steps, and a security risk when you don’t.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through every way to forward emails in Gmail: single messages, automatic forwarding, filter-based rules, mobile forwarding, turning it off, and what to do when your Workspace admin has locked down the setting. I’ll also cover a deliverability angle that most forwarding guides skip entirely.

1. Forwarding a single message

This one’s easy. You probably know how it works.
Step 1: Go to the email you want to forward. Click on the three vertical dots in the upper right corner to open the email menu. (You can also click the forward arrow icon below the message body.)
Step 2: In the menu, click on the Forward option.
Step 3: On the next screen, add the email address(es) you want to forward the email to.
Step 4: Click send and you’re done.
One quick note: forwarding automatically includes all original attachments. If you want to remove any before sending, delete them manually from the draft.

2. Forwarding on the Gmail mobile app

The Gmail mobile app only supports forwarding individual emails. To set up auto-forwarding or filter-based forwarding, you’ll need to use Gmail on a desktop browser. (How to Forward Emails in Gmail: A Step-by-Step Guide for 2026 | Keeping)
That said, forwarding a single message from your phone takes about five seconds.
On Android:
On your Android phone or tablet, open the Gmail app. Open an email. At the bottom of the email, in the text box, tap Forward. In the email, add your recipients. (Forward an email - Android - Gmail Help) Tap the send arrow.
On iPhone/iPad:
On your iPhone or iPad, open the Gmail app. Open an email. At the bottom of the email, tap Forward. In the email, add your recipients. (Forward an email - iPhone & iPad - Gmail Help) Tap the send arrow.
Same result. Both platforms work the same way here.

3. Automatic email forwarding

Forwarding a single message may be just what you need sometimes. But other times, you want every incoming message routed to a new email account automatically.
Here’s how:
Step 1: In your Gmail account, click on the settings gear icon.
Step 2: Click “See all settings” just below the settings button.
Step 3: Click on “Forwarding and POP/IMAP.”
Step 4: Hit the Add a forwarding address button.
Step 5: Enter the email address to which you want to forward your messages.
Step 6: Click Next, then Proceed, and finally OK.
Step 7: Go to the email address you entered in step 5 and verify by clicking on the confirmation link in the message Google sent you.
Step 8: Go back to the settings page in step 3 (the email account you want to forward messages from) and refresh the page.
Step 9: Return to the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.
Step 10: Select “Forward a copy of incoming mail to” and choose what should happen with the Gmail copy of your emails. Google recommends: Keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox.
Step 11: Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Save Changes.”
Done.
One important limit to know: Gmail’s auto-forwarding only supports one address. (How to Forward Emails in Gmail: A Step-by-Step Guide for 2026 | Keeping) If you need to forward to multiple people, set up separate filters (covered in section 5 below) or forward to a Google Group that includes all recipients.

A note on deliverability

This is the part most forwarding guides skip, but it matters if you’re running outbound campaigns.
Forwarding can and often does disrupt DMARC alignment by breaking SPF at the forwarder and sometimes DKIM when headers or body are modified. (Does forwarding mailers affect DMARC alignment and how to mitigate? | DMARC Report) In plain terms, when you auto-forward emails between accounts, the authentication chain can break. For Gmail, DKIM alignment is generally more reliable because forwarding often breaks SPF. (Boost Deliverability with Gmail DMARC: What Every Sender Must Know | DMARC Report)
If you’re running cold outreach from multiple sending accounts, this is worth paying attention to. Forwarding replies across mailboxes can quietly hurt your sender reputation. That’s exactly the kind of issue lemwarm is built to catch and prevent, by warming your accounts and monitoring deliverability health across every connected mailbox.

4. How to turn off Gmail forwarding

You turned on forwarding. Now you need to turn it off. To turn off auto-forwarding, go back to Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP and select Disable forwarding. (How to Forward Emails in Gmail: A Step-by-Step Guide for 2026 | Keeping)
Here are the full steps, per Google’s forwarding help center:
Step 1: Open Gmail and sign in to the account that’s forwarding your emails.
Step 2: In the top right, click Settings, then See all settings.
Step 3: Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
Step 4: In the “Forwarding” section, click Disable forwarding. (Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account)
Step 5: At the bottom, click Save Changes. (Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account)
If you also set up any filter-based forwarding rules, you’ll need to disable those separately. Go to Settings → Filters and Blocked Addresses, find the relevant filter, and edit or delete it.

5. Forward only certain messages

A really useful Gmail feature: you can forward only specific messages using filters.
If you only want to forward emails coming from a specific email address, follow these steps:
Step 1: Go through steps 1 to 7 of the automatic email forwarding process above (section 3).
Step 2: In Gmail, enter the email address in the search bar and click the “Show search options” button.
Step 3: Click on “Create filter.”
Step 4: Click on “Forward it” and select the email address to forward these messages to.
The above example is for forwarding emails from a specific sender. But you can use any filter criteria you want: subject line keywords, attachment presence, labels, or size. To forward messages to multiple accounts, create a filter for every forwarding email address. (Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account)

When filters aren’t enough

I’ll be honest: filter-based forwarding works for simple rules. But if you’re managing replies across four, five, ten sending accounts for outbound campaigns, manually creating and maintaining filters for each one gets old fast.
That’s exactly the use case lemlist’s Unified Inbox was built for. Instead of forwarding replies between personal Gmail accounts, you see every response across every connected mailbox in one place. No filters to maintain. No forwarding rules to break.

6. Why am I seeing a forwarding notice?

If you see a banner in Gmail saying something like “You are forwarding your email to [email address],” don’t panic.
If you created a filter that forwards certain messages to another email address, you get this notice in your inbox for the first week after you set up the filter. This is a reminder that forwarding is turned on, and gives you a chance to review your forwarding settings. (Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account - Gmail Help) The same applies to auto-forwarding. If you turn off forwarding, the notice goes away. (Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account - Gmail Help)
Here’s the important part: if you see a forwarding notice, but never set it up on your account, change your password immediately. Someone else might have access to your Gmail account. (Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account - Gmail Help) Then follow the steps in section 4 to disable forwarding right away.

What if forwarding isn’t available in your Gmail settings?

This is more common than you’d think, especially in B2B. If you’re on a Google Workspace account and the forwarding option is missing from your settings, your admin has likely disabled it.
As a Google Workspace admin, you can choose to let people in your organization set up forwarding in their own Gmail account. (Let users automatically forward their own Gmail emails) When this setting is off, the forwarding option isn’t available in Gmail settings. (Let users automatically forward their own Gmail emails)
If you need forwarding turned on, your IT admin can re-enable it via the Google Admin console under Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → End User Access → Automatic forwarding. Full instructions are in Google Workspace admin help.
For organization-level routing (like redirecting all mail for a departed employee), admins can also redirect messages for your organization via address maps in the Admin console.
But here’s the real question: if your IT team is restricting individual forwarding, there’s usually a reason. They don’t want email leaking outside the org. Instead of fighting that policy, consider centralizing your outbound communication in a single platform. That way replies, sequences, and deliverability data all live in one place, and nobody needs to set up rogue forwarding rules.

Over to you

Gmail forwarding is straightforward once you know where the settings live. Quick recap of what we covered:
  • Single message: three-dot menu or forward arrow → add recipient → send
  • Mobile app: open email → tap Forward at the bottom → send
  • Auto-forward everything: Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP → add and verify address → enable
  • Turn it off: same tab → Disable forwarding → Save Changes
  • Filter-based forwarding: set up filters to route specific messages
  • Forwarding notices: normal for the first week, a security red flag if you didn’t set it up
For one or two personal accounts, Gmail’s built-in forwarding does the job. But if you’re running outbound across multiple mailboxes, forwarding is a manual workaround for a problem that should be solved at the platform level, with proper deliverability monitoring, centralized replies, and multichannel prospecting built in.
lemlist is rated 4.6/5 on G2. (Lemlist Review 2026: My Honest Opinion After Using the Platform) If you want to see how it handles multi-mailbox outreach without the duct-tape, start a 14-day free trial.
IvonaIvona Mikulčić
Product Marketing Manager
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