Understanding Catch-All Forwarders

Catch-All & Wildcard Forwarders

Overview#

Catch-All and Wildcard Forwarders help you receive emails that would otherwise be lost because the email address does not exist.

For example, if someone accidentally sends an email to:

sale@autoscale.uk

instead of:

sales@autoscale.uk

a Catch-All Forwarder can ensure the email still reaches you.

How to Access Catch-All Forwarders

1. Log in to your hosting control panel.
2. Click Manage Hosting.
3. Select your hosting package.
4. Click Catch-All Forwarders.

You will see options for both Catch-All and Wildcard Forwarders.

Before You Begin

A Catch-All Forwarder only works for email addresses that do not already exist as a mailbox, forwarder, or alias.

For example:

If these mailboxes exist:

info@autoscale.uk
support@autoscale.uk

those emails will continue to be delivered normally.

The Catch-All Forwarder only handles addresses that do not exist.

Create a Catch-All Forwarder

A Catch-All Forwarder sends all emails addressed to non-existent email accounts to a single destination email address.

Example#

Someone sends emails to:

sales@autoscale.uk

admin@autoscale.uk

hello@autoscale.uk

None of these addresses exist.

Instead of being rejected, they can all be forwarded to:

info@gmail.com

Steps to Create a Catch-All Forwarder#

1. Open Catch-All Forwarders.
2. Locate the Create a Catch-All Forwarder section.
3. Select your domain.

Example:

autoscale.uk

1. In the Destination field, enter the email address that should receive the messages.

Example:

user@example.com

1. Click Create.

The forwarder will be created and begin working once active.

Create a Wildcard Forwarder

A Wildcard Forwarder works differently.

Instead of forwarding all emails to one mailbox, it forwards emails to the same username on another domain.

Example#

Suppose your domain is:

autoscale.uk

And your destination domain is:

example.com

If someone sends an email to:

sales@autoscale.uk

it will automatically be forwarded to:

sales@example.com

If someone sends an email to:

support@autoscale.uk

it will be forwarded to:

support@example.com

Steps to Create a Wildcard Forwarder#

1. Open Catch-All Forwarders.
2. Locate the Create a Wildcard Forwarder section.
3. Select your domain.
4. Enter the destination domain.

Example:

example.com

1. Click Create.

The system will automatically forward matching email addresses to the new domain.

[Screenshot: Create Wildcard Forwarder form]

Catch-All vs Wildcard Forwarders

Managing Existing Forwarders

Once created, forwarders will appear in the Modify Catch-All Forwarders section.

From there you can:

• View existing forwarders
• Edit settings
• Remove forwarders you no longer need

Important Notes

• Catch-All Forwarders only work for email addresses that do not already exist.
• Existing mailboxes always take priority.
• New forwarding rules can take up to 30 minutes to become active.
• Be careful when using Catch-All Forwarders, as they may receive large amounts of spam email.

Common Uses

Most customers use Catch-All Forwarders to:

• Catch mistyped email addresses
• Prevent missing customer enquiries
• Collect emails sent to old addresses
• Redirect all unknown email addresses to a monitored inbox

Most customers use Wildcard Forwarders when:

• Moving from one domain to another
• Rebranding a business
• Consolidating email services across multiple domains