How to Auto-Forward Emails in Outlook

1. Open Outlook settings

Sign in to outlook.com or outlook.office.com (if you have a work Microsoft 365 account). Click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the page.

A quick settings panel opens. Click "View all Outlook settings" at the bottom of that panel. This opens the full settings dialog.

2. Go to Mail → Rules

In the left sidebar of the settings dialog, click Mail. A list of mail settings appears in the middle column. Click Rules.

You'll see a list of any existing rules (empty if this is your first one) and a button that says "Add new rule".

3. Add a new rule

Click "Add new rule". Outlook opens a form with three required sections: a name for the rule, a condition, and an action.

Give the rule a clear name — something like "Forward USPS to PostalDetox" — so you can find it later if you want to change or delete it.

4. Set the condition (who to filter)

Under "Add a condition", click the dropdown and choose From. A text field appears. Type the sender's email address. For USPS Informed Delivery, that's:

Outlook might also suggest matching contacts as you type. If USPS shows up in the suggestions, you can click it instead of typing the whole address.

5. Set the action (Forward to)

Under "Add an action", click the dropdown and choose "Forward to". A new text field appears. Type the destination address:

You'll see two similar options in the action dropdown: "Forward to" and "Forward as attachment". Pick the first one. PostalDetox reads the email body and embedded images, so we need the inline version.

6. Save the rule

Click Save at the bottom of the rule form. Outlook also asks if you want to run the rule now on existing messages — check the box if you want to forward any USPS emails already in your inbox.

That's it. Every future email from USPS Informed Delivery now gets copied to your destination address automatically. The rule shows up in the Rules list, where you can edit or delete it whenever you want.

Doing this in desktop Outlook (Windows/Mac)

The desktop Outlook app has its own rule system. The steps are similar, but the menus are in different places.

On Windows (new Outlook): click the Rules button in the Home ribbon, then Manage Rules & Alerts, then New Rule. Pick "Apply rule on messages I receive" and walk through the wizard. Choose "from people or public group" as the condition and "forward it to people or public group" as the action.

On Mac: click Tools → Rules in the top menu bar, then click the + button to add a new rule. Set From contains the USPS address and Forward message to your destination.

Both versions create rules that run on your Outlook desktop app, not on the server. That means the rule only works when the app is running. For a server-side rule that always runs (even when your computer is off), set it up in Outlook.com following the main steps above.

Common problems and fixes