Using MX Records to Forward Email to Another Domain

Question

I have a domain hosted at Dreamhost -- foobar.com. It has Google Apps associated with it: the 50 free email accounts which are no longer available for a new domain. I just got another domain -- foobar.edu. I want foobar.edu to become my main domain, but I still want to use the free Google Apps associated with foobar.com to handle incoming mail.

My question: Can I adjust the MX records of foobar.edu so that incoming messages to [email protected] will be redirected to [email protected] and then be handled by my Google Apps?

I can adjust the DNS for both foobar domains, but I don't think that I can ask Google's foobar.com account to also handle foobar.edu emails directly.

Prieto

Is foobar.com a replacement for you real domain? Then better to use example.com – Rasputin

I think foobar.com is okey for the example. – Carbonado

Did you try to add .edu domain as the alias for your .com domain on G suite? I have this similar issue and trying this as - may be this is something you need? – Dannydannye

Namecheap has a free forwarder. See the help file: namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/308/2214/…. I have trouble believing that Namecheap is the only DNS provider that has this feature. Check your provider and see if they have something similar. – Premises

Answer 1

if you need just catch email on domain and forward to you other mailbox, you can use http://improvmx.com/ just by adding MX records to your domain

Phantasmal

Brilliant, this is perfect for my situation – Waddle

I want to add that at the time of writing improvmx.com did not forward my mails correctly. I also did read about it not working often times so I endet up with mailgun.com wich is free aswell but requires a credit card! – Ornithosis

Can anyone determine who owns/operates improvmx.com & what their privacy policy is?...I can't seem to find much. This seems like a dangerous solution. – Verona

mailgun solution works nicely, and it is free and trustworthy. Thanks, @t0b4cc0 - I wasn't aware that mailgun could also be used to handle inbound mail. Go to "Routes". The "mailgun" answer deserves to be a new answer... – Helvellyn

ImprovMX recently pushed a new version of their website. You can now manage your domains, change the forwarding email address and add aliases. Moreover, they have now a Terms of service and Privacy Policy. – Ger

i don't like this answer - 'use a website for that' – Botel

Too bad mailgun's new flex (free) plan disabled the "routing" feature. It's paid now, $35/year. I had routing on, still works for free, but I can't access the settings, bummer. – Sheared

Regarding privacy: Improvmx.com says: improvmx.com/are-you-reading-my-emails This is what they "say". You may take trust or not trust depending on the sensitivity of the content you are dealing with. – Eal

vercel.com has improvmx listed among other email presets, they wouldn't do that if it was "dangerous" and if you have sensitive emails then you should consider free options in the first place – Experiment

An alternative to improvmx.com is forwardemail.net which works in a similar way. They also open source their software. – Brunk

Cloudflare also has a similar service, developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing – Maharajah

Answer 2

No. You can use MX records to direct mail destined for [email protected] to any mail server you want, but when the mail is presented to the chosen mail server, it will still be destined to [email protected].

In other words, email forwarding can't be controlled using MX records. It's the receiving mail server's job to re-send an email to a "forwarding" address.

Shipmate

I think you can put in an email forward in Google Apps to froward it to the other domain for each one of those 50 free email addresses – Darlenadarlene

Answer 3

As Celada saw, with DNS you can't.

You can do that with Google Apps Default Routing: https://support.google.com/a/answer/2368153?hl=en

Viscountcy

Answer 4

As suggested in this question, you'd need to point your MX records to a service that supports mail redirection

Marbling

Answer 5

It can be only done with advanced DNS routing and it is not freely available, It would be more easier if ou have had Google Apps for business. There is only one company who can allow you to manage Email DNS routing and that is ZOHO. The implementation would be a bit complicated, but possible.

Register account for foobar.edu in Zoho, Verify domain then change MX record. Manage it's Email Routing Options and Manage redirection to different accounts.

Check some of Screenshots i have tested on and it worked. Also check zoho dns email routing guide. https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/adminconsole/email-routing.html

I hope this will help you!

Devilkin

its only available in name registrars and cloud hosting. sheesh – Botel

Email forwarding has nothing to do with DNS records, or "advanced DNS routing". It's the receiving mail server's job to re-send the email to another forwarding address depending on how it's configured. – Stenosis