Email forwarders and auto-responders are powerful productivity tools that help businesses manage communications efficiently. Forwarders route incoming emails to other addresses automatically, while auto-responders send immediate replies to incoming messages. Both are included free with every SakuraHost hosting plan.
Understanding Email Forwarders
An email forwarder takes any email sent to one address and automatically delivers a copy to another address (or multiple addresses). Common use cases include:
- Role-based routing: Forward sales@yourdomain.co.tz to your sales team's personal inboxes
- Centralized inbox: Forward all department emails to a single manager's address
- External forwarding: Route your domain email to your existing Gmail or Outlook account
- Catch-all: Capture emails sent to any non-existent address at your domain
Creating Email Forwarders
Single Forwarder
Step 2: In the Email section, click Forwarders.
Step 3: Click Add Forwarder.
Step 4: In the Address to Forward field, enter the email prefix (e.g., sales).
Step 5: Select the domain from the dropdown.
Step 6: Under Destination, select Forward to Email Address.
Step 7: Enter the destination email address (e.g., john@gmail.com).
Step 8: Click Add Forwarder to save.
Domain-Level Forwarder
A domain forwarder redirects all email from one domain to the corresponding address at another domain. For example, forwarding all email from @olddomain.co.tz to @newdomain.co.tz means that info@olddomain.co.tz goes to info@newdomain.co.tz, sales@olddomain.co.tz goes to sales@newdomain.co.tz, and so on.
Step 2: Click Add Domain Forwarder.
Step 3: Select the source domain and enter the destination domain.
Step 4: Click Add Domain Forwarder.
Catch-All Address
A catch-all address captures emails sent to any address at your domain that does not have a specific mailbox or forwarder. While useful for ensuring no emails are missed, use caution as it can attract spam.
Step 2: Select your domain from the dropdown.
Step 3: Choose Forward to Email Address and enter the destination.
Step 4: Click Change.
Setting Up Auto-Responders
Auto-responders automatically reply to incoming emails with a pre-configured message. They are ideal for:
- Out-of-office vacation notices
- Acknowledging receipt of support requests
- Providing immediate information to sales inquiries
- Holiday closure notifications
Creating an Auto-Responder
Step 2: Click Add Autoresponder.
Step 3: Configure the following settings:
• Character Set: UTF-8 (recommended)
• Interval: Number of hours between responses to the same sender (e.g., 8 hours prevents sending multiple auto-replies to the same person in a single day)
• Email: The address to attach the auto-responder to
• From: The display name for the auto-reply
• Subject: The subject line (e.g., "Thank you for contacting us")
• Body: Your auto-response message (supports HTML)
• Start/Stop: Optionally set specific dates for the auto-responder to be active
Step 4: Click Create/Modify to activate.
Sample Auto-Responder Messages
Support Acknowledgment:
Thank you for contacting our support team. We have received your message and a support ticket has been created.
Our team typically responds within 2-4 business hours during working days (Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM EAT).
For urgent matters, please call us directly at +255 XXX XXX XXX.
Best regards,
The SakuraHost Support Team
Out-of-Office:
Thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office from [start date] to [end date] with limited access to email.
For urgent matters, please contact [colleague name] at [colleague email].
I will respond to your message upon my return.
Advanced Tips
- Forwarder + Mailbox: Create both a mailbox and a forwarder for the same address to keep a local copy while forwarding to an external address
- Test forwarding: After setting up a forwarder, send a test email and confirm it arrives at the destination
- SPF for forwarding: If forwarding to Gmail/Outlook, ensure your SPF record is valid to prevent forwarded emails from being flagged
- Auto-responder interval: Set the interval to at least 8 hours to avoid annoying repeated replies to the same sender