Set up email forwarding

Forward your existing support mail to LittleDesk, and each email arrives as a ticket. Your customers keep writing to the address they already know.

First, copy your LittleDesk address. Go to Settings › Channels › Email and copy it. It looks like support@yourcompany.littledesk.io. Use the copy there rather than typing it, so a typo can't send your mail somewhere else.

Then pick your email provider below. Whichever you use, keep a copy of your mail in your existing mailbox until you're happy that everything arrives.

Forward from Gmail

Goal: every new email to a Gmail or Google Workspace mailbox also becomes a ticket.

1. In Gmail, click the Settings gear, then See all settings, then the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
2. Click Add a forwarding address, paste your LittleDesk address, then click Next, Proceed and OK.
3. Go to your LittleDesk inbox. Gmail's confirmation email arrives as a ticket labeled Forwarding check. Open it and open the confirmation link. It doesn't count as your first email.
4. Back in Gmail, reload the page and open Forwarding and POP/IMAP again.
5. Select Forward a copy of incoming mail to and choose your LittleDesk address. Leave the next option on keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox.
6. Click Save Changes.

Result: new mail is forwarded, apart from anything Gmail marks as spam. Mail you already had stays where it is.

If you can't see the forwarding option on a Google Workspace account, your admin has turned it off. They can turn it on in the Admin console, under Apps › Google Workspace › Gmail › End User Access › Automatic forwarding, by selecting Allow users to automatically forward incoming email.

Forward from Google Workspace, as an admin

Goal: forward an address on your domain without signing in to its mailbox.

1. In the Admin console, go to Apps › Google Workspace › Gmail › Routing. This isn't Default routing, which is a different page.
2. Scroll to Email forwarding using recipient address map and click Configure or Add Another Rule.
3. Name the setting, then under step 1 click Add.
4. Enter your support address as the Address, and your LittleDesk address as the Map to address. Click Save in that box.
5. Under Messages to affect, select All incoming messages.
6. Select Also route to original destination, so the mailbox keeps its copy.
7. Click Save at the bottom of the box.

Result: mail to that address also becomes a ticket. Google says this usually takes effect quickly, and can take up to 24 hours.

Is your support address a Google Group? Add your LittleDesk address as a member of the group. The group has to allow members outside your organization, and your admin may need to allow that first.

Forward from Outlook.com

Goal: every new email to an Outlook.com mailbox also becomes a ticket, still showing who wrote it.

Use a rule, as these steps do, rather than the Forwarding page. Mail sent on from that page looks like it came from you, so your tickets would show your own address as the customer.

1. In Outlook.com, click the Settings gear, then Mail, then Rules.
2. Click Add rule and give it a name.
3. Under conditions, choose Apply to all messages.
4. Under actions, choose Redirect to and paste your LittleDesk address.
5. Click Save.

Result: new mail becomes a ticket showing the customer as the sender, and a copy stays in your mailbox.

Forward from Microsoft 365

Goal: forward a mailbox on your domain. You need to be an Exchange administrator to do this.

For a user's mailbox:

1. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Users › Active users and select the user.
2. On the Mail tab, click Manage email forwarding.
3. Select Forward all emails sent to this mailbox and paste your LittleDesk address.
4. Select the option to keep a copy of forwarded email, then click Save changes.

For a shared mailbox:

1. In the admin center, go to Teams & groups › Shared mailboxes and select the mailbox.
2. Under Email forwarding, click Edit.
3. Select Forward all emails sent to this mailbox, paste your LittleDesk address, and save.

Result: new mail to that mailbox becomes a ticket. Only new mail is forwarded.

Microsoft 365 often blocks forwarding outside your organization by default, so do this too. Without it, whoever writes to you gets a bounce saying 5.7.520 Access denied, Your organization does not allow external forwarding.

1. In the Microsoft Defender portal, go to Email & collaboration › Policies & rules › Threat policies › Anti-spam.
2. Open the outbound policy, Anti-spam outbound policy (Default).
3. Under Protection settings, click Edit, and set Automatic forwarding rules to On - Forwarding is enabled.
4. Save.

If you'd rather not allow forwarding for everyone, create a separate outbound policy that applies only to the mailbox you're forwarding, and set this option there.

Forward from Zoho Mail

Goal: every new email to a Zoho mailbox also becomes a ticket. Zoho's Free plan doesn't include forwarding.

1. In Zoho Mail, open Settings, then Mail Accounts, and select your address.
2. In the Forwards section, enter your LittleDesk address. Leave Delete original email copy after forwarding unchecked.
3. Go to your LittleDesk inbox and open the ticket holding Zoho's confirmation email. Copy the code in it.
4. Back in Zoho, click the Verify icon next to your LittleDesk address, enter the code, click Confirm, and save.
5. Check that the switch next to the address is on.

Result: new mail becomes a ticket, and a copy stays in Zoho.

Forward from iCloud Mail

Goal: every new email to an iCloud mailbox also becomes a ticket.

1. Sign in at icloud.com/mail. Click the Settings button at the top of the Mailboxes list, then Settings.
2. Select Mail Forwarding.
3. Select Forward my email to and paste your LittleDesk address. Leave Delete messages after forwarding off.

Result: new mail becomes a ticket, and a copy stays in iCloud.

Forward from cPanel or another host

Goal: forward an address on a domain your web host runs.

1. In cPanel, go to Email › Forwarders and click Add Forwarder.
2. Enter the part of your support address before the @, and choose its domain.
3. Select Forward to Email Address and paste your LittleDesk address.
4. Click Add Forwarder.

Result: new mail becomes a ticket. If that address also has a mailbox, the mailbox keeps a copy.

For any other provider, look in its settings for Forwarding, Auto-forward or Mail routing, and forward to your LittleDesk address. Where a provider offers both forward and redirect, choose the one that keeps the original sender on the message.

After forwarding is on: the address you forward from

Mail forwarded from your own address, such as support@mysite.com, still shows that address on the To line. If it's on your business's own domain, there's nothing more to set up: LittleDesk recognizes it on each email and leaves it off the Cc line, so your team's inbox doesn't get a copy of every reply. Any other address is asked about on a ticket, once: "Is orders.mysite@gmail.com a shared inbox for your business?" You can also add one yourself in Settings › Channels › Email, under Addresses that forward here. You can list up to 25.

Check it works

Send an email to your support address from a different account, such as a personal one. It should appear as a ticket in LittleDesk within a minute or so.

Troubleshooting

Nothing is arriving. Check the address you pasted against Settings › Channels › Email, and check that forwarding is still on with your provider. Send your test from a different account, because some providers don't forward mail you send to yourself.

Gmail's confirmation email never showed up. Look for a ticket labeled Forwarding check in your LittleDesk inbox. Gmail sends it to your LittleDesk address, so it won't be in your Gmail inbox. If it isn't there, check that the address you entered in Gmail matches the one in LittleDesk, then add the forwarding address again.

Customers get a bounce mentioning 5.7.520. Microsoft 365 is blocking forwarding outside your organization. See the last steps under Forward from Microsoft 365.

Every ticket shows your own address as the customer. Your forwarding is passing mail on as a new message from you. On Outlook.com, use the rule under Forward from Outlook.com instead of the Forwarding page.

Spam isn't arriving. Providers usually don't forward what they mark as spam, so check your provider's spam folder for anything that should have come through.

Someone on the team has stopped getting notification emails. A forwarding rule that also catches the address they sign in with sends our notifications back to us, and we discard them. See Notifications are coming back to us instead of reaching someone.