How to Configure Email Forwarding at the Domain Level in Google Workspace

The Need for Domain-Level Routing

In a standard Google Workspace environment, individual users can log into their Gmail settings and configure an auto-forwarding rule to send their emails to a personal address. However, as an IT Administrator, you often need to route emails at the server level, completely invisibly to the end-users.

For example, you might need to silently forward all emails sent to the “Sales” team directly to a third-party CRM ticketing system like Zendesk or Salesforce, or you might need to route all emails destined for a recently terminated employee to their manager. This is accomplished using Default Routing rules in the Google Admin Console.

Step 1: Access Default Routing

1. Log into the Google Workspace Admin Console (admin.google.com).
2. In the left-hand navigation menu, go to Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail.
3. Scroll down and click on Default routing.

Step 2: Create a New Routing Rule

The Default Routing page allows you to intercept emails the millisecond they hit Google’s servers, before they ever reach a user’s inbox.

1. Click the Add setting button.
2. Specify envelope recipients to match: In the first dropdown menu, select Single email address.
3. In the text box below it, enter the specific email address you want to intercept (e.g., [email protected]).

Note: If you want to forward literally every single email that enters your company (e.g., for compliance archiving), you would choose “All recipients” instead.

Step 3: Define the Action (The Forward)

Now that you have told Google which emails to look for, you must tell it what to do with them.

1. Scroll down to the If the envelope recipient matches, do the following section.
2. Locate the Envelope recipient sub-section and check the box next to Change envelope recipient.
3. Select Replace recipient.
4. Enter the destination email address where the mail should be forwarded (e.g., [email protected]).

Step 4: Bypass or Deliver to the Original Inbox?

By default, if you replace the recipient, the original user ([email protected]) will not receive the email. It is completely hijacked and routed to Zendesk.

If you want the email to go to Zendesk AND still land in the original employee’s inbox, you must scroll down to the bottom of the page and select Also deliver to original routing address.

Click Save at the bottom of the screen. The new routing rule will take effect globally within 10 to 15 minutes.