Create, Verify and Remove cPanel Email Forwarders

A cPanel email forwarder redirects incoming messages for a selected address. It does not configure a mail client’s outgoing identity, move old messages or guarantee acceptance by the destination. Confirm that this cPanel server actually receives the domain’s mail before creating a rule.

Create an address forwarder

1. Sign in through your hosting account’s verified HTTPS cPanel address and open Email > Forwarders. Availability depends on the provider’s feature settings.
2. Select the intended domain and choose Add Forwarder. Enter the address’s local part and select the correct domain separately.
3. Choose Forward to Email Address and enter the complete, authorized destination. Check spelling carefully: a forwarder can disclose every incoming message to that destination.
4. Save and inspect the exact source/destination pair in the list. Send a harmless external test and check delivery at both the local mailbox, if present, and the destination.

Keep or remove a local copy deliberately

When a mailbox and a forwarder share the same address, cPanel keeps mail in the mailbox as well as forwarding it. Monitor that mailbox’s quota. A forwarder is not permission to delete the mailbox: preserve old messages, client access and the intended future delivery behavior before considering any account removal.

For mailbox-level access, sign in to the verified HTTPS Webmail entry point and open its account/home settings, then Forwarders if offered. If you are already inside Roundcube, return to the Webmail settings page; the control is not necessarily in Roundcube’s own preferences. That view manages the signed-in mailbox rather than every domain address.

Change, trace or remove a rule

Record the existing destination before changing it. cPanel documents changing a forwarder by deleting the intended rule and recreating it, so plan the brief gap and avoid removing unrelated rules. Use Delete beside the exact pair and confirm. Deleting a forwarder does not delete already delivered copies or its separate mailbox.

Trace, where available, helps inspect a route; it is not proof that a remote mailbox accepted or displayed a message. Check delivery logs, rejections and the destination’s spam folder. Prevent forwarding loops, including chains that eventually point back to the source. External providers can reject forwarded mail because of authentication, reputation, quota or filtering rules.

Do not confuse other delivery actions

A domain forwarder, catch-all/default address, SMTP-time failure, silent discard and pipe-to-program are different actions. Do not use silent discard to troubleshoot missing mail. Piping invokes server-side processing and requires a reviewed application integration, not an arbitrary command copied into a routing field.

Reference: cPanel Forwarders documentation.

Reviewed October 15, 2026. Documentation review only; no customer forwarding rule or mail delivery was changed or tested.