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Forwarding routes incoming messages from your customer-facing support address into Threads. It does not authenticate outgoing replies or configure your email provider automatically. You need an Owner or Admin role in Protodesk and permission to manage forwarding for the support mailbox or domain.

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Configure the provider rule

  1. Open Settings → Email and save your customer service email address if it is not configured.
  2. Under Receiving emails, copy the exact Protodesk forwarding address.
  3. In your email provider, create a rule that forwards messages addressed to your support address to that destination.
  4. Complete any verification required by the provider, then enable and save the rule.
  5. Choose whether to retain a mailbox copy according to your organization’s policy and the provider’s available options.
Provider menus and administrator restrictions differ. Use your provider’s current instructions for the mailbox type you have; consumer Outlook and a managed Microsoft 365 tenant, for example, need not have the same controls. Ask your mail administrator if external forwarding is restricted rather than disabling organization-wide protections. A Verify forwarding prompt can appear in Protodesk when it detects a provider confirmation request. Approving the destination is not the same as enabling the provider’s forwarding rule. Return to the provider and finish the setup.

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Verify the round trip

  1. Return to Receiving emails and select Test & verify forwarding.
  2. Allow the check to finish; the current check can wait up to 90 seconds.
  3. Confirm that the page reports Forwarding verified.
The probe is sent to your support address and recognized when it returns through forwarding. It is not expected to appear as a normal customer thread. If the probe cannot be sent, check the email setup error and sending-domain verification before retrying. The I’ve set it up option is a manual confirmation, not independent proof of delivery. Use it only if you have already checked the route. On an already confirmed setup, Re-test lets you return to the verification process.

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Test an ordinary message

Send a new message from another email account you control to the support address. Check that it reaches the provider mailbox and appears in Threads. Use a distinct subject so you can find the test without opening unrelated customer conversations. If it does not arrive, check the recipient address, forwarding destination, enabled rule, provider filters, spam handling, and any routing restrictions. Avoid duplicate rules or forwarding loops. A rule for one support alias does not necessarily cover another alias. When retiring an address, disable or change its forwarding rule at the provider. Removing an address from a Protodesk settings list alone is not a reliable way to stop messages that the provider continues to forward. Next: verify your sending domain and test email delivery.