You can use Settings to configure forwarding for an account. Messages can only be forwarded to registered and verified email addresses.
For information on how to create, list, get, or delete forwarding addresses, see the ForwardingAddresses reference.
For information on how to get or update forwarding settings, see the Settings reference
Creating and verifying forwarding addresses
You must create forwarding addresses prior to use. In some cases, users must also verify ownership of the address as well.
If Gmail requires user verification for a forwarding address, the address is returned with the
status pending
. A verification message is automatically sent to the
target email address. The owner of the email address must complete the verification
process before it can be used.
Forwarding addresses that do not require verification have a verification status of accepted
.
Enabling auto-forwarding
Call the updateAutoForwarding method to enable auto-forwarding for an account. The call requires both a registered and verified forwarding address as well as an action to take on forwarded messages.
For example, to enable auto-forwarding and move forwarded messages to the trash:
Java
ForwardingAddress address = new ForwardingAddress()
.setForwardingEmail("user2@example.com");
ForwardingAddress createAddressResult = gmailService.users().settings().forwardingAddresses()
.create("me", address).execute();
if (createAddressResult.getVerificationStatus().equals("accepted")) {
AutoForwarding autoForwarding = new AutoForwarding()
.setEnabled(true)
.setEmailAddress(address.getForwardingEmail())
.setDisposition("trash");
autoForwarding = gmailService.users().settings().updateAutoForwarding("me", autoForwarding).execute();
Python
address = { 'forwardingEmail': 'user2@example.com' }
result = gmail_service.users().settings().forwardingAddresses().\
create(userId='me', body=address).execute()
if result.get('verificationStatus') == 'accepted':
body = {
'emailAddress': result.get('forwardingEmail'),
'enabled': True,
'disposition': 'trash'
}
result = gmail_service.users().settings().\
updateAutoForwarding(userId='me', body=body).execute()
To disable autoforwarding, call updateAutoForwarding
and set the enabled
property to false
.
Forwarding specific messages
Auto-forwarding sends all received messages to the target account. To selectively forward messages, use filters to create rules that forward in response to message attributes or content.