Office 365, Email, Exchange, Forwarding Exchange Email to Another Account

This page includes instructions, as well as warnings, about forwarding your Exchange email messages to a different email account.

Do you have an Exchange Online (Office 365) account?

Faculty, staff, graduate students, and some undergrads have an Exchange email account (all undergrads starting in fall 2019 are assigned Exchange mailboxes). If you have one, you can log in at outlook.office365.com.

The information below does not apply to those with Google Apps @ Illinois email accounts (which is many undergraduate students).

Problems that might result from forwarding your email

Technology Services does not recommend forwarding your University Exchange email to another account. If you choose to forward your email, please be aware that you may encounter the following problems:

You may not receive all forwarded mail at the desired account. Due to how the University’s Spam Control and email relay routing systems work, messages redirected out of Exchange may incorrectly be blocked as spam. Users who decide to forward their email should check their University Exchange account frequently to avoid missing messages.
You risk violating FERPA and other regulations. These laws protect student information or other confidential information from being disclosed to a third-party, which includes companies that provide email services.
Your other account might be subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. University business records stored in a private email account may render the entire account subject to FOIA requests for searches for relevant documents.
You may not receive voice mail. The campus Unified Communications system relies on functionality within your Exchange account to deliver voice mail.
Technology Services cannot support problems that ensue from forwarding your email. Due to how email traffic flows into and out of the campus Exchange system, redirecting your email will result in your email being delivered to two separate locations. Official University correspondence and email from any other Exchange user will be delivered to your official University email account (Exchange) regardless of your forward setting. You are solely responsible for any consequences resulting from this change.

Exception: Graduates and retirees

Forwarding your email might be a good idea for those who graduate from the University. People that are graduating will have access to their Exchange mailbox for approximately 30 days after their affiliation from the University ends. After that, graduates will be able to use email redirection and receive email sent to their netid@illinois.edu. People that retire from the University will maintain use of their Exchange mailbox, but will need to access it via the Outlook on the Web client or on a mobile device.

How to move your email from Exchange

Part 1: Forward your email from Exchange

Forwarding your email is a 2-stage process so that email sent to your netid@illinois.edu email alias, as well as email sent directly to your Exchange account email address, are delivered to the same account.

1. Log in to your Exchange account with your NetID and Active Directory password at https://outlook.office365.com

2. In the Outlook Web Access window, click the Gear icon at the top right.

3. Type Inbox Rules in the Search Outlook settings box.

4. Click Inbox Rules

5. Select Add new rule

6. Name the rule something descriptive. Example: Redirect All to Personal Email

7. Under the sentence Add a condition use the drop-down to select [Apply to all messages].

8. Under the sentence Add an action: text, use the drop-down to select Redirect to...

9. After choosing the Redirect to action type the Email Address of the account you would like your emails to go to. Make sure the address is entered correctly so that you don't send your email to an invalid address. NOTE: If you are redirecting email to your university Google Apps account, you must put netid@g.illinois.edu!

10. Click Save.

Part 2: Update your email address in the Electronic Directory Editor

In addition to redirecting your email in Exchange, you will also need to set your new email address in the Illinois Directory. By doing so, you will have email sent to your netid@illinois.edu alias delivered to your new email account for at least 2 years after leaving the University of Illinois.

Open the web page https://ede.cites.illinois.edu.
Log in using your NetID and NetID password.
Scroll down to the Email field.
Enter your new email address.
Scroll to the very bottom and click on Apply – you should get the message that "The field email has changed."
Click on the LOGOUT button.