Setting up an Alias address in Office 365 to Forward to another address that functions as a 'bonus' email forwarder.

It's definitely a thing that you can forward mail in Office 365 but it seems to turn your email into more of a strict forwarding address than I work like and sometimes you just need an extra pure forwarding address (orders@, contact@, etc.). For my money, I like setting up an alias for my mailbox and then setting an inbox rule to forward that mail (and leave a copy in your primary receiving inbox too if you choose) wherever it needs to go since you can't really buy pure forwarding addresses for 365 per se.

This is quick and effective, you just need to make sure you do the steps in the proper order. For instance, if you do not add the addresses as contacts before creating the rule and your browsers spazzes you out or otherwise cache-crashes you and won't let you type the email in manually, you'll have to double back and add the contact like you should have to begin with and then start over with the rule. Just a public service announcement.

In these guides, I regularly refer to the button in the top left hand corner of the Office 365 Web App interface as 'the Rubik's Cube.' Just so you know, this is because the button looks like a *cough* Rubik's Cube. Just so you know what that means before we proceed.

1. Log into your Outlook Web App

Navigate to the 'Admin' section. You can go top left to the Rubik's Cube and select 'Admin' from the dropdown.

2. Create your alias address (the forwarding address in essence)

On the Admin page, click the link under the heading 'users & groups' that says 'Add users, reset passwords, and more.'

On the Users and Groups page, check the box to the left of your email address (name) and select to 'Manage email aliases.'

You should now be in the email aliases page and there will be a box and a dropdown towards the top of the page. Select your domain from the dropdown and put your prefix for the address (info, contact, etc.) into the box before it. Click 'Add' to the right of that address line and 'Save' at the bottom.

On the Admin page, click the link under the heading 'users & groups' that says 'Add users, reset passwords, and more'.

On the Admin page, click the link under the heading 'users & groups' that says 'Add users, reset passwords, and more'.

3. Add your alias address as a contact (of your own mailbox)

It may sound kind of odd but this is part of the process. Navigate to the 'People' section. You can go top left to the Rubik's Cube and select 'People' from the dropdown or you may have it pinned to your Web App navigation bar.

On the People page, click the 'New' link in the top left of the screen under the Rubik's Cube and select to 'Create contact' from the screen that pops up.

On the contact card popup, enter a name and the alias address you just created. Click 'Save' at the top of the screen.

4. Establish your forwarding rule to your external address

Navigate to the 'Outlook' section. You can go top left to the Rubik's Cube and select 'Outlook' from the dropdownor you may have it pinned to your Web App navigation bar.

In the top right of the Outlook page, there is a small button that looks like a gear next to the silhouette of a person (or picture if you've already configured that). Click this and select 'Options' from the dropdown menu. 'Options' should be the second item from the bottom in that list.

On the 'Options' page, select 'Inbox rules' from the Mail>Automatic Processing section on the left hand side.

There should now be a pane that says 'Inbox rules' towards the top that takes up most of the page and a few options right below that. Click the one that looks like a Plus Sign to add a new rule.

Creating the Inbox Rule

• On the 'New inbox rule' page, give a name to your rule. For me, I like naming them as close to the function as possible as I have a lot of rules. I would call this '[alias] forwarding rule' or something to that effect, where '[alias]' is the name of the alias box.
• In the first field, the 'When the message arrives, and' dropdown, select 'It was sent or received' then 'Sent to...' This will open a window with a list of contacts. Find the contact you created for your alias, click the Plus Sign to the right of the name and then 'OK' at the top of the page.
• In the second field, the 'Do the following' dropdown, select 'Forward, redirect, or send' then 'Redirect the message to...' if you want to not keep a copy in the main mailbox (your original address vs. the alias) or 'Forward the message to...' if you want to keep a copy in the main mailbox. This will open a window with a list of contacts. Find the target recipient address in the list click the Plus Sign to the right of the name or manually type it in the 'To:' field at the top of the page and then 'OK,' which is also at the top of the page.

You're Done, Son!