How to Set up Default Routing Email Settings for Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace

Quick and easy-to-follow guide for Google Workspace administrators

What is the Default routing setting

  • Default routing is very similar to the Routing setting shown here, but it only allows you to configure email rules that apply to incoming emails.

What can you use Default routing for

  • You can use it to create automatic email rules that reject messages, reroute them, add recipients, and more – its options are pretty flexible.

How to configure Default routing in Google Workspace step-by-step with images

Step 1

How To Set Up Default Routing Settings For Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace - Step 1

In the Admin console at https://admin.google.com, click the Apps icon.

Step 2

How To Set Up Default Routing Settings For Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace - Step 2

Select Google Workspace.

Step 3

How To Set Up Default Routing Settings For Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace - Step 3

Click Gmail. Make sure not to check the box to the left; just click the service.

Step 4

How To Set Up Default Routing Settings For Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace - Step 4

Select Default routing.

Step 5

How To Set Up Default Routing Settings For Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace - Step 5

Click CONFIGURE or ADD ANOTHER RULE.

Step 6

How To Set Up Default Routing Settings For Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace - Step 6

Under 1. Specify envelope recipients to match, choose which recipients the rule will affect:

  • Single recipient: a single email address. 
  • Pattern match: a regexp that matches one or more recipients. Learn about regexp here.
  • Group membership: one or more groups in your domain.
  • All recipients: any recipient in your Google Workspace account.

Step 7

How To Set Up Default Routing Settings For Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace - Step 7
  • Headers – lets you add custom headers to emails. For example, you can add a custom header matching the description you entered for the setting. This helps analyze why an email was routed in a certain way or what triggered a filter.

    Adding the X-Gm-Original-To header is useful when you reroute a copy of an email, and the new recipient wants to know the original recipient’s address. The latest recipient can see the original recipient by checking the X-Gm-Original-To header box in the email.

    Add X-Gm-Spam and X-Gm-Phishy headers to indicate if the email is spam or phishing. For example, these headers will look like this:

    X-Gm-Spam: 0 (means that the email is not spam)

    X-Gm-Spam: 1 (means that the email is spam)

  • Prepend custom subject allows you to add something to the beginning of emails’ subjects.

  • Change route allows you to re-route emails to another mail server, already added to the Hosts setting as shown here.

  • Change envelope recipient allows you to change the email recipient to another email address, bypassing the original recipient.

  • Bypass spam filter for this message approves emails for delivery automatically, regardless if Gmail’s built-in spam filter thinks they are spam.

  • Remove attachments from this message strips the emails of all attachments.

  • Add more recipients lets you BCC additional recipients.

2. If the envelope recipient matches the above, do the following, you can leave it on Modify and choose how to modify emails by checking the boxes below, or click Modify and select Reject, or Send to spam quarantine. 

Modify offers the following options:

Step 8

How To Set Up Default Routing Settings For Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace - Step 8

You can also set 2. If the envelope recipient matches the above, do the following to Reject message, which bounces emails caught by the routing rule and sends a delivery error which you can customize.

Step 9

How To Set Up Default Routing Settings For Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace - Step 9

3. Options – choose whether the routing only affects email addresses that don’t exist in your Google Workspace, or if it affects existing addresses as well.

The first option is useful if you want to set up a catch-all or set up forwarding for an email address without creating it as a new user, alias, or group. 

Click SAVE. It may take up to 24 hours for the setting to start working.

Step 10

How To Set Up Default Routing Settings For Incoming Email Delivery in Google Workspace - Step 10

Back on the Default routing page, you can Edit, Disable or Delete existing rules completely, or click ADD ANOTHER RULE to create more Default routing rules.

You may end up having lots of them, so the Reorder open can also come in handy.

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Address Lists

Set up email addresses and domains lists to allow, block, apply or exclude from email routing settings.

Routing

Set up email delivery rules that apply to incoming or outgoing emails.

Blocked Senders

Automatically reject emails from specific domains or email addresses.

Forward All Mail

Forward a copy of all incoming or outgoing mail from one email address to another.

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