How To Setup A Catch-All Email In cPanel

A catch-all email address is a special mailbox that receives all emails sent to your domain, even if the address doesn’t exist. For example, if someone emails an email address and that account has not been created, the message will still be delivered to your catch-all inbox for the domain.

Hosted.com® makes it simple to configure a catch-all email address through cPanel, helping you ensure no important emails are lost.

What is a Catch-All Email?

A catch-all mailbox is designed to “catch” messages sent to incorrect, misspelled, or non-existent addresses under your domain.

Advantages of a catch-all email include:

• Preventing missed messages from clients or contacts who mistyped your email address.
• Helping capture enquiries sent to general addresses you haven’t setup.
• Useful during migrations when you’re unsure which addresses are in use.

Disadvantages to consider:

• A catch-all can attract spam, since spammers often send bulk messages to random addresses on your domain.

How to Setup a Catch-All Email in cPanel

1. Login to your Hosted.com® account.

2. Navigate to your web hosting plan from the Manage Services menu.

3. Click Manage next to the hosting plan associated with your domain.

4. Click Login next to Control Panel to open cPanel.

5. Scroll down to Email and click Default Address.

6. Select the domain you want to configure from the dropdown menu.

7. Choose one of the following options:

• Forward to Email Address: Enter an existing email address (e.g., info@yourdomain.com) where all misdirected emails will be delivered.
• Discard with Error to Sender: Reject emails to non-existent addresses and send a bounce-back error message.
• Forward to System Account: Send all emails to the default system account associated with your hosting.

8. Click Change to save your configuration

Additional Information

• Spam Risk: Catch-all accounts may receive a high volume of spam, so always pair these with strong spam filtering.
• Monitoring: Regularly check your catch-all inbox to avoid missing legitimate emails among spam.
• Best Practice: Use a catch-all temporarily during migrations, website launches, or when cleaning up old accounts. Afterwards, disable it to reduce spam exposure.
• Forwarding: If forwarding to another account, ensure the destination mailbox has enough storage capacity to handle the increased mail flow.
• Testing: Send a test email to a non-existent address at your domain (e.g., test123@yourdomain.com) to confirm it is being caught and delivered correctly.
• Security Considerations: If left unchecked, catch-all addresses can be abused by spammers. Use email filters and rate limits where possible.
• Alternative Approach: Instead of relying on catch-all, consider setting up aliases for common misspellings of addresses (e.g., sales@, support@).