Things just keep on a-changing…especially in the technology world

For years, it’s just been such an easy workaround to create a domain name email (name@yourdomain.com) and forward it to one Gmail or other email account so that messages only need to be checked and responded to in one place and one familiar interface.

Suddenly, many hosting services no longer allow this simple but convenient feature. We were puzzled, a bit miffed and also curious as to the reasons why this is happening.

We reached out to our favorite web hosting provider, GreenGeeks about this matter and received the answers to our questions AND a workaround solution for forwarding to Gmail. (Can’t say enough good things about GreenGeeks support, btw.)

In a recent blog post, they explained,

“We will no longer allow email forwarding to any common email-free providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc for security reasons. Accounts with existing forwarders will continue to work as normal unless they become an issue.”

The reason being that when the emails are forwarded to providers like Gmail,

“This labels GreenGeeks as the server sending spam and inadvertently causes our IP addresses to get blacklisted. In turn, this causes normal mail to be rejected by other providers and damages our overall network reputation.

If you’ve ever had an email or IP address blacklisted, it can cause all kinds of trouble. Especially from a professional or business standpoint.”

So this dilemma is totally understandable and obviously not the fault of the individual hosting companies. It’s just due to more and more restrictions being made by Gmail and other providers in attempts to reduce spam and email scams like phishing.

So all that being explained, what’s the workaround solution now?

Turns out that you can go into your Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook settings to connect directly with your other email accounts. You may need to ask your domain email hosting provider for the correct configuration information but the overall process is pretty straightforward.

So you still get the same result, being able to check all email in one place. Now, it’s just accomplished in a different way.

Import Your Domain Email To A Gmail Account:

1. To import domain based email to your Gmail account first be sure your domain email account supports secure connections and has POP access.
2. Then sign into the Gmail account you wish to import to.
3. In the top right, click   Settings and then See all settings.
4. Click the Accounts and Import tab.
5. Scroll to the “Check mail from other accounts” section and click Add a mail account.
6. Input the email address of your domain email, then click Next.
7. Make your selection and click Next.
8. Type your password.
9. We recommend selecting the check boxes next to the following options:
   Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail
   Label incoming messages
10. Click Add Account and you should be set.
    (Try sending a test email from the other account to verify the emails are being sent to Gmail.)

More Info & Resources:

For more information on importing email to Gmail: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/21289

For information on importing email to Yahoo: https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN28341.html

For information on importing email to Outlook: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-an-email-account-to-outlook-6e27792a-9267-4aa4-8bb6-c84ef146101b

Read the GreenGeek blog post about the issues with external email forwarders using Gmail to receive and send e-mail.

https://www.greengeeks.com/blog/external-email-forwarders/

https://www.greengeeks.com/support/article/how-to-use-gmail-for-a-domain-hosted-at-greengeeks-or-anywhere-else/