How to forward email to Gmail

One inbox is better than four. If you have a Yahoo, Outlook, iCloud, AOL, or work account and you want everything to land in your Gmail, you can set up forwarding in about 5 minutes per account. The settings live in different places on each service, so this guide covers all of them.

Forward Yahoo Mail to Gmail

1. Sign in at mail.yahoo.com on a computer.
2. Click the gear icon (top right) > More Settings.
3. Click Mailboxes in the left menu.
4. Click your primary mailbox.
5. Scroll to Forwarding. Enter your Gmail address.
6. Click Verify. Open the verification email in Gmail and click the link.
7. Back in Yahoo, choose whether to keep or delete the forwarded copies.
8. Save.

Yahoo's forwarding is a paid feature for some accounts. Free accounts have a limit on forwarding rules. If you hit a paywall, see step 3 of this guide for the "pull" method using Gmail itself.

Forward Outlook.com / Hotmail / Live to Gmail

1. Sign in at outlook.live.com.
2. Click the gear icon (top right) > View all Outlook settings (bottom of panel).
3. Click Mail > Forwarding.
4. Toggle Enable forwarding.
5. Enter your Gmail address.
6. Check Keep a copy of forwarded messages if you want a copy left behind.
7. Save.

Forward iCloud Mail to Gmail

1. Sign in at icloud.com/mail.
2. Click the gear icon (bottom left) > Preferences.
3. Click the General tab.
4. Check Forward my email to: and enter your Gmail address.
5. Check Delete messages after forwarding only if you do not want a backup in iCloud.
6. Click Done.

iCloud forwards new email only. Existing email stays in iCloud.

Forward another Gmail to your main Gmail

1. Sign in to the Gmail account you want to forward from.
2. Click the gear icon > See all settings.
3. Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
4. Click Add a forwarding address.
5. Type your main Gmail and click Next, then Proceed, then OK.
6. Go to your main Gmail and open the verification email. Click the link.
7. Back in the forwarding Gmail, refresh, then choose Forward a copy of incoming mail to... and pick your main address.
8. Choose what to do with the original (keep in inbox, archive, mark as read, or delete).
9. Save changes at the bottom.

Forward AOL Mail to Gmail

1. Sign in at mail.aol.com.
2. Click Options > Mail Settings.
3. Click the Forwarding tab.
4. Check Enable forwarding.
5. Enter your Gmail address.
6. Decide whether to keep AOL copies.
7. Save.

Have Gmail pull from another account (the "Check mail" method)

If your other account does not allow forwarding (some employers block it, free Yahoo limits it), Gmail can pull the email instead. This works for any account that supports POP3 or IMAP.

1. Sign in to Gmail.
2. Gear icon > See all settings.
3. Click the Accounts and Import tab.
4. Next to "Check mail from other accounts," click Add a mail account.
5. Enter the email address.
6. Choose Import emails from my other account (POP3) and click Next.
7. Enter the username (usually your full email address) and password.
8. Set the POP server. Common ones:
   • Yahoo: pop.mail.yahoo.com port 995
   • Outlook: outlook.office365.com port 995
   • iCloud: not supported via POP, use IMAP only
9. Check Always use a secure connection (SSL).
10. Click Add Account.

Gmail checks every 30 to 60 minutes. Slower than forwarding, but works when forwarding is blocked.

Reply from your other address inside Gmail (Send Mail As)

So now everything lands in Gmail, but if you hit Reply, the recipient sees your Gmail address. That defeats the point if you want to keep using your old address. Fix:

1. Gmail settings > Accounts and Import tab.
2. Next to Send mail as, click Add another email address.
3. Enter the email address and your name as you want it displayed.
4. For free accounts (Yahoo, Outlook.com, iCloud), Gmail can use Gmail's servers to send. For some accounts, you need the SMTP server info.
5. A verification email goes to that account. Click the link.
6. Back in Gmail, choose whether replies default to "from the address it was sent to" (recommended).

Move old emails into Gmail (one time import)

Forwarding only handles new mail. To move your existing emails:

1. Gmail settings > Accounts and Import.
2. Click Import mail and contacts.
3. Enter the other email and sign in.
4. Check Import mail. Optionally check Import contacts.
5. Gmail copies messages over. Slow (can take days for large mailboxes).

Troubleshooting

• Verification email never arrives: check Spam in your Gmail. If still nothing, try forwarding to a personal alias address you control and forward from there.
• "App password required" error from Yahoo or iCloud: you need to generate an app-specific password from that account's security settings, then use that as the password in Gmail.
• Some emails are not forwarding: check the original account's filters and rules. Some accounts only forward inbox messages, not spam.
• Workplace email will not forward: most employers block forwarding outside the company. There is no workaround that does not violate IT policy. Use webmail or the work email app.

Should you forward at all?

Forward when:

• You want to phase out an old address but need to catch stragglers
• You have multiple accounts and want one inbox to check
• You travel and only want Gmail's app on your phone

Don't forward when:

• The source account contains sensitive work email (forwarding is often against policy)
• You only check the other account once a year and want to keep it isolated