Create Office 365 Email Forwarding

If you’re running a hybrid Office 365, creating an external mail user with forwarding can be tricky.

With Easy365Manager however, the task becomes quite simple and can be performed directly from Active Directory Users & Computer.

To set up a synchronized user account with external mail forwarding perform the following steps:

  1. Create the user account in Active Directory
  2. Create a synchronized user object in Office 365
  3. Mail enable the user account
  4. Configure the forwarding address

The synchronization of the changes to Azure AD and Exchange Online may take a few minutes.

You can check the status of the replication with the Get-Recipient command.

The four steps are detailed in the following:

1. Create the User Account in Active Directory

Start AD Users & Computers and create a new user account.

After creating the user account, configure the country and apply it.

2. Create a Synchronized User Object in Office 365

Creating a synchronized Office 365 user object with Easy365Manager is very simple.

Go to the Office 365 tab and click “Create in Office 365”.

Then select Normal User:

The synchronized Office 365 user object is created immediately.

3. Mail Enable the User Account

Select the Mailbox tab and click the Mail Enable button.

You now have a synchronized, mail-enabled user account, and you simply need to set the forwarding address.

4. Configure the Forwarding Address

Go back to the Office 365 tab and click ProxyAddresses.

Then add the forwarding address as an alias on the account and select it as the forwarding address:

If you want to speed up the replication of your new settings, select the Synchronize AD with Office 365 checkbox before clicking OK.

one-click synchronization of azure ad conncect

The new settings will replicate to Exchange Online in a matter of minutes.

You can check if the new settings have replicated by using PowerShell:

Connect to Exchange Online and run the following command:

Get-Recipient sophus.tromholt | fl *external*

When the ExternalEmailAddress attribute is populated in Exchange Online the forwarding is active:

PS C:\> Get-Recipient sohpus.tromholt | fl *external*
ExternalDirectoryObjectId : 8b4a972b-9ab4-492d-b85e-529ca7d61afc
ExternalEmailAddress      : SMTP:sophos.tromholt@observatory.dk

Download the free fully-functional 30-day trial of Easy365Manager here.