Email Forwarding from Your Own Domain to Gmail

What is Gmail Domain Email Forwarding?

Do you own a custom domain like yourbusiness.com and want to create email addresses for that domain while receiving all messages in your existing personal Gmail inbox? InboxRelay makes this easy.

Create addresses like contact@yourbusiness.com, configure your domain’s DNS settings, and start receiving all emails sent to your custom domain directly in Gmail.

Gmail domain email forwarding lets you:

• Receive emails from your custom domain directly in your existing Gmail inbox
• Use Gmail’s familiar interface without managing a separate email client or mailbox for your domain addresses
• Avoid expensive email hosting no need for Google Workspace or recurring monthly fees
• Keep everything in one place by checking just one inbox instead of juggling multiple accounts
• Use powerful Gmail features like spam filtering, search, and mobile apps

With InboxRelay email forwarding, you can set up a professional email address on your own domain and forward all incoming messages to Gmail, reliably and at no cost.

Prerequisites

Before setting up email forwarding from your custom domain to Gmail, make sure you have the following:

You need a registered domain name (for example, yourbusiness.com) that you want to use for your email addresses. The domain can be registered with any provider such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, or Cloudflare: InboxRelay works with all major registrars.

You also need an active Gmail account where your forwarded emails will be delivered. This can be a personal Gmail address (like yourname@gmail.com) or a Google Workspace mailbox.

Once you have both your domain and your Gmail account ready, you can connect your domain to InboxRelay and start creating professional email addresses that forward directly into your Gmail inbox.

Step 1: Connect Your Domain to InboxRelay

The first step is to add your domain to InboxRelay, which will handle forwarding all incoming emails to your Gmail account.
If you don’t have an account yet, create one here.

After logging in, click the “Add Domain” button to start the setup wizard that connects your custom domain to InboxRelay.

Enter the domain name you want to receive emails for. Make sure you own this domain or have administrative access to its DNS settings. Enter the domain without www or https://.

Next, define the email address you want to create on your domain and the Gmail address where the emails should be delivered.

Enter the email address you want to create on your domain in field 1 (for example, info@yourdomain.com) and your Gmail address in field 2.

Complete the remaining steps of the wizard by verifying that the Gmail address belongs to you. InboxRelay will send a verification PIN to your Gmail inbox, which you need to enter to finish the setup.

Step 2: Update your domain’s DNS settings

To route emails for your domain through InboxRelay, you need to update your domain’s DNS settings.

What is DNS?
DNS (Domain Name System) is the system that tells the internet where different services for your domain are located. For email, the DNS MX record specifies which servers are responsible for receiving emails sent to addresses like info@yourdomain.com. By updating your DNS, or specifically your DNS MX record, you tell the world that InboxRelay should handle all incoming email for your domain.

Log in to the domain registrar or DNS provider where your domain is hosted, find the DNS settings for your domain, and create a new MX record. This record tells all email servers to deliver mail for your domain to InboxRelay.

How to go to the DNS settings sites for the most common domain registrars:

GoDaddy:

1. Log in to GoDaddy
2. Go to My Products > Domains
3. Click DNS next to your domain

Namecheap:

1. Log in to Namecheap
2. Go to Domain List
3. Click Manage > Advanced DNS

Cloudflare:

1. Log in to Cloudflare
2. Select your domain
3. Click the DNS tab

Google Domains:

1. Log in to Google Domains
2. Select your domain
3. Click DNS in the left menu

Create the MX record

Add a new MX record with the following values:

After saving the record, it may take a few minutes (sometimes up to a few hours) for the change to propagate across the internet.

⚠️ Important: Your domain can only have MX records pointing to one email service at a time.

If you see any existing MX records in your DNS settings (they might point to your domain registrar's email service), you need to delete them before adding the InboxRelay MX record.

Verify Email Forwarding

Your email forwarding setup is now complete. All emails sent to your new custom domain address should be delivered to your Gmail inbox.

Before you start using or sharing your new email address, verify that everything works correctly. Send a test email to your new forwarding address (you can even send it from Gmail) and click Send. The message should appear in your Gmail inbox within a few seconds.

Troubleshooting

If the email does not arrive in Gmail, log in to your InboxRelay account and open the Emails tab for your domain. Every message received by InboxRelay is listed there.

If your test email does not appear, one of the following is likely the cause:

1. Incorrect DNS settings
   Go back to the DNS settings of your domain at your registrar and verify that the MX record values match exactly what was provided in Step 2.

2. DNS propagation delay
   DNS changes are not always applied instantly. It can take up to an hour (and sometimes longer) for new MX records to become active. Wait a bit and try sending the test email again.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully set up email forwarding from your custom domain to Gmail using InboxRelay. You can now:

✅ Receive professional emails at addresses like info@yourbusiness.com in your Gmail inbox ✅ Use Gmail's powerful features and familiar interface ✅ Avoid expensive email hosting costs ✅ Send emails from your custom domain through Gmail ✅ Manage all your emails in one place

Next steps:

• Add more forwarding addresses as your business grows
• Set up Gmail filters to organize emails from different addresses
• Configure additional domains if you manage multiple businesses
• Explore InboxRelay's dashboard to monitor email logs and delivery status

For more guides on email forwarding, DNS configuration, and professional email management, visit our How-To Guides section.