How to forward email to a Slack channel automatically
Give the email a destination in Slack, then add an automatic forwarding rule in your mail provider that sends incoming mail there. Slack's own channel addresses (paid Slack plans) bring email in to read. To answer from Slack as well, forward to a relay like RelayMail: each email becomes a thread, and a reply in the thread goes back to the sender as an email.
Steps
- 1
Pick the channel
Use one channel per address, for example #support for support@ and #sales for sales@. Everyone in the channel sees each email as it arrives.
- 2
Get a forwarding address for that channel
With RelayMail, start a trial, connect the channel and copy your address (inbox-...@relay.relaymail.app). With Slack alone, a paid plan lets you create an email address for the channel from its settings.
- 3
Turn on automatic forwarding in your mail provider
Add the address as a forwarding address and switch forwarding on. Where to click, and the catch for each provider, is in the table below.
- 4
Confirm forwarding
Gmail and Yahoo send a verification email to the new address. With RelayMail it is passed on to the email on your Slack account until forwarding is confirmed; click its link. Outlook sends none. Either way, RelayMail confirms forwarding by itself when the first ordinary email arrives.
- 5
Send a test and reply from the thread
Email your address from another account. It appears in the channel; reply in the thread and the sender gets an email with your name on it.
Where to turn on forwarding, by provider
Gmail and Google Workspace
Where: Settings → See all settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP → Add a forwarding address
Watch for: Google sends a verification link to the new address. Workspace admins can turn automatic forwarding off or limit it to internal addresses. Spam is not forwarded.
Step-by-step Gmail and Google Workspace guideOutlook and Microsoft 365
Where: Outlook on the web or new Outlook: Settings → Mail → Forwarding (Outlook.com: Forwarding and IMAP). Classic Outlook: Rules → Manage Rules & Alerts
Watch for: Microsoft 365 turns off automatic forwarding to outside addresses by default; blocked mail bounces with a non-delivery report until an admin allows it.
Step-by-step Outlook and Microsoft 365 guideYahoo Mail
Where: Settings → More Settings → Mailboxes → your mailbox → Auto-forwarding
Watch for: Automatic forwarding needs Yahoo Mail Plus and is not available in every country.
Step-by-step Yahoo Mail guideiCloud Mail
Where: icloud.com/mail → Settings → Mail Forwarding → "Forward my email to"
Watch for: To forward only some mail, use a rule instead (one forwarding address per rule).
Step-by-step iCloud Mail guideReading support@ in Gmail with "Check mail from other accounts" or "Send mail as"? Google removes both for addresses hosted elsewhere in January 2027. What to do instead
Groups, aliases, shared mailboxes and other providers
If support@ is a group, an alias or a shared mailbox nobody signs in to, there is no mailbox for a login-based tool to connect. A forward works anyway. Step-by-step guides:
- Forward a Cloudflare Email Routing address to Slack
- Forward a Google Group (support@) to a Slack channel
- Forward a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox to Slack
- Forward an ImprovMX alias to a Slack channel
- Forward Zoho Mail (support@) to a Slack channel
- Send a Microsoft 365 distribution list (support@) to a Slack channel
- Forward a Hostinger Email address (support@) to a Slack channel
- Forward a Squarespace domain address (support@) to a Slack channel
- Forward a GoDaddy email address (support@) to a Slack channel
- Forward a Proton Mail address (support@) to a Slack channel
- Forward a Fastmail address (support@) to a Slack channel
- Forward a Namecheap email forwarder (support@) to Slack
- Forward a Porkbun email forward (support@) to Slack
Forward only some emails
- Gmail: turn off forward-everything and create a filter (for example, to:support@yourcompany.com) with the action "Forward it".
- Outlook: create a rule on the messages you want, with "Redirect to" your forwarding address.
- iCloud: create a rule in Mail settings that forwards matching messages.
Slack's channel address or RelayMail?
If you only need to read email in Slack, the channel address does that. RelayMail is for teams that want to answer from the thread. Full comparison
Questions
Does a Slack channel have an email address?
On paid Slack plans you can create an email address for a channel or a DM. Anything sent to it is posted in the channel. Slack notes that anyone with the address can use it to send email to Slack.
Can I reply to a forwarded email from Slack?
Not with Slack's channel addresses: the reply is written in your mail app. RelayMail turns each email into a Slack thread and sends your thread reply to the sender as an email, and the customer's answer comes back to the same thread.
Why is my forwarded email not showing up in Slack?
The usual causes: forwarding was never confirmed (Gmail and Yahoo need the verification link clicked), a Microsoft 365 policy blocks automatic external forwarding, a Google Workspace admin turned forwarding off, or the message was spam (Gmail does not forward spam).
Can I forward only some emails to Slack?
Yes. Use a Gmail filter with "Forward it", an Outlook rule with "Redirect to", or an iCloud Mail rule, instead of forwarding everything.
How do I send an email to a Slack channel?
Send it to an address that posts into the channel. On paid Slack plans, a channel can have its own email address (from the channel's settings), and anything sent there appears in the channel. With RelayMail, each channel gets an inbox-...@relay.relaymail.app address; email sent or forwarded to it starts a thread you can reply in.
Can I send email to a Slack channel on the free Slack plan?
Slack's channel email addresses need a paid Slack plan; on every plan you can get a personal forwarding address that brings emails into Slack for you. RelayMail posts email to a channel on free and paid workspaces (it counts as one of the 10 apps a free workspace can install), from $15/month per inbox with a 14-day trial. Free Slack shows only the last 90 days of messages, so older email threads drop out of view there.
Can I send a Slack message to an email address?
Not with Slack's Forward button: it shares a message to a channel or DM only. On paid Slack plans, Workflow Builder has Gmail and Outlook "Send an email" steps that send from the account of the person running the workflow, which suits one-off messages. With RelayMail, a reply in the thread of an email that came in goes to that sender as an email, so the conversation can continue from Slack. RelayMail does not send arbitrary Slack messages or whole channels out by email.
Do I have to give RelayMail my email password?
No. RelayMail only receives what your forwarding rule sends it. There is no mailbox login or OAuth access, and deleting the rule stops all mail to us.
Answer customer email from the Slack thread
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See plans and start the trialUpdated 2026-11-08. Provider steps from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple help pages; Slack details from Slack's help center.