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How to Set Up Email Forwarding for Invoice Automation

Email forwarding is the foundation of InboxBill's privacy-first approach. Instead of connecting to your inbox, you create a simple rule that copies relevant emails. Here's exactly how to do it in Gmail and Outlook.

18 February 20255 min read

Before you start

You'll need your unique InboxBill forwarding address, which you can find in Settings → Email Setup. It looks like yourname-abc123@inboxbill.com. Copy it before setting up the rules below.

Gmail forwarding setup

  1. 1Open Gmail and click the Settings cog → See all settings
  2. 2Go to Filters and Blocked Addresses → Create a new filter
  3. 3In the 'Has attachment' checkbox, tick it. Optionally add 'Subject contains: invoice' to narrow scope
  4. 4Click 'Create filter'
  5. 5Select 'Forward it to' and enter your InboxBill address
  6. 6Click 'Create filter' to save
Tip: Add a second filter for emails from your most common suppliers by email domain (e.g. from:@supplier.co.uk) to catch invoices that don't have 'invoice' in the subject.

Outlook forwarding setup

  1. 1In Outlook, click Settings (cog) → View all Outlook settings
  2. 2Go to Mail → Rules → Add new rule
  3. 3Name it 'Forward invoices to InboxBill'
  4. 4Set condition: 'Has attachment'
  5. 5Add action: 'Forward to' → enter your InboxBill address
  6. 6Optionally add exception: 'Subject doesn't contain invoice' to exclude non-invoice attachments
  7. 7Save the rule

Testing your setup

Forward a test invoice email to your InboxBill address manually, or wait for the next real invoice to arrive. It should appear in your InboxBill inbox within 60 seconds. If it doesn't appear after 5 minutes, check your spam folder and confirm the forwarding rule is active.

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