Is it possible to forward all Gmail messages to another account *including* spam?

Question

It's simple to set Gmail to forward all incoming mail to another account. However, the spam filtering is done before that takes place, so any messages that Gmail considers spam will end up in the forwarding account's spam folder.

What I want is to never need to log into the forwarding account. However, in order to check for false positives, if the spam isn't forwarded, I do need to periodically log in, just for that purpose (since otherwise I have no idea that the mail was ever received).

Is it possible to do this? I know that I can use a filter to forward mail matching criteria and set that filter to bypass the spam check, but I need the filter to match all messages, not just some. Using in:spam as the filter criteria gives a message that the in/is/label searches don't apply to incoming mail.

Answer 1

You can set up a filter so that no message is sent to the spam folder:

1. Settings → Filters → Create a new filter
2. From: *
3. Create filter with this search
4. check Never send it to Spam

From there, you can set up your email forwarding.

Answer 2

(See below why MBraedley's solution doesn't work):

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This method is kind of a hack but it works. I'm happy about any suggestions how to do this otherwise.

Create a filter with:

Doesn't have: SOME RANDOM CHARACTERS YOU'LL PROBABLY NEVER RECEIVE

Create filter with this search »

Check:

✔ Forward it to: YOUR EMAIL
✔ Never send it to Spam
✔ Delete it (optional)

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Do not use From: * in your filter. It works sometimes but is not officially supported and stopped working for many of my accounts at random.

From the google support site:

Gmail doesn't recognize special search characters like square brackets, parentheses, currency symbols, the ampersand, the pound sign, and asterisks.

Checkout this thread about gmail's wildcard filters not working anymore.

Answer 3

I found this solution: https://maxrohde.com/2015/06/18/forward-all-email-from-gmail-even-spam/

I don't know if this would work, but it looks like it would:

1. Go to settings:

2. Go to Filters and ‘Create a new Filter’

3. Set Size less than 500 MB and ‘Create Filter with this search’

4. Then select ‘Never mark as spam’ and [Create Filter]

Note: This will assure that messages marked as SPAM are forwarded. However, it will also result in all messages you sent being copied into your INBOX automatically. To prevent this, add a second filter:

5. Create a new filter

6. In the ‘From’ field put Your Email address and click ‘create filter with this search’.

7. Tick the option ‘Skip the Inbox (Archive it) and click [Create filter]

All done; all your emails should be forwarded from now on.

Answer 4

The solution, from SuperUser, that I am using:
https://superuser.com/questions/550341/disable-gmails-spam-filter-when-forwarding-email

The solution to this is not to use Gmail's "forward a copy of incoming mail" feature, but instead to create a filter. Filters are applied to incoming mail before spam detection takes place, giving the option to "never send to spam" in the filter rules. The forwarding filter should use Gmail's "deliveredto:" operator, which handles messages that use plus addressing and messages addressed to mailing lists.

In a nutshell:

• disable forwarding if you're already using that to redirect messages to your destination address
  • create a filter with the following criterion and actions
  • Has the words deliveredto:[email protected]
  • Forward it to [email protected]
  • Never send it to spam

I have verified that this approach works.

I have verified that this approach works as well, as of 2018-09-23.

Answer 5

• In Gmail go to settings
• Go to Filters and ‘Create a new Filter’
• Set Size larger than 0 Bytes and ‘Create Filter with this search’
• Then select ‘Never mark as spam’, ‘Delete’ and choose a forwarding address
• Create the filter

The result is that all incoming messages, including messages marked as spam, will be forwarded to the address you selected. Within Gmail the message is moved to the trash and deleted automatically after 30 days.

Answers relying on "deliveredto:" won't work with the "Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses" feature and + symbol feature.

Answer 6

You can go to filter then create a filter and then click the box has the word and write 'is:spam' and then click at the bottom left and then click 'ok' and then tick the box 'never send to spam' and it will solve your problem. It will never send to spam.