Enable external forwarding to Supportbench in Microsoft 365

Marcel Gravelle

07-Apr-2025

📬 Enabling External Forwarding from Microsoft 365 to Supportbench

If you're setting up email forwarding from a Microsoft 365 address to Supportbench, there's one key setting to watch out for. By default, Microsoft 365 blocks automatic external forwarding as part of its outbound spam protection policy—this can get in the way of routing your support emails where they belong.

🛑 What You Might See

After trying to forward emails to Supportbench, you may receive a bounce-back message from Microsoft 365 with an error like this:

Don't worry—this doesn't mean Supportbench rejected your message. It means Microsoft 365 never even sent it. Their security policies are just doing their thing.

✅ What Needs to Happen

Your Microsoft 365 administrator will need to enable automatic external forwarding for the mailbox you're forwarding from. Without this step, Microsoft won't allow messages to reach Supportbench—or any external platform.

We've put together a quick guide to help you or your IT team make the necessary changes in Microsoft 365 Defender.

👨‍💻 For Microsoft 365 Administrators

Special Note: Using Microsoft 365 via GoDaddy?

If your Microsoft 365 subscription is managed through GoDaddy, the process is different. Please refer to GoDaddy's instructions for enabling external forwarding instead.

🔧 Option 1: Enable Forwarding for All Mailboxes

Use this if you want to allow external forwarding organization-wide (great for companies routing multiple mailboxes to Supportbench).

1. Log in to Microsoft 365 Defender as an admin:
   Go to Email & collaboration > Policies & rules > Threat policies > Anti-spam policies
   Or head directly to: https://security.microsoft.com/antispam
   
   

2. Click Anti-spam outbound policy (Default).
   
    

3. Scroll to the bottom and click Edit protection settings.
   

4. Under Forwarding Rules, find Automatic Forwarding Rules and select:
   On - Forwarding is enabled

5. Click Save.

🔧 Option 2: Enable Forwarding for a Specific Mailbox

Prefer to enable forwarding just for your Supportbench mailbox? This route gives you more control:

1. Log into Microsoft 365 Defender with admin rights.

2. Go to Email & Collaboration > Policies & rules > Threat policies > Anti-spam policies, then click + Create policy → Outbound.
   

3. Name your policy and add a description.
   

4. Under Users, select the mailbox that needs to forward to Supportbench.

5. Scroll to Forwarding Rules, and set Automatic forwarding rules to:
   On - Forwarding is enabled

6. Click Next, review, and hit Create.

📝 Final Notes

• Menu labels or settings may vary depending on your Microsoft 365 subscription level or reseller.

• If you're not seeing these options, make sure you're using an account with the correct permissions.

• If you run into issues, Microsoft or your reseller can provide further assistance.