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How to setup a 'catch all' e-mail address?


The "catch all" is excellent if you have a high frequency of people whom mistype your email address, as these addresses (even though mistyped), will simply be bounced to your "catch all" or "default" email account. That is, providing they at least managed to spell your domain name properly.

If you're not planning on using multiple "private email boxes", then you can keep life very simple - just configure the default email address in your mail reader and leave it at that. This way, you'll receive everything sent to your domain. There are indeed pro's and con's to this method, which will be discussed in this tutorial.

Setting your default/catch all email account:


1. Load your Plesk Control Panel.
    This can normally be found at https://www.youdomain.com:8443 if you did not know already.

2. Login to the Plesk Control Panel with your username and password

3. Click the 'Preferences' button once you have logged in.

 

4. You should now see this:

         

5. You need to click in the 'Catch to address' button, then enter your address you would like all mail to be bounced to. You can use an address at your own domain if you wish, but be sure to setup a mailbox with the alias first, otherwise mail will get stuck in a loop.

6. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click 'Update'

You should of now created your "catch all" e-mail address for your account.

Remember: In order to receive mail, which finds its way into your "Default Mailbox", you must configure the default address in your mail reader.  If you don't, then all mail, which bounces to this address will sit on the server unread.  This is easy to do in Outlook Express, as it allows you to configure and monitor multiple email accounts.  Email readers such as Netscape on the other hand, are limited to "one" email account. Actually, you could re-configure your mail reader to check your default email box every few days, but who wants to be bothered with that trouble?  We suggest using an email reader, which allows you to configure multiple email accounts. You can also check your default email account, or other mail account by logging into it through the "WebMail" interface.  

The downside of enabling "Catch All":

Problems can sometimes arise when Spammers or junk mailers use this feature as a means to pump their trash into your mailbox. As long as the "catch all" is enabled, then all they must do is send to whatever@yourdomain.com and it will reach you.

On the other hand, if you're using "specific pop email accounts", you could opt to disable the "catch all", which would mean that "only visitors or associates who you've given a specific address to" can send mail to a particular email account on your domain. 

In this case, everything else, (that you have not configured as a pop mail account) is bounced back to the sender. In our opinion, we suggest leaving your "catch all" enabled for the time being. If Spammers begin sending random junk messages using anything@yourdomain.com, then you can disable your "catch all" feature.

How can I force all unresolved email to bounce back with a specific message?

1. Log in to your control panel https://www.yourdomain.com:8443/ 
2. Click on PREFERENCES 
3. Under "Mail to non-existent user:", check the radio button for "Bounce with phrase:", then enter the text that you want your unresolved email to display when they bounce 
4. Click on UPDATE button at the bottom of page.

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