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Email Forwarder

Replying As Your Forwarded Email Address in Gmail

The Problem

By default, when you reply to a forwarded email in Gmail, your reply comes FROM your Gmail address — not your custom domain address. This can be confusing for recipients.

Example: Without SMTP Setup

  1. Customer emails support@yourcompany.com
  2. Email forwards to your Gmail: you@gmail.com
  3. You click Reply in Gmail
  4. Reply sends FROM you@gmail.com ❌
  5. Customer sees reply from your personal Gmail (unprofessional!)

Example: With SMTP Setup

  1. Customer emails support@yourcompany.com
  2. Email forwards to your Gmail: you@gmail.com
  3. You click Reply in Gmail
  4. You select support@yourcompany.com from the "From" dropdown
  5. Reply sends FROM support@yourcompany.com ✅
  6. Customer sees reply from your professional address!

The Solution: SMTP Credentials

To reply from your custom email address, Gmail needs permission to send emails through AWS SES on your behalf. This requires SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) credentials.

Step 1: Request SMTP Credentials

Contact Formtabulo.us to receive your SMTP credentials.

Send a message to support with:

  • Your domain name (e.g., yourcompany.com)
  • The email address you want to send from (e.g., contact@yourcompany.com)

You'll receive:

  • SMTP Server: email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
  • Port: 587
  • Username: AKIAU************
  • Password: ****************

Step 2: Add Email Address to Gmail

  1. Open Gmail
  2. Click the gear icon → See all settings
  3. Go to the Accounts and Import tab
  4. Find Send mail as
  5. Click Add another email address

Step 3: Enter Your Email Information

A popup window will appear:

  1. Name: Enter your name or company name (e.g., "Support Team" or "John at MyCompany")
  2. Email address: Enter your forwarding address (e.g., contact@yourcompany.com)
  3. UNCHECK "Treat as an alias" — This is important!
  4. Click Next Step
Important: You MUST uncheck "Treat as an alias" or Gmail won't ask for SMTP settings!

Step 4: Enter SMTP Settings

Now Gmail will ask for SMTP server details:

  1. SMTP Server: email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
  2. Port: 587
  3. Username: Paste the username from Step 1
  4. Password: Paste the password from Step 1
  5. Secured connection using TLS: Make sure this is checked ✓
  6. Click Add Account

Step 5: Verify Your Email Address

  1. Gmail will send a verification email to contact@yourcompany.com
  2. Since you have forwarding set up, it will arrive in your Gmail inbox
  3. Open the verification email
  4. Click the verification link
  5. Done! ✅

Step 6: Using Your Custom Address

When composing or replying to emails:

  1. Look for the From field at the top of the compose window
  2. Click the dropdown arrow
  3. Select contact@yourcompany.com
  4. Send your email

Recipients will see it came from your professional address!

Tip: You can set your custom address as the default by going to Gmail Settings → Accounts and Import → Send mail as → click "make default" next to your custom address.

Troubleshooting

Error: "Email address is not verified"

This usually means there's a region mismatch. The SMTP credentials must be from the same AWS region as your email forwarding setup.

Solution: Contact Formtabulo.us support and request new SMTP credentials for the us-east-1 region.

Error: "Authentication failed"

Double-check your username and password:

  • Make sure there are no extra spaces when copying/pasting
  • Verify you're using the correct credentials for your domain
  • Confirm the port is set to 587 (not 465 or 25)

Gmail Doesn't Ask for SMTP Settings

This happens if you leave "Treat as an alias" checked. To fix:

  1. Delete the email address you just added
  2. Start over from Step 2
  3. Make sure to UNCHECK "Treat as an alias"

Verification Email Doesn't Arrive

Check that:

  • Your forwarding rule is Active (not Paused)
  • The forwarding destination is correct
  • Check your Gmail spam folder

Testing Your Setup

Send yourself a test email to verify everything works:

  1. Send an email from a different account to contact@yourcompany.com
  2. Check that it arrives in your Gmail inbox ✓
  3. Click Reply
  4. Change the "From" field to contact@yourcompany.com
  5. Send the reply
  6. Check the other account — reply should show it came from contact@yourcompany.com ✓

Other Email Providers

These instructions are for Gmail, but the same SMTP credentials work with:

  • Outlook.com / Hotmail — Settings → View all Outlook settings → Email → Sync email → Connected accounts
  • Apple Mail (iPhone/Mac) — Settings → Mail → Accounts → Add Account → Other → Add Mail Account
  • Thunderbird — Account Settings → Account Actions → Add Mail Account

The SMTP settings are the same for all email clients — just use the credentials provided by Formtabulo.us.

Last updated: April 24, 2026