Definition

The Update Auto Forwarding action allows you to modify the auto-forwarding settings of a Gmail account within your Google Workspace organization. With this action, you can enable or disable auto-forwarding, specify the destination email address for forwarded messages, and choose how Gmail should treat the original message after forwarding (e.g., keep it in the inbox, mark it as read, archive it, or delete it).
This action is essential for automating email handling policies, especially for users who are transitioning, going on leave, or managing shared inboxes.

Key Capabilities:

Enable or disable auto-forwarding for a specific user.
Set the forwarding address (must be a verified forwarding address).
Configure the behavior of the original email after forwarding.

Example Use cases

1. Redirect Emails During Employee Leave

Automatically forward all emails from an employee’s inbox to their manager or colleague while they are on vacation or leave, ensuring no important communication is missed.

2. Transition Emails for Departing Employees

When an employee leaves the company, you can set up auto-forwarding of their emails to a supervisor or replacement, helping maintain continuity without manual monitoring.

3. Centralize Communications for Specific Projects

Forward emails related to a particular project to a shared mailbox or project lead’s email address so that the entire team stays updated without needing access to individual inboxes.

4. Support Temporary Role Changes

When an employee temporarily shifts roles (e.g., acting team lead), you can quickly update their auto-forwarding settings to ensure emails meant for their original role are redirected to the right person.

Inputs

Connection

Description: A Google Workspace Administration connection.
Details: You need to upload a credential JSON file for a service account with domain-wide delegation.
👉 Guide to create the connection

User Email

Description: The email address of the user whose Gmail auto-forwarding settings you want to update.
Details: This identifies which account’s settings will be changed.

Forwarding (Check or Not)

A checkbox to enable or disable auto-forwarding.

Details:

Checked = Enable auto-forwarding.
Unchecked = Disable auto-forwarding.

Forward a Copy of Incoming Mail To

The email address where incoming emails will be forwarded.

Only required if Forwarding is checked.
The forwarding address must already be verified in the user’s Gmail settings.

Action

Defines what happens to the original email after it has been forwarded.

Options:

Mark mail’s copy as read
Archive mail’s copy
Delete mail’s copy

This helps manage how emails are treated in the original mailbox after forwarding.

Outputs

The action returns the updated auto-forwarding settings of the user’s Gmail account, including the following fields:

Email Address

The email address to which all incoming messages are now being forwarded.

Details:
This is the verified address that has been set to receive a copy of the emails.

Disposition

The action that will be performed on the original email after forwarding.

Details:
Shows whether the email will be marked as read, archived, or deleted once it’s forwarded.

Forwarding

Indicates whether auto-forwarding is enabled.

Details:
If forwarding is enabled, it will show true; otherwise, it will show false.

Example

Situation:
An IT administrator wants all emails sent to a specific user's old company email address to be automatically forwarded to their new email address, while keeping a copy in the original mailbox marked as read.

How to Set it Up:

Add the Update Auto Forwarding action to your Zenphi flow.
Select the appropriate Google Workspace Administration connection.
Enter the User Email (e.g., [email protected]).
Enable the Forwarding toggle.
Set the Forward a copy of incoming mail to field to the new email address (e.g., [email protected]).
Choose the Action as Mark mail's copy as read.
Run the flow to apply the forwarding rule.

The action will update the Gmail account’s settings so that all new emails are forwarded and a read copy remains in the original inbox.