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I run the office lotto syndicate.

I get a results email that I want to detect via a filter, and forward to a group containing the lotto syndicate members.

Is this possible? I can't seem to figure it out..

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  • is it a group address (e.g., lottogroup@example.com) or are you trying to specify multiple addresses? – Fuhrmanator Dec 19 '12 at 21:37
  • Group address. I could work with either though – Brettski Dec 19 '12 at 21:46
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Not directly, no.

You need to set up a mailing list, such as on Google Groups. (Really it could be any of a number of services. The key is that there is a single email address to use that will send all messages sent to it on to member email addresses.)

However, there's a bit of setup involved and your syndicate members will need to do a little work as well.

This is how I'd do it:

  1. Create a Google Group. It will have an email address like mylottosyndicate@googlegroups.com 1
  2. In Gmail Settings, under "Forwarding and POP/IMAP", use the "Add a forwarding address" and add the email address for your Google Group
  3. A confirmation email will be sent to that address and you need to follow the directions therein so that you can auto-forward to that address. Since you're the admin of the Google Group you should be able to see it in the web interface. (It'll probably be emailed to you anyway.)
  4. Follow the instructions to confirm that you own the address. Now you can use the address in a Gmail filter
  5. Create a Gmail filter that acts on the messages you want to auto-forward. As its action, forward the messages to the address you just confirmed
  6. Once you confirm that the messages are acted on appropriately, use Google Groups to invite the people you want to join. (If memory serves, you can't add them directly. You have to invite them. It's a spam prevention measure.)

That should be it. You don't need to use Google Groups, obviously. There are other mailing lists/forwaring services out there. (Personally, I'd probably use an autoforward mailbox provided by my ISP. No need for invites there; I can add the addresses that I want.) The key is that you need to be able to prove to Google that the mailbox to which you want to forward messages is under your control.

1You may need to add forwarding-noreply@google.com to the group so that the confirmation code gets sent to the group. After confirmation, you can remove it. (h/t to Emil.)

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  • +1 for explaining the steps. I'd say that a Google Group is better than an autoforward address because users can "unsubscribe" (if they don't belong to the voluntary tax syndicate anymore). – Fuhrmanator Dec 19 '12 at 21:50
  • Thanks for answering that. A little surprised this can't be done out of the box. Does the google group remain private from outside users? – Brettski Dec 19 '12 at 22:04
  • 1
    bump previous comment... – John Clements Feb 2 '15 at 20:20
  • 2
    Thank god for your footnote about forwarding-noreply@google.com – yonix Mar 9 '15 at 12:12
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    I wasn't able to add the forwarding-noreply@google.com to the google group, it just said "unable to add". But I did set "posting" to public in the google groups permissions manager and was able to get the confirmation email from my personal gmail. Then I just switched it back to private. – thegreyspot Jan 10 '18 at 15:44

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