Receive Email Replies at a Different Address Than You Send From

Gmail lets you change where emails are sent when people reply

By
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Writer
  • University of Vienna
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
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Updated on May 17, 2021
Reviewed by
Jessica Kormos
Jessica Kormos
Reviewed by Jessica Kormos
  • Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College
Jessica Kormos is a writer and editor with 15 years' experience writing articles, copy, and UX content for Tecca.com, Rosenfeld Media, and many others.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

What to Know

  • Go to Settings > See all settings > Accounts and Import, then, in the Send mail as section, select Edit info next to the email address.
  • Select Specify a different "reply-to" address, enter an address, then select Save Changes.
  • Select the email address next to the From field at the top of a message to choose from the list of "send mail as" accounts.

This article explains how to change the reply-to address in Gmail so that replies to your messages go to a different email address.

How to Set Up a Reply-to Email Address

To change the reply-to settings in Gmail:

  1. Select the Settings gear, then select See all settings from the drop-down menu.

    See all settings location in Gmail

  2. Go to the Accounts and Import tab.

    The Accounts and Import tab

  3. In the Send mail as section, select Edit info next to the email address for which you want to set up a reply-to address.

    Gmail Send mail as > edit info

  4. Select Specify a different "reply-to" address.

    Specify a different "reply-to" address

  5. In the Reply-to address text box, enter the address at which you want to receive replies.

    Reply-to address field

  6. Choose Save Changes.

    Save Changes

  7. Repeat this process for each of the email addresses you use.

  8. To stop using the reply-to address, revisit these steps, erase the email address, then select Save Changes.

Why Change the Reply-to Address in Gmail?

One reason to change the reply-to address in Gmail is when you have multiple "send mail as" addresses connected to your account and you don't want replies sent to those accounts. For example, imagine that mainemail@gmail.com is your primary address and you also like to send mail as other@gmail.com, which is your other Gmail account. Even though you send messages as other@gmail.com, you don't check that email account often, so you don't want replies sent to that email account.

Instead of forwarding email from other@gmail.com to mainemail@gmail.com, change the reply-to address. That way, when you send messages from other@gmail.com, recipients respond as they normally do, but their email goes to mainemail@gmail.com instead of other@gmail.com.

Switch Between Reply-to Addresses in Gmail

When you send an email from another account you've set up in Gmail, select the email address next to the From field at the top of the message. From there, choose from the list of "send mail as" accounts.

The recipient will see something like this in the From line of an email you send with a different reply-to address:

mainemail@gmail.com on behalf of (your name)

In this example, the email was sent from the other@gmail.com address, but the reply-to address is set to mainemail@gmail.com. Replying to this email sends the message to mainemail@gmail.com.

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