Copy Emails

A Copy Emails rule saves email to cloud storage and leaves the original message as it is. Use it to archive mail, file correspondence by client or project, or collect mail sent to a shared address. This page covers each option in the Copy Emails wizard for its three targets.

The general wizard layout is in Create a Rule; this page covers what is specific to Copy Emails. To remove mail from mailboxes after saving it, use Move Emails instead.

What it does

mxHERO saves a copy of each matching message to storage: the message as .eml or .msg, its attachments, a PDF of the body, or any combination. The original is not changed:

• Email Flow: the message is delivered normally. The copy is saved in the background.
• User Mailboxes: the message stays in the mailbox. It can optionally get a "processed" category or label.
• Forwarding Address: the message is saved and then discarded. It is never delivered to a mailbox.

Typical uses:

• Archive all mail of a team, or all mail with a client domain, into storage.
• Copy years of existing mail from mailboxes into storage once, or keep copying new mail continuously.
• Give users an address they can forward, CC or BCC to file a message, for example invoices or a project address. A scanner's scan-to-email can use it too.

Supported targets

Forwarding Address was formerly called Archiving Address. See Rule Targets.

Before you begin

• You need an Owner or Administrator role in the Admin Dashboard.
• Connect the storage in Settings › Integrations. Use an organization-level account where you can. See Storage Overview.
• Email Flow: route mail through mxHERO. See Testing Mail Flow.
• User Mailboxes: connect Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace mailbox access, or an IMAP server. See Office 365 Directory and Mailbox Access, Google Workspace Directory and Mailbox Access or IMAP and Individual Mailboxes.
• Plan the folder structure. See Storage File Paths.

Step 1: Action

1. Open Rules › Create a Rule, select Copy Emails, and click Start Rule Creation.
2. Under Select what to save:, choose one or more:
   • Email (selected by default): the whole message. Choose .EML (default) or .MSG under File type for saved email:. EML opens in most mail programs; MSG is the Outlook format.
   • Attachments: each attachment as a separate file.
   • Email's Body in PDF: the message body as a PDF.
3. Click Confirm. The Copy Emails Action step has no Advanced Options.

Attachment filters (optional)

Click Add Filters under the Action step to limit which attachments are saved, for example only PDFs. The panel is called Action Filters for Email Flow and Attachments Filter for the other targets; the options are the same. See Filters and Exclusions.

Note: If you save only Attachments and add filters, messages without a matching attachment save nothing. Select Email too if every message must be kept.

Step 2: Target

Under Rule Scope:, choose Forwarding Address, Email Flow or User Mailboxes. You can't change the scope after the rule is saved.

Forwarding Address

1. Under Apply to all emails forwarded to:, keep the suggested address (mxhero_<random>@go.mail2cloud.io) or edit the part before the @. Use a name that is hard to guess, because anyone who knows the address can send mail to it.
2. Optionally open Advanced Options:
   • If fails forward to: the address that gets the message if it can't be stored. It defaults to your own address and is required.
   • Save emails forwarded as separate emails (off): when a user forwards messages as attachments, save each attached message as its own email. Without it, they are saved as attachments of the forwarding message.
3. Click Confirm.

Target Filters for Forwarding Address:

Users can add a tag after a + in the address, for example mxhero_ab12cd+clientA@go.mail2cloud.io. Mail sent to it is handled by the same rule, and you can use the full address in the folder path with a variable. See Variables Reference.

To copy mail automatically to the address, add it as a recipient with a mail flow rule (Microsoft 365) or a content compliance rule (Google Workspace). For most automatic archiving, an Email Flow or User Mailboxes rule is simpler.

Email Flow

1. Choose Send an individual copy of the content and attachment links to each recipient (default) or Send the same copy of the content and attachment links to all recipients. With an individual copy, mxHERO saves the message for each matching recipient, and the default path files it under each managed party's address. With the same copy, it saves the message once.
2. Set Target all emails sent: with Between or From, a Sender and a Recipient (defaults Organization and Anyone). See Senders and Recipients.
3. Optionally open Advanced Options:
   • Include From, To and CC when evaluating which emails will be processed.
   • Include From header when evaluating which emails will be processed.
   • Save emails forwarded as separate emails: see Forwarding Address above.
4. Click Confirm.

Target Filters for Email Flow: Use filter policy, Process only managed accounts and Sender/Recipient (From/To) Exclusions. Copy Emails has no short-code options, and #nomxhero doesn't stop it. See Filters and Exclusions.

User Mailboxes

1. In Target all emails from this provider:, choose Office 365™ for organizations, Google™ Apps, Imap Server, or an individual mailbox account.
2. Choose the accounts and a Select Time Range: option. From the beginning (all your inbox) copies everything once; the (continuously updating) options keep copying new mail. See Rule Targets.
3. Optionally open Advanced Options:
   • Notify me when done (off) and Notify me on error (on), sent to Notification Address:.
   • Mark email as processed (off; Microsoft 365 and Gmail only): adds a category or label, mxHERO by default, to each copied message.
4. Optionally add Target Filters: senders and recipients to include or exclude, and folders to include or exclude. See Filters and Exclusions.
5. Click Confirm.

Step 3: Cloud Storage

1. In Cloud Storage Account:, choose the storage account.

2. Choose Select which storage accounts are used::

   Target	Options
   Email Flow	Automatically select the storage account based on sender/recipient (default), Use a specific storage account, Balance uploads using a list of accounts
   User Mailboxes	Automatically select the storage account based on the inbox account (default), Use a specific storage account, Balance uploads using a list of accounts
   Forwarding Address	Use a specific storage account (required; there's no sender or recipient to choose from), or Balance uploads using a list of accounts

   With automatic selection, each user's mail goes to that user's own storage account. See Storage Load Balancing for balanced lists.

   

3. If you choose an individual storage account, an Important Note warns that its sign-in can expire without notice and the rule then stops saving. Click Continue to accept, or Cancel and choose an organization account.

   

4. Optionally open Advanced Options:

   • Select a security option: usually leave Accessible to the folder collaborators (no shared link), because Copy Emails doesn't send links to anyone. Choose a link preset only if you use the files' links elsewhere. For Forwarding Address and User Mailboxes, only that option, Preset: Public access links and Preset: Organization access links are offered.
   • Select a template option: apply a Box or Egnyte metadata template. See Template Definitions and Policies.

   

5. Click Confirm.

Step 4: Storage Filepath

1. Keep Root or choose Pick from storage under Filepath where to copy your files: (for Egnyte, choose Shared space or Private space).

2. Edit the Subfolder path. Type { to insert variables. Defaults:

   Target	Default subfolder
   Email Flow, individual copy	Copy Emails/{Email Address}/{Peer Address}/{Subject Normalized}/{Sent or Receive Date / yyyyMMdd}
   Email Flow, same copy for all recipients	Copy Emails/{Sender}/{Subject Normalized}/{Sent or Receive Date / yyyyMMdd}
   User Mailboxes	Copy Emails/{Folder Name}/{From Address}/{Subject Normalized}/{Sent or Receive Date / yyyyMMdd}
   Forwarding Address	Copy Emails/{From Address}/{Subject Normalized}/{Sent or Receive Date / yyyyMMdd}

   

3. Or turn on Use a copy policy instead to choose folders by conditions, for example by client domain. See Copy Policies.

4. Optionally open Advanced Options:

   Option	Default	What it does
   Email Name Formatting	{Sent or Receive Date / yyyyMMdd_hhmm}-{Subject Normalized}	File name of the saved message. There's a matching name field for attachments and for the PDF when you save them.
   Use a subfolder for saved emails	Off	Put saved messages in their own subfolder, set in Subfolder path. Similar options exist for attachments and PDFs.
   Collaborate Subfolder	Off	Share one folder level of the path with the managed sender, recipient or mailbox owner. Choose Folder to share and a Permission level: Co-Owner, Editor, Previewer or Viewer (Box; other providers offer fewer roles).
   Do not overwrite existing files	Off	Keep an existing file with the same name and save the new one with a version suffix, such as _v1.

   

   Collaborate Subfolder is not available for Egnyte, mxHERO Shares, Forwarding Address rules, or the Send the same copy of the content and attachment links to all recipients option.

5. Click Confirm.

More actions (optional)

Click Add Action to open More actions....

Then name and save the rule. See Create a Rule.

What recipients and senders see

• Email Flow: nothing changes. Recipients get the original message. Copy Emails doesn't add links or text, and sends no notifications to senders or recipients.
• User Mailboxes: messages stay where they are. With Mark email as processed, users see the mxHERO category (Microsoft 365) or label (Gmail).
• Forwarding Address: the person who forwards a message gets no reply. The message isn't delivered anywhere else.

Notifications this action sends

Limits

• Forwarding Address: the address is always at @go.mail2cloud.io. Mail sent to it is never delivered, even if no rule handles it.
• Email Flow: several Copy Emails rules can match the same message, and each one saves its own copy. Copy Emails runs before Zip Attachments, Secure Emails and Protect Attachments, so it saves the message as it was sent. See How Rules Work.
• User Mailboxes: by default, 50 messages per mailbox per batch and up to 6 mailboxes at a time per rule. Drafts, junk/spam and trash folders are skipped. After saving, you can't change the provider, accounts, time range or target filters.
• IMAP: copy only. Mark email as processed isn't available.
• Messages in winmail.dat (TNEF) format are saved as received; their attachments stay inside winmail.dat.
• File and folder names are cleaned and shortened to 200 characters. See File and Folder Naming Rules.

If something fails

The rule never blocks or changes mail delivery. See How Rules Work.

Verify

1. Send or forward a test message that matches the rule.
2. Check that the files are in the storage folder you set, with the names you expect.
3. Email Flow / Forwarding Address: in Reports › Email Flow Logs, open the message and check for the rule's executed event and a storage event. See Email Flow Logs.
4. User Mailboxes: on Rules › Rules List, expand the rule and open the account details to see processed and uploaded counts, and any errors.

Troubleshooting

More storage errors are in Storage Upload Failures.

Related pages

• Create a Rule
• Rule Targets
• Filters and Exclusions
• Storage File Paths
• Copy Policies
• Move Emails
• Drag and Drop