Every day, approximately 270 billion emails are exchanged globally, a number projected to surpass 300 billion by 2020. However, challenges such as undelivered messages due to various reasons like incorrect email addresses, full inboxes, spam filters, and technical problems persist despite the efficiency of email communication.
There are tools that can help minimize email problems, like the catch-all feature found in most email and hosting services. It may not be suitable for every situation, but it can be beneficial in many cases. Learn when to utilize this feature and when to opt for a different approach in this article.
What does catch-all mean?
The catch-all feature, known as “pega-tudo” in Portuguese, forwards all messages sent to non-existent email addresses in a domain to a specific email account.
To better understand this feature, consider having a professional email service in a fictional domain named “mydominio.with.” Within this domain, you have created the accounts pedro@meudominio.with and joana@meudominio.with. When a message is sent to francisco@meudominio.with, which is a non-existent address, the server’s default action is to not deliver the message and instead send a warning to the sender stating that “the francisco@meudominio user.with does not exist on the server.” However, if the catch-all feature is enabled, the message is not returned to the sender but is instead delivered to the default email address set by the administrator during the feature activation.
Therefore, pedro@mydomain.com.br could receive messages sent to francisco@mydomain.com.br as well as messages sent to any address ending with @mydomain.com. This is why it is called a catch-all address.
When should the catch-all email feature be utilized?
The useful feature helps prevent missing any emails sent to the domain due to typing errors. If enabled, emails sent to incorrect addresses can be forwarded to the default email of the account and then redirected to the intended recipient by the administrator.
If the catch-all feature is disabled, the sender will receive an error message. Yet, the error messages may not always be easy to understand, leading some to miss that the email was not delivered.
The catch-all feature is beneficial for ensuring that messages are received, especially when contacting a company department that lacks a specific email address.
When an employee departs from a company and his email account is deactivated, the catch-all feature enables messages to still be received, even in accounts that were deleted earlier.
The situations presented indicate that the catch-all feature has advantages, but there are also drawbacks that make it unappealing to many companies.
When to avoid using catch-all: drawbacks
Using a catch-all feature to avoid missing any messages may not be the ideal choice due to the prevalence of spam emails, which make up around 60% of all internet traffic. Spam has been a persistent issue since the inception of email and is likely to continue being a significant problem in the future.
Spammers invest significant resources to obtain new email addresses, often targeting common email addresses used in various companies, like departmental emails such as contact@anydomain.com and marketing@anydomain.com.
If the catch-all feature is enabled, you will receive spam regardless of the number of email addresses in your domain.
When you get a large amount of spam, you will encounter various inconveniences as outlined below.
Safety hazards that pose a threat to your company.
Unsolicited emails can contain a range of messages, from simple ads to phishing attempts or links to infected websites.
Receiving such messages puts the company’s security at risk. Despite the caution exercised by you and your employees in handling unsolicited messages, the company remains vulnerable to the potential threat of a single negligent employee clicking on a malicious link, leading to the infection of other machines on the network and causing significant challenges for service administrators.
Email boxes were packed rapidly.
The volume of emails received through a catch-all address can overwhelm your company’s email storage, posing a significant challenge, particularly in organizations with shared email spaces and inadequate spam filters.
The email service itself should be carefully monitored, especially when the catch-all feature is activated. Overloading the storage capacity can lead to negative outcomes, including server downtime and potential account suspension if it violates your hosting restrictions.
How can we prevent losing important emails, such as those with typos or addressed to former employees? Thankfully, there is a straightforward and effective solution, as we’ll explore shortly.
Use alternative addresses (aliases) as a substitute for catch-all.
Most professional email services offer the option to create alternative addresses for one account, commonly referred to as aliases. This feature enables users to receive emails sent to different addresses within the same account.
An alias in email services, which is not a real email account but only a forwarding address, does not use up storage space. Professional email services typically allow for a generous or even unlimited number of aliases to be created.
You can include various types of valid emails without activating the handle. For personal names, aliases with common typing errors can be generated to ensure delivery (e.g. fancisco@domain, francico@domain, etc.). Additionally, aliases for non-existent department email addresses can be set up to guarantee message delivery (e.g. sales@domain, purchases@domain, etc.). Moreover, by replacing the email address of a former employee with an alias, you can avoid losing future messages intended for them.
Activate the catch-all function
If, after considering all the drawbacks mentioned, you decide that catch-all could be a useful tool for your company, you can easily activate it.
The catch-all function is commonly found in the hosting control panel or professional email service when it is part of the contracted service. It may be referred to by different names, such as “default email address” in cPanel hosting websites or “email links” in Google Workspace service.
If you are unable to find the feature yourself, reach out to your hosting support for assistance.
Conclusion
The catch-all feature is a potent tool for ensuring no messages are missed within your domain. However, it must be employed cautiously due to its potential to attract spam, which could pose security risks and destabilize email services. Additionally, using catch-all may inadvertently allow more spam to enter valid email accounts, including improper, false, and harmful messages.
Fortunately, there are options available like setting up routing addresses, also known as aliases, which can be very helpful in different scenarios. These include avoiding issues with address typos, managing department emails, and handling communications for former employees to ensure messages are not lost.
If you are considering using a professional email service, make sure to check out this article listing 10 companies that provide free email hosting.
Have you utilized the comprehensive service before? If you have any inquiries about it, feel free to leave a comment, and we will be happy to assist you!
Publication date: 12/02/2018 (last updated on 16/06/2023)