Choosing whether a SiteWorx domain should use a catchall

Prefer explicit mailboxes or aliases for known addresses. If a catchall is necessary, choose a monitored destination with enough capacity and a clear date to review or remove the exception.

1. Confirm the provider has enabled the catchall plugin and granted the account permission. Missing controls cannot be enabled by an ordinary SiteWorx user.
2. Open Hosting Features > Email > Overview for the intended domain.
3. Beside Bounce Message, choose Catchall where available and enter the intended destination address.
4. Save and send one test to a deliberately nonexistent address. Check that valid existing addresses still deliver normally.
5. Monitor volume and quota. Convert useful recurring addresses into explicit aliases, then restore the intended non-catchall handling when the temporary need ends.

Only otherwise unmatched recipients should reach the catchall destination. Verify that the destination does not forward back into an unresolved address and create a loop.

Unexpected spam volume is a predictable consequence of accepting arbitrary recipients. Disable the catchall and review aliases rather than repeatedly increasing mailbox quota. Keep test messages small and do not use someone else’s address for delivery experiments.

A catch-all can receive messages addressed to names that do not have their own mailbox. This may help with misspellings, but it can also collect large amounts of unwanted mail. It is not a substitute for creating the actual addresses your business publishes.

List the addresses customers need, such as sales and support, and create the appropriate mailboxes or aliases first. Decide how genuinely unknown recipients should be handled. Consider storage, spam review and who will own the catch-all inbox before enabling it.

How should I test the behaviour?

Send a harmless message to a deliberately unused address at your own domain, then check the configured destination. Also test an existing mailbox to confirm it still receives mail normally. Do not test with a stranger's domain or confidential content.

If the catch-all causes excessive mail, review the intended behaviour and disable or narrow it through the supported setting. Do not delete an active business mailbox to force its messages through a catch-all. Contact us with the domain, expected recipient handling and observed result if you need help distinguishing the catch-all from a forwarder or ordinary alias.

No. It affects new messages to unmatched addresses. It does not recover old mail, recreate folders or restore the former mailbox password and settings.

• Reviewing SiteWorx mailbox bounce settings
• Tuning SiteWorx spam filtering without losing legitimate mail
• Creating a SiteWorx email group for several recipients
• Enabling and publishing SiteWorx domain signing records

• InterWorx: Set Catch Email Address