Setting up with Microsoft 365 / Exchange

This setup is more involved than Gmail because Microsoft’s email infrastructure handles forwarding differently. We’ll explain each step and why it’s necessary, so you (or your IT team) can follow along confidently.

The process has two parts:

1. Set up forwarding so incoming emails arrive in Jelly
2. Verify your domain with DNS records so Jelly can send replies on your behalf

Before You Start

For forwarding:

• You can get started quickly with a redirect rule in Outlook (no admin required)
• For the most robust long-term setup, an Exchange administrator can configure server-level forwarding
• Either way, your admin may need to adjust Microsoft 365 security policies that block external forwarding — see Allowing External Forwarding

For domain verification (sending):

• Access to your domain’s DNS settings — usually at your domain registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.) or a DNS service like Cloudflare
• The ability to add TXT and CNAME records

Part 1: Setting Up Forwarding

Jelly needs to receive a copy of the original email with its headers intact — this is how threading, sender identification, and replies all work correctly. The way to achieve this in Outlook is with a redirect, not a forward:

• Redirect sends the original email with all headers intact — the message arrives in Jelly as if it had been sent directly. This is what Jelly needs.
• Forward creates a new message that wraps and quotes the original, with “———- Forwarded message ———-” at the top. The original headers are lost, which breaks threading in Jelly.

There are two ways to set up the redirect. We’ll cover the quickest option first — a redirect rule you can create yourself in Outlook. If you’d prefer the most robust long-term configuration, skip ahead to Option B: Server-Level Forwarding, which is managed at the Exchange level by an administrator.

Find Your Jelly Forwarding Address

Before configuring anything, you need to know where to redirect emails to.

• Open Jelly
• Click your profile photo in the top-right corner
• Select Email Setup
• You’ll see your forwarding address — it looks like hello@your-team-name.sendtojelly.com
• Copy this address (you’ll need it shortly)

Option A: Redirect Rule in Outlook

This is the quickest way to get emails flowing into Jelly. You can set it up yourself without admin access. For long-term production use, we’d recommend server-level forwarding — it’s managed at the Exchange level and can’t be accidentally deleted or modified — but a redirect rule will get you up and running immediately.

In Outlook on the web (outlook.office.com)

1. Click the gear icon → View all Outlook settings
2. Go to Mail → Rules
3. Click Add new rule
4. Give the rule a name (e.g., “Redirect to Jelly”)
5. Under Add a condition, choose Apply to all messages
6. Under Add an action, choose Redirect to (not “Forward to”)
7. Enter your Jelly forwarding address: hello@your-team-name.sendtojelly.com
8. Click Save

In Outlook desktop (Windows)

1. Go to File → Manage Rules & Alerts (or Home → Rules → Manage Rules & Alerts)
2. Click New Rule
3. Start from a blank rule: Apply rule on messages I receive
4. Skip the conditions step (click Next without selecting anything) — this applies the rule to all incoming messages. Outlook will warn you that this applies to every message; click Yes
5. Under actions, select redirect it to people or public group
6. Click the people or public group link and enter your Jelly forwarding address
7. Click Finish, then Apply and OK

Option B: Server-Level Forwarding

Server-level forwarding is the most reliable approach for production use. It’s configured at the Exchange level by an administrator, so it can’t be accidentally modified or deleted by a user. It also doesn’t depend on the Outlook client being set up correctly.

This option requires an Exchange administrator — someone with access to the Exchange Admin Center or Exchange Management Shell. In Microsoft 365, this is usually a Global Admin or Exchange Admin.

Exchange Admin Center (Web Interface)

1. Sign into the Exchange Admin Center
   • Microsoft 365: Go to admin.microsoft.com → Admin centers → Exchange
   • On-premises Exchange: Use your organisation’s EAC URL
2. Navigate to Recipients → Mailboxes
3. Select the mailbox you want to forward (e.g., support@yourcompany.com)
4. Click Edit (or double-click the mailbox)
5. Go to Mailbox features (the name varies slightly between Exchange versions)
6. Find Mail Flow and click View details
7. Check Enable forwarding
8. Enter your Jelly forwarding address: hello@your-team-name.sendtojelly.com
9. Check Deliver message to both forwarding address and mailbox — this keeps a copy in the original mailbox as a backup
10. Click OK, then Save

Exchange Management Shell (PowerShell)

PowerShell works in all Exchange environments and gives you more control. Run these commands in an Exchange Management Shell session, or connect via remote PowerShell to your Exchange or Microsoft 365 environment.

To enable forwarding with a copy kept in the original mailbox:

Set-Mailbox -Identity "support@yourcompany.com" `
  -DeliverToMailboxAndForward $true `
  -ForwardingSMTPAddress "hello@your-team-name.sendtojelly.com"

To verify the forwarding is configured:

Get-Mailbox -Identity "support@yourcompany.com" |
  Format-List ForwardingSMTPAddress, DeliverToMailboxAndForward

You should see your Jelly address and DeliverToMailboxAndForward: True.

Allowing External Forwarding in Microsoft 365

Whether you’re using a redirect rule or server-level forwarding, Microsoft 365 may block it from actually working. Microsoft has several layers of security that prevent email from being automatically sent outside your organisation. These are on by default and your admin will likely need to adjust them.

If you’ve set up forwarding but emails aren’t arriving in Jelly, this section is almost certainly why.

1. Outbound Spam Filter Policy

This is the most common blocker. Microsoft 365’s outbound spam filter includes an “Automatic forwarding” setting that defaults to blocking external forwards.

To check and change it:

• Go to the Microsoft Defender portal
• Navigate to Email & collaboration → Policies & rules → Threat policies → Anti-spam
• Click on the Anti-spam outbound policy (or your custom outbound policy if you have one)
• Click Edit protection settings
• Find Automatic forwarding rules and set it to On - Forwarding is enabled
• Save the policy

Or via PowerShell (connect to Exchange Online PowerShell first):

Set-HostedOutboundSpamFilterPolicy -Identity "Default" `
  -AutoForwardingMode On

2. Remote Domain Settings

The remote domain configuration controls what types of email can be sent to external domains. The default remote domain (which applies to all external domains) may have automatic forwarding disabled.

To check and change it in the Exchange Admin Center:

• Go to the Exchange Admin Center
• Navigate to Mail flow → Remote domains
• Click on the Default domain (the one with “*”)
• Ensure Allow automatic forwarding is enabled
• Save

Or via PowerShell:

Set-RemoteDomain -Identity "Default" -AutoForwardEnabled $true

3. Mail Flow Rules (Transport Rules)

If your organisation has custom mail flow rules, they might intercept or block forwarded messages. Ask your Exchange admin to review any transport rules that might affect outbound forwarding.

You can check for existing rules in the Exchange Admin Center under Mail flow → Rules, or via PowerShell:

Get-TransportRule | Format-List Name, State, Priority

Test That Forwarding Works

Once forwarding is configured and the security policies allow it:

1. Send a test email to your Exchange mailbox from an external email account (a personal Gmail, etc.)
2. Wait a few seconds
3. Check Jelly — the email should appear in your inbox

If the email doesn’t arrive:

• Check the security policies above — the outbound spam filter is the most common culprit
• Verify forwarding is correctly set using the PowerShell Get-Mailbox command
• Check your mail flow rules for anything that might block outbound forwarding

If the email arrives but looks wrong (shows “———- Forwarded message ———-”):

• A “forward” rule is active instead of a “redirect” rule or server-level forwarding
• Check your Outlook rules and make sure you’re using redirect, not forward — these are separate actions in Outlook
• If you’re using server-level forwarding, check for any Outlook rules that might also be forwarding the same email

Part 2: Setting Up Sending (Domain Verification)

With Gmail, Jelly can send replies through Google’s servers using an OAuth connection. Microsoft doesn’t offer an equivalent for third-party apps, so Jelly sends replies using Postmark (our email delivery service) instead. For this to work, you need to verify your domain by adding DNS records that authorise Postmark to send on your behalf.

Why this matters: when someone receives an email, their email server checks whether the sending server was actually authorised to send from that domain. Without these DNS records, your replies from Jelly could be rejected or land in spam.

Step 1: Start Domain Verification in Jelly

• In Jelly, go to Email Setup (click your profile photo → Email Setup)
• Click Connect a team address
• Enter the email address you want to send from (e.g., support@yourcompany.com)
• Choose Domain verification

Jelly will display the DNS records you need to add. Keep this page open — you’ll copy values from it in the next step.

Step 2: Understand the DNS Records

Jelly will ask you to add two DNS records:

DKIM Record (TXT type)

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) cryptographically signs your outgoing emails to prove they’re authentic and haven’t been tampered with.

Jelly will provide:

• Type: TXT
• Host/Name: something like 20250819154921pm._domainkey (copy exactly from Jelly)
• Value: a long string starting with k=rsa; p=... (copy exactly from Jelly)

Return Path Record (CNAME type)

This tells receiving servers where to send bounce notifications (delivery failures).

Jelly will provide:

• Type: CNAME
• Host/Name: something like jelly-bounces (copy from Jelly)
• Value/Target: via.letsjelly.com

Step 3: Add the DNS Records

Log into wherever your domain’s DNS is managed — your domain registrar, hosting provider, or a DNS service like Cloudflare or AWS Route 53.

Adding the TXT record:

1. Add a new record → type TXT
2. For the name/host field, enter the value from Jelly (just the part before your domain)
3. For the value/content field, paste the long string from Jelly
4. Save

Adding the CNAME record:

1. Add a new record → type CNAME
2. For the name/host field, enter the value from Jelly
3. For the target/value field, enter via.letsjelly.com
4. Save

Step 4: Complete Verification

After adding both DNS records, return to Email Setup in Jelly.

• Click Check verification…
• DNS changes usually propagate within minutes, but can occasionally take longer

If verification fails:

• Copy the values directly from Jelly (don’t retype them manually — it’s easy to introduce errors)
• Wait a few minutes and try again
• Use a tool like DNS Checker to see if your records are visible globally

Once verified, you can send from any address on that domain without adding more DNS records.

Testing the Complete Setup

With forwarding and domain verification both in place, test the full round trip:

1. Test receiving: Send an email to your Exchange mailbox from a personal email account
2. Verify it arrives: The email should appear in Jelly within a few seconds, displaying the original message (not a wrapped forward)
3. Test sending: Reply to the test email from Jelly
4. Check the reply: In your personal email, confirm that:
   • The reply arrived
   • The “From” address shows your team address (e.g., support@yourcompany.com)
   • You can reply back to it normally

If both receiving and sending work, your setup is complete.

Troubleshooting

Emails are not arriving in Jelly

Most likely cause: external forwarding is blocked.

Check the three Microsoft 365 security layers described in Allowing External Forwarding above:

1. Outbound spam filter policy — is automatic forwarding set to “On”?
2. Remote domain settings — is automatic forwarding allowed for the default remote domain?
3. Mail flow rules — are any transport rules blocking outbound forwarding?

Verify forwarding is configured correctly:

Get-Mailbox -Identity "support@yourcompany.com" |
  Format-List ForwardingSMTPAddress, DeliverToMailboxAndForward

Check for “forward” rules interfering:

If emails arrive in Jelly but are wrapped with “———- Forwarded message ———-”, a “forward” rule is active instead of a “redirect” rule. Check your Outlook rules and ensure the action is set to redirect, not forward. If you’re using server-level forwarding, also check for any Outlook rules that might be forwarding the same email.

DNS verification is failing

• Copy the DNS record values directly from Jelly — don’t retype them
• Try adding or removing a trailing dot on hostnames and values
• Wait 10–15 minutes and retry — DNS propagation can take time
• Use an online DNS checker to verify your records are visible

Replies from Jelly are going to spam

• Make sure both the DKIM (TXT) and return path (CNAME) records are correctly added
• Check for conflicting DKIM or email authentication records on your domain
• New sending domains may need some time to build reputation — deliverability typically improves over a few days

My IT team is concerned about enabling external forwarding

This is understandable — external forwarding is restricted by default for good security reasons. Here are some options to discuss with your IT team:

• Targeted policy: Instead of enabling forwarding organisation-wide, create a separate outbound spam filter policy in Microsoft Defender that only applies to the specific mailbox(es) being forwarded to Jelly
• Restrict the destination: Some organisations use mail flow rules to allow forwarding only to specific external domains (e.g., *.sendtojelly.com)
• Audit trail: Server-level forwarding is visible to admins via Get-Mailbox and message trace, so it’s easy to monitor

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