Catchall (universal receiver) is a special setting where any mail sent to nonexistent addresses on the domain ends up in a single mailbox. If someone writes to noname@yourdomain.tj — the mail doesn’t bounce, it lands in catchall.
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When useful
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- Partners write to different variants (info, sales, support) — all in one mailbox
- Client misspelled the address — mail isn’t lost
- You signed up to sites with unique addresses (vasya+amazon@…) — all arrive
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When bad
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- Spam captures any address — every bot finally “hits”
- Catchall mailbox quota grows
- Filtering gets harder — unclear “who really wrote”
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How to set up in cPanel
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- cPanel → Email → Default Address
- Pick the domain
- Options:
- Discard — drop (default, no bounce)
- Forward to Email Address — forward to a specific mailbox (this is catchall)
- :fail: — reply “mailbox not found”
- Enter the receiver and click Change
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Recommendations
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- If heavily spammed — turn off catchall and use Discard
- Create named forwarders (info, sales) instead of catchall
- Empty the catchall mailbox regularly