What is it to Catch all?

Catch all is an account in which all e-mails arrive that would normally not arrive due to an error in the e-mail address.

What is Catch all?

Catch all is an account in which all emails from a certain domain are collected. For example, if an e-mail address is not spelled correctly, but the domain name is correct, the e-mail will be collected in this account. If such an account is not used, the emails will not arrive.

To clarify this we will use an example. Every organization has a website with its own domain name, such as “namewebsite.com”. Email addresses are then linked to this domain name. Think of email addresses such as info@namewebsite.nl or order@namewebsite.com. If someone sends an e-mail to, for example, info@namewebsite.com, the e-mail address is in principle wrong and the e-mail will not arrive. But thanks to a catch all mail, the mail is still received.

You can easily set it up and choose two options. First of all, you can choose to forward all erroneous emails to a specific account. Second, you can choose to send the sender an error message. In connection with unwanted spam, the second option is often preferred.

Disadvantages of a catch all

There are a number of disadvantages to use a catch all. The main thing is that there is a good chance that unwanted spam will also arrive in the mail, as mentioned above. This results in an overflowing inbox and emails with harmful content. Another disadvantage is that the sender does not know that there is an error in the email address. This can cause the mail to get lost in the rest of the account.