This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org: --- Title : Forward or save outgoing email with Exim Author : Remy van Elst Date : 16-12-2015 URL : https://raymii.org/s/blog/Forward_or_save_all_outgoing_email_with_exim.html Format : Markdown/HTML --- I have a specific server where requirements state that all outgoing email should be saved for archival and auditing purposes. The server uses the Exim mail transfer agent, which makes this easy to configure. The outgoing email is also forwarded to an off-site mailbox, both for backup and easy consulting. This captures all outgoing email, sent by PHP scripts or cronjobs, or user accounts that send via exim. This tutorial also shows how to forward or save all outgoing email for a specific domain.

Recently I removed all Google Ads from this site due to their invasive tracking, as well as Google Analytics. Please, if you found this content useful, consider a small donation using any of the options below:

I'm developing an open source monitoring app called Leaf Node Monitoring, for windows, linux & android. Go check it out!

Consider sponsoring me on Github. It means the world to me if you show your appreciation and you'll help pay the server costs.

You can also sponsor me by getting a Digital Ocean VPS. With this referral link you'll get $100 credit for 60 days.

### Exim configuration There are two things that need to be configured. The system filter and the specific transport. If you only want to forward emails and not save them to the filesystem, the transport section is not needed. Edit your exim configuration and add these lines at the top: # /etc/exim.conf top system_filter = /etc/system_filter.exim system_filter_directory_transport = local_copy_outgoing Add these lines lower in the configuration, in your transports section: # /etc/exim.conf transpors section local_copy_outgoing: driver = appendfile delivery_date_add envelope_to_add return_path_add group = mail user = mail mode = 0660 maildir_format = true create_directory = true Change the `mail` user to the specific user account on your system exim runs at. It could be named `exim`. You can check that with the `getent passwd` command. To configure the actual saving and filtering create or edit the `/etc/system_filter.exim` file. The below snippets should be placed in that file, according to what you're trying to acomplish. To save all outgoing mail from a specific domain to a maildir folder in `/var/mail/`: if $sender_address_domain is example.tld then unseen save /var/mail/example.tld/mailarchive/.${tr{$sender_address}{.}{_}}.outgoing/ endif Forward all outgoing from specific domain to specific email address: if $sender_address_domain is example.tld then unseen deliver othermailbox@otherdomain.com endif Forward ALL outgoing mail to email address: unseen deliver othermailbox@otherdomain.com Save ALL outgoing email to maildir folder: unseen save /var/mail/${tr{$sender_address_domain}{.}{_}}/mailarchive/${tr{$sender_address}{.}{_}}.outgoing/ The files are saved in a maildir structure: ls -la /var/mail/example.tld/mailarchive/example\@example.tld.outgoing/new/ total 16 -rw-rw---- 1 mail mail 1632 Dec 15 20:31 1450207897.H829447P10443.example.tld drwx------ 5 mail mail 4096 Dec 15 20:31 .. -rw-rw---- 1 mail mail 1747 Dec 15 20:33 1450207983.H51962P10484.example.tld drwx------ 2 mail mail 4096 Dec 15 20:33 . You can check the [exim documentation][2] for more variables you can use in this filter document. [1]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212 [2]: http://www.exim.org/exim-html-3.30/doc/html/filter_34.html --- License: All the text on this website is free as in freedom unless stated otherwise. This means you can use it in any way you want, you can copy it, change it the way you like and republish it, as long as you release the (modified) content under the same license to give others the same freedoms you've got and place my name and a link to this site with the article as source. This site uses Google Analytics for statistics and Google Adwords for advertisements. You are tracked and Google knows everything about you. Use an adblocker like ublock-origin if you don't want it. All the code on this website is licensed under the GNU GPL v3 license unless already licensed under a license which does not allows this form of licensing or if another license is stated on that page / in that software: This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see . Just to be clear, the information on this website is for meant for educational purposes and you use it at your own risk. I do not take responsibility if you screw something up. Use common sense, do not 'rm -rf /' as root for example. If you have any questions then do not hesitate to contact me. See https://raymii.org/s/static/About.html for details.