This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:

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: <a href="https://leafnode.nl">I'm developing an open source monitoring app called Leaf Node Monitoring, for windows, linux & android. Go check it out!</a> <a href="https://github.com/sponsors/RaymiiOrg/">Consider sponsoring me on Github. It means the world to me if you show your appreciation and you'll help pay the server costs.</a> <a href="https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212">You can also sponsor me by getting a Digital Ocean VPS. With this referral link you'll get $100 credit for 60 days. </a> 

### 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 [email protected]
endif

Forward ALL outgoing mail to email address:

unseen deliver [email protected]

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 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

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.