Email to SharePoint list

How it works

1. 1

   Forward the email to your ForwardThis address with some simple instructions, like "add this to the Site Visits list: Harbour Street, Tuesday, Priya".

2. 2

   ForwardThis finds the list on your site and adds the item under the title your instructions give it, putting the rest of the details into the list's own columns wherever the column titles match. A detail with nowhere to go is reported back rather than quietly dropped.

3. 3

   You receive a confirmation email with a link to the new item and the columns it filled in, plus an undo button if something doesn't look right.

FAQs

How do I send an email to a SharePoint list?

Forward the email to your ForwardThis address with some simple instructions, like "add this to the Site Visits list: Harbour Street, Tuesday, Priya". ForwardThis adds the item to that list with the columns filled in and replies with a link to it. All you need is a free ForwardThis account with SharePoint connected - it takes about 30 seconds.

How do the details end up in the right columns?

Each detail in your instructions is matched against the list's own columns by their titles, so a date goes in the date column and an owner in the owner column. Anything with no column to go into is reported in the reply instead of being dropped, so an item is never half-filled without your knowing. It works from what is written in the email, so a figure that only exists inside an attached document is not something it can put on the list.

What if the list does not exist yet?

ForwardThis does not create lists or columns in SharePoint, because that changes the site's structure for everybody on it. If it cannot find the list, it replies to say so rather than guessing at one. Make the list once in SharePoint and every email after that can add to it.

Can it update an item that is already on the list?

Yes. Give it the item's title and the values to change, and it writes them to the matching columns, including a new title if the item needs renaming. If somebody edited that item between ForwardThis reading it and writing to it, their edit wins: it stops and tells you rather than overwriting their work.

Can it look something up on a list for me?

Yes, and the answer comes back by email. Ask what is on a list and you get the items back in the reply, or ask about one item by its title and every visible column comes with it, so you can settle a question from your phone without opening the site.

Can it delete an item from a list?

Yes, and it checks with you before it does. The item goes to the site's recycle bin. Undoing puts the values back as a new row rather than the original one, because SharePoint offers no way to restore the item that was there, and the reply says so plainly instead of calling it a restore.

Can't Power Automate do this already?

It can, and for a repeating rule it should: a flow that turns every email in a shared mailbox into a list item runs without anyone forwarding anything. A SharePoint list has no email address of its own, so that flow is the native route. ForwardThis is for the items that come in one at a time, off ordinary emails, where the list and the columns are decided as you read the message.

What happens to my email afterwards?

It gets deleted. ForwardThis holds your email briefly in case you press undo, then removes it completely. Nothing is stored long term.