How do I forward school email from Gmail to ParentDeck?
Set it up once, on a computer. In ParentDeck, add your Gmail address and download the Gmail filter file. In Gmail, add your ParentDeck address as a forwarding address, then import the filter. From then on, Gmail forwards new email from your school senders to ParentDeck as it arrives. The rest of your inbox stays put.
Where: On a computer. Gmail’s forwarding settings aren’t in the phone app.
In ParentDeck
- Open Settings, then Set up forwarding under Automatic forwarding, and choose Gmail. ParentDeck lists the school senders to forward, based on your kids’ schools and activities. Untick any you don’t want, and add any it missed.
- Add your Gmail address under Addresses you forward from, and enter the code ParentDeck sends you.
Your forwarding address
k7m2q9xb4tw8@in.parentdeck.aiCopy
Gmail filter
One file with every sender on your list.
Download Gmail filterIn Gmail
Add the forwarding address:
- Settings
- See all settings
- Forwarding and POP/IMAP
- Add a forwarding address
Import the filter:
- Settings
- See all settings
- Filters and Blocked Addresses
- Import filters
- Click Settings, then See all settings.
- Open the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab and click Add a forwarding address.
- Paste your ParentDeck address, then click Next, Proceed and OK. Your address is on the ParentDeck setup page, with a Copy button.
- Gmail sends a confirmation to ParentDeck. Reload the ParentDeck setup page and it shows at the top. Click Confirm.
- Leave Forward a copy of incoming mail off. The filter forwards only school mail.
- On the ParentDeck setup page, click Download Gmail filter. Then in Gmail open Settings, See all settings, Filters and Blocked Addresses, and Import filters. Choose the file, click Open file, then Create filters.
Waiting for your first automatic email
Check your rules
Forwarding is working.
Last forwarded email received from Gmail: Oct 10
That’s it. Gmail forwards new mail only, not mail you already have. If an older email still matters, like a form that isn’t due yet, forward it by hand.
Or make the filter by hand
- In Gmail’s search box, click Show search options.
- Paste the senders from the ParentDeck setup page into From.
- Click Create filter, tick Forward it to, pick your ParentDeck address, and click Create filter.
If something goes wrong
- Automatic forwarding is still grey. Grey means ParentDeck is waiting for the first school email to arrive on its own. Emails you forward by hand don’t count. It turns green when the next one comes in.
- The confirmation from Gmail isn’t showing. Reload the ParentDeck setup page. Gmail’s confirmation can take a minute to arrive. When it does, the code and a Confirm link show at the top.
- You can’t find these settings on your phone. Gmail only has them on a computer, at gmail.com.
- A school sender isn’t on the list. Add it on the ParentDeck setup page under Add a sender. In Gmail, go to Settings, See all settings, Filters and Blocked Addresses. Delete your old ParentDeck filter, then import the new file. It includes all your senders. Or edit your ParentDeck filter in Gmail and add OR and the new sender to the From box.
- Nothing shows up in your Sent folder. That’s normal. Automatic forwards don’t go in Sent. To check that something arrived, look on your ParentDeck Home page.
- Email stops arriving. If your forwarded email stops arriving for five school days, ParentDeck shows a notice in the app and emails the parent who set up forwarding. Days your district calendar marks as no school don’t count.
Last checked October 2026 against Gmail, iCloud, and Microsoft help pages.