[email protected] is retired: email your notes into Obsidian instead

What happened to [email protected]

According to Microsoft's announcement (Message Center post MC1011145), the [email protected] address was retired on March 26, 2025, with low usage given as the reason. If you send an email there now, you get an auto-reply pointing you to the Send to OneNote option in Outlook.

That's a fine answer if you live in Outlook. It's a problem if your forward-to-notes habit runs through Gmail on your phone, Apple Mail on your Mac, or a Proton account. Those apps don't have a Send to OneNote button.

Your options now

Stay in OneNote and use Send to OneNote in Outlook

If you read all your email in Outlook and want your notes in OneNote, this is the simplest path. It's built in, and there's nothing new to set up. We'd stick with it.

Stay in OneNote and use an automation tool

Tools like Power Automate can watch a mailbox and push content into OneNote. It's possible, but it takes more setup, and it's one more automation to maintain.

Move capture to Obsidian with a forwarding address

If you want an address that works from any email app, and you like the idea of notes as plain Markdown files on your own disk, this is the option. The rest of this guide covers it.

Set up an email address for Obsidian

Three steps, about two minutes:

1. 1

   Step 1: Sign up

   Create a free Email2Obsidian account. No credit card. You get a private ingest address.
2. 2

   Step 2: Install the plugin

   In Obsidian, open Settings, then Community plugins, then Browse. Search for "Send Email into Vault", install it and enable it.
3. 3

   Step 3: Paste your API key

   Copy the API key from your dashboard into the plugin settings, then forward an email to your ingest address.

Then authorize the addresses you used to send to [email protected]. Your account email counts automatically, and you can add up to 3 more (say, work and personal), each confirmed by email. That's up to 4 addresses in total. Email from any other address is ignored.

Make the switch stick

The address changed, so a few places that still point at [email protected] need updating:

• Your contacts. Edit the contact you used for OneNote and swap in your ingest address. Keeping the same name, like "Notes", means autocomplete keeps working.
• Old rules. If you had an Outlook rule sending mail to [email protected], those emails now just trigger an auto-reply. Edit the rule to forward to your new address instead, using "Forward to".
• Phone shortcuts. Any Shortcut or saved draft that emailed OneNote needs the new address too.
• Your subject habits. Start adding tags at the end, like #home or #meeting. They become note tags, which makes your new notes easier to find.

Using it from Outlook (work accounts)

Manual Forward works from any version of Outlook, as long as your account is allowed to send email to outside addresses.

For automatic filing, an Outlook rule needs to use "Forward to", not "Redirect to". Many Microsoft 365 tenants block automatic forwarding to external addresses, so a rule may not be an option at work. Check your employer's policy on forwarding work email first. Details are in Outlook rules and Microsoft 365 forwarding limits.

Using it from Gmail, Apple Mail and your phone

Press Forward, write a new email, or use your phone's share sheet into a mail app. All three send the email as you, so they're accepted. Gmail's automatic forwarding isn't supported, because it keeps the original sender.

Tidy the subject before sending. It becomes the note title, and hashtags at the end become tags:

• Plumber quote #home
• Notes from Tuesday's standup #team #meeting

Step-by-step instructions for each app are in forward from Gmail or Apple Mail.

Moving your OneNote notebooks to Obsidian

At the time of writing (November 2026), Obsidian's official Importer plugin includes a Microsoft OneNote option. Import into a dedicated folder, then review a few pages, since OneNote's free-form layouts don't always map neatly to Markdown. Check Obsidian's import help for the current steps. Migrating from Evernote instead? See the Evernote guide.

OneNote vs Obsidian for email capture

Curious how your email is handled on the way? Read how your email is handled, or see every way to email notes into Obsidian.