A rule is a condition plus an action
Every route in JoltMx has two halves:
- Condition - which address (or pattern) the rule applies to, optionally narrowed by who sent the mail.
- Action - what to do when it matches: forward, store, or reject.
Routing is per-recipient
A single message can be addressed to several people on your domain. JoltMx evaluates each recipient independently. One message to sales@ and billing@ can forward to two different destinations from the same delivery - they don't interfere with each other.
Priority: most specific wins
When more than one rule could match an address, JoltMx picks the most specific:
- Exact address -
support@yourdomain.combeats everything else. - Catch-all - the domain-wide fallback, used only when no exact rule matches.
This is what lets a catch-all and named aliases coexist: specific addresses are handled by their own rule, and everything else drops to the catch-all. See Set up a catch-all.
Actions
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Forward | Deliver the message to one or more verified destinations. The most common action. |
| Store | Keep the message available in JoltMx without forwarding it onward. |
| Reject | Refuse the message during SMTP, so the sender gets a clear bounce rather than silence. |
Sender filtering
Conditions can also depend on who sent the mail, not just who it was addressed to. Use sender filtering to allow, block, or require a match at the domain or route level - for example, only accept mail to orders@ from your e-commerce platform's domain.
Verified destinations, always
Any rule that forwards can only target a verified destination. If you remove or unverify a destination, rules pointing at it stop forwarding until it's verified again - JoltMx never sends to an address you haven't confirmed.
Tip: Not sure why a particular message went where it did? Open it in the dashboard. The timeline shows which rule matched and what action ran, so you can confirm your routing behaves as intended.
Next step
Put this into practice: Create your first alias, or learn how forwarded mail stays authenticated in SPF, DKIM & DMARC explained.