Mailbox, auto responder, forwarder - prevent emails being saved

Question

I've set up an auto responder for an address, and any emails sent to this address are being forwarded to another inbox.

What's the easiest way to keep the autoresponder, forward emails BUT prevent these forwarded emails from being "received" by the original recipient.

i.e. the person doesn't want to have to go through 5 weeks of emails when they return that have already been dealt with.

I have access to exim filters etc - just not sure what I'm looking for.

order of desired outcome is:

1. Email is sent to Inbox A
2. Auto Responder kicks in
3. Email is forwarded to Inbox B
4. Email is removed from Inbox A

thank you !

Answer 1

I can't speak for exim forwarding, but for sendmail - and I'm guessing it's pretty similar - the forward file for use with vacation (the standard autoresponder since the year dot) normally looks like

\user,|/usr/bin/vacation user

The bit before the comma says "send me another copy and don't run it through the forward file", and the bit after the comma says "send this email to vacation".

To avoid keeping a local copy, change that to

|/usr/bin/vacation user

If that's not going to work for you, can you be more specific about how your autoresponder is currently invoked?