For whatever reason, you might eventually need to disguise your Gmail email address. In a situation like this, you will not want to use your real email address and reveal your identity. Also, you might want to avoid giving your real email address for numerous newsletters, online comments, websites, guides, and so on. The best way to get the information you need without giving your personal information is to create a Gmail alias.
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What Is a Gmail Alias?
To simplify it, an email alias is a different name you are using to set up your email address. That name can be any you might think of as long as it differs from your real email address. Each time you want to receive a certain email to your Gmail inbox without sharing your personal information, you can use an alias you’ve created.
Many email providers implemented an alias feature that enables you to create a separate email address that can be managed by your primary email account. So, when an email is sent to an alias address, it will show up in the main email inbox.
Alias emails are a bit different in Gmail. A user can add a suffix to the main part of the email address if he or she wants to create an alias. This means that the user needs to add ‘+alias+ to the main part of the email address. That way, all the emails will show up in one Gmail inbox even though they are sent to different email addresses.
Creating an Alias in Gmail
Creating an alias in Gmail is very simple. The only thing you need to have before setting up your alias is the main Gmail account where you will direct all your other emails as well. Here is what you need to do if you want to integrate your alias email into your main Gmail account.
#1 Adding an Alias Address
- Login to your Gmail account on your computer.
Of course, you can set it up even from a mobile browser, but it will be a bit difficult to navigate from there, so try to do it from a desktop browser to make it easier for yourself.
- Click on the Settings icon and choose the “Accounts and Import” tab.
- Find and click on “Add another email address”.
- Add your name and information from your new email address.
Google will ask you for verification of that second account, so make sure you’re adding the right information.
#2 Verification
To verify your email alias:
- Log in to your other email account.
- Check your inbox to see if you have received a Gmail verification email
- Click on the verification link.
Once you’ve clicked on it, the verification process will be completed.
#3 Changing Address
After you’ve added your email alias, you can send emails from a Gmail account using another “from” address. This can be done in each of your individual messages. Just change your settings by clicking on the “From” option in the email message.
If you don’t see that option, simply click the space next to your recipient’s email address. This will allow you to select the alternate address from which you want to send your email.
Checking Your Email From Other Accounts
If you have several aliases or you’re receiving a lot of emails per day, you will probably want to read all of your emails in one inbox. Luckily, this is also a very simple process. All you have to do is go to “Settings” again and click on the “Accounts and Imports” tab.
Then, scroll down until you notice the “Check mail from other accounts” option and click on the “Add a mail account” and continue following the steps. You can create a Gmail alias every day if you want!
Temporary Alias
If you need a temporary alias, but don’t have another email account, you can create it with the “+” trick. Each time you add that sign with additional text to your Gmail address and give it to a person, Gmail will send emails from that address to your primary address.
This will be very helpful for you because you can create filters and let Gmail know what you want to do with which email messages, depending on the additional text you provide.
Make the Most of It
Besides creating email aliases is super easy, it can also be very useful and help you organize your emails and know how to use the Gmail Alias feature. There are many ways this feature can help you in your daily communication and project management.
#1 Receiving Task Reminders
Every day, you have a bunch of new tasks you need to deal with while your old ones are not even finished. To avoid this frustration, you can update your to-do list with your email alias. Just send yourself a task reminder by emailing your tasks from any email address to your dedicated alias, for instance, namesurname+work@gmail.com.
Gmail can even organize your incoming task reminder emails under a certain label – ToDo, Tasks or Daily, but you will need to set up a filter for that first. Just click on the “Settings” and switch to the “Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.” Click on the “Create a new filter” link and create any filter you want!
#2 Cloaking Your Private Address
As already mentioned, the majority of Gmail users will create email aliases to keep their personal or even work email addresses private. You might want to receive certain emails while you’re at work but without actually sharing your work email address, so you will have to share your alias address instead of your work address and add the second one as your forwarding address. Also, you will need to create a filter to forward these emails to your work email.
#3 Accessing Data on Demand
Did you know you can even use email aliases to access birthdays, server names, weekly grocery lists or even how-to notes? By combining aliases and canned responses, you can create different types of lists and notes and access them from any device you want.
Final Thoughts
Creating an email alias may sound complicated at first. But, for whatever reason you need to set up an alias account, you will easily do so in just a few steps. You can link as many aliases you want to your primary Gmail account, but make sure you’re not making it more difficult for yourself.
Features like these are designed so your communication and organization are simplified as much as possible. Not to mention, you can still keep your real email address private and access information that is valuable to you. Now that you know how to create a Gmail alias, it’s time to make the most of this cool Gmail feature!
