Email aliases can revolutionize your inbox organization. They act like alternate email addresses, but all messages still land in your primary inbox. Combined with filters and folders, aliases become a powerful tool for managing incoming mail. This article explores the benefits and practical applications of using email aliases.
Understanding Email Aliases
Creating an alias is straightforward with major email providers like Gmail, iCloud, and Outlook.com. When entering your email address into a form, simply add a “+” sign and some descriptive text before the “@” symbol.
For example, if your email is yourname@gmail.com, you can use yourname+expenses@gmail.com for work-related purchases and yourname+newsletters@gmail.com for newsletter subscriptions. “expenses” and “newsletters” become aliases of your main address.
Emails sent to these aliases arrive in your regular inbox, but the “To:” field will display the alias. This allows you to set up filters to automatically sort incoming emails based on the alias used.
Setting up Filters in Gmail
Here’s how to create a filter in Gmail:
- Click the search box and then select “More Search Options.”
- Enter the plus-address, such as
yourname+newsletters@gmail.com, in the “To:” field. - Click “Create Filter.”
- Under “Apply the label,” create a new label, such as “Newsletters.”
- Check “Skip the inbox.”
Now, any email sent to yourname+newsletters@gmail.com will be labeled “Newsletters” and bypass your main inbox. Similar filter setups exist for Outlook and iCloud; consult their respective documentation for detailed instructions.
Plus-address functionality is also supported by Exchange, Proton, and Fastmail. Custom domain aliases might be an option if your provider allows it. For example, separate addresses like work@yourdomain.com and personal@yourdomain.com can route to the same inbox.
However, AOL Mail and major ISP mail services like Comcast and Spectrum do not currently support plus-addresses. Yahoo offers a “Temporary Email Address” feature with limitations on the number of addresses without a paid subscription.
Practical Applications of Email Aliases
Email aliases offer greater flexibility than standard inbox categorization features. For example, separate aliases can be used for daily and weekly newsletters, preventing daily news from overwhelming weekly digests. Similarly, different aliases can manage business and personal expenses or filter notifications from specific services like Slickdeals.
The primary goal is to separate less urgent emails from your main inbox, allowing you to view them at your convenience. Aliases provide this granular control more effectively than predefined category systems.
Email Aliases vs. Masked Email
Email aliases, whether plus-addresses or custom domain aliases, differ from masked email addresses. Masked emails are unique for each sender and completely hide your real email address.
Services like Ironvest and DuckDuckGo offer masked email functionality, enhancing privacy and enabling easy blocking of senders. However, the advertising industry is developing methods to bypass the “+” symbol in plus-addresses for tracking purposes.
While masked email prioritizes privacy and sender blocking, email aliases are best suited for trusted senders when you want to control inbox organization. Exploring the possibilities of email aliases can significantly improve your email management experience.
