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How to Create a Gmail Alias: Managing Email Identities

A Gmail alias allows you to create additional email addresses that forward messages to your primary Gmail account. This can help organize your inbox by filtering emails from different senders, activities, or purposes into separate labels.

Here’s how to set up and manage Gmail aliases.

Benefits of Using a Gmail Alias

There are several benefits to using a Gmail alias:

  • Separate personal and professional emails: Create one alias for personal communication and another for work emails to keep things separate.
  • Filter email by purpose: For example, create aliases like news@, deals@, or updates@ to automatically filter different types of emails.
  • Privacy and security: Keep your main email private by only sharing aliases publicly. If an alias gets too much spam, simply disable it.

How to Create a Gmail Alias

Creating a Gmail alias is simple:

  1. Log into your Gmail account
  2. Click on Settings > Accounts and Import
  3. Under Send mail as, click Add another email address
  4. Enter the name and alias email address, then check Treat as an alias
  5. Click Next Step > Send Verification > Done

Once verified, the alias will forward messages to your inbox.

You can also create aliases manually:

  1. Add periods anywhere in your username (e.g. f.i.r.s.t.n.a.m.e@)
  2. Add a + plus sign and words after your username but before @gmail.com

Managing Existing Aliases

To view, edit or remove aliases:

  1. Go to Settings > Accounts and Import > Send mail as
  2. Click the dropdown menu next to an alias
  3. Choose Edit info, Reply from this address, or Delete

Sending Emails from an Alias

To send an email from an alias:

  1. Compose a new email
  2. Click the From field
  3. Select the alias you want to send from
  4. The reply will still come from your primary address

Some email services allow you to reply from aliases too. Check your email settings.

Gmail Alias Use Cases

There are many potential uses for Gmail aliases:

  • Shopping: orders@, deals@, shopping@
  • Travel: hotels@, flights@, bookings@
  • Finance: banking@, investing@, taxes@
  • Parenting: school@, activities@, medical@
  • Side hustles: freelance@, business@, coaching@

Get creative with aliases to organize your inbox!

Conclusion

Gmail aliases are useful for categorizing emails, increasing privacy, maintaining separate identities, and reducing spam.

The process for creating, managing, and sending emails from Gmail aliases is quick and straightforward. Consider setting up a few aliases to help tame your inbox.

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