Using our email addresses everywhere can’t backfire anytime. That’s why email services like Outlook, Yahoo Mail, and Gmail provide the facility to create an alias so that you easily manage newsletters and other signups without revealing your original ID.
As of 2020, the estimated number of email users was 3.9 billion. However, this means the average email user is exposed to spam emails daily. One of the best ways to deal with such emails is to create email aliases.
Email aliases are disposable email addresses. They help to add an extra privacy layer to your email account. You can also use them to sign up for newsletters or on websites that you aren’t sure of their integrity. Here’s how it works on the popular email services:
How to Create an Email Alias in Outlook
Outlook allows users to create an alias of an existing email account. This way, users can send emails and receive them through the alias. You can do this without switching accounts or making use of multiple emails. To create an email alias on Outlook, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Visit Add an Alias. If prompted, sign in to your Microsoft Account.
Step 2: On the new page named Add an Alias, you can:
- Create a new email address and add it as an alias; or
- Add an existing email address as a Microsoft account alias.
Step 3: Click on Add Alias to save changes.
That’s all you need to do, but there are few things to note:
- It is impossible to add a pre-existing address that is already associated with a school or work account.
- The alias can only have numbers, letters, underscore, a hyphen, or a dot. No special characters or spaces can be used.
- You cannot use an alias linked to another Microsoft account.
How to Create an Email Alias in Yahoo Mail
On Yahoo Mail, there are two ways to create email aliases. They include:
Add a Send-Only Email Address
When you do this, you can send messages without leaving a trace of your original account. However, users are limited to only 10 send-only email addresses. To set up a send-only email address, take the following steps:
Step 1: Go to your email page on Yahoo.
Step 2: At the right of your email page, click on Settings.
Step 3: At the bottom of the Settings tray, click on More Settings which has an ellipsis (…) beside it.
Step 4: A new window with more setting options should be visible. Click Mailboxes.
Step 5: Under the menu titled Send-only email address, click Add.
Step 6: Type out the name of your send-only email address and click on Next.
Step 7: Click on Verify to setup.
Creation of a Disposable Email Address
For free Yahoo Mail users, you can create 3 disposable email addresses. However, for Yahoo Mail Plus subscribers, the limit can increase to about 500 disposable email addresses. Here are the steps to follow to create a disposable email address:
Step 1: Go to your email page on Yahoo.
Step 2: At the right of your email page, click on Settings.
Step 3: At the bottom of the Settings tray, click on More Settings which has an ellipsis (…) beside it.
Step 4: A new window with more setting options should be visible. Click Mailboxes.
Step 5: Under the menu titled Disposable email address, click Add.
Step 6: Type out the nickname of your Disposable email address and click on Next.
Step 7: Click on Confirm on the pop-up.
Step 8: Include a Keyword, Display Name and Description for the email address.
Step 9: Click on Save.
How to Create Email Alias in Gmail
Unlike Yahoo Mail and Outlook, Gmail doesn’t provide the option to create disposable email addresses. However, you can create custom email addresses that allow you to trace the source of a spam email. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: While signing up to a website or newsletter, you can create an alias by:
- Adding a plus sign (+) to the end of your email address and including any text after it e.g. firstname+who@gmail.com;
- Including a period (.) anywhere in your email address – firstname.lastname@gmail.com
The custom email addresses on Gmail aren’t private. However, they help filter the emails you get on Gmail and also track how your mail was given out.
Auto-Delete Emails
Although Gmail does not provide a feature for adding aliases or creating disposable email addresses, you can set rules to auto-delete emails.
