Using our email addresses everywhere never backfires. That’s why email services like Outlook, Yahoo Mail, and Gmail provide the ability to create an alias so you can easily manage newsletters and other entries without revealing your original identity.
As of 2020, the estimated number of email users was 3.9 billion. However, this means that the average email user is exposed to spam emails on a daily basis. One of the best ways to deal with this type of email is to create email aliases.
Email aliases are disposable email addresses. They help add an extra layer of privacy to your email account. You can also use them to sign up for newsletters or websites whose integrity you are unsure of. Here’s how it works on popular email services:
How to Create Email Alias in Outlook
Outlook allows users to create an alias for an existing email account. This way, users can send emails and receive them via alias. You can do this without switching accounts or using multiple emails. To create an email alias in Outlook, follow these steps:
Stage 1: Visit Add Nickname. If prompted, sign in to your Microsoft Account.
Step 2: On the new page called Add Nickname, you can:
- Create a new email address and add it as an alias; or
- Add an existing email address as a Microsoft account alias.
Stage 3: Click Add Nickname to save the changes.
That’s all you have to do, but there are a few things to watch out for:
- It is not possible to add a pre-existing address that is already associated with a school or work account.
- Nicknames can only contain numbers, letters, underscores, hyphens, or periods. Special characters or spaces cannot be used.
- You cannot use a nickname linked to another Microsoft account.
How to Create an Email Alias in Yahoo Mail
There are two ways to create email aliases in Yahoo Mail. They include:
Add Send-Only Email Address
When you do this, you can send messages without leaving any trace of your original account. However, users are limited to only 10 send-only email addresses. To set a send-only email address, follow these steps:
Stage 1: Go to your email page on Yahoo.
Step 2: On the right side of your email page, click Settings.
Stage 3: At the bottom of the Settings tray, click More Settings with three dots (…) next to it.
Step 4: A new window should appear with more settings options. Click Mailboxes.
Step 5: Under the menu titled Send-only email address, click Add.
Step 6: Just type the name of your sendable email address and click Next.
Step 7: Click Verify for installation.
Creating a Disposable Email Address
You can create 3 disposable email addresses for free Yahoo Mail users. However, for Yahoo Mail Plus subscribers, the limit may increase to around 500 disposable email addresses. Here are the steps to follow to create a disposable email address:
Stage 1: Go to your email page on Yahoo.
Step 2: On the right side of your email page, click Settings.
Stage 3: At the bottom of the Settings tray, click More Settings with three dots (…) next to it.
Step 4: A new window should appear with more settings options. Click Mailboxes.
Step 5: Under the menu titled Disposable email address, click Add.
Step 6: Type the alias of your Disposable email address and click Next.
Step 7: Click Confirm in the pop-up window.
Step 8: Add a Keyword, Display Name and Description for the email address.
Step 9: Click Save.
How to Create an Email Alias in Gmail
Unlike Yahoo Mail and Outlook, Gmail does not offer an 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:
Stage 1: When signing up for a website or newsletter, you can create a nickname by doing the following:
- Adding a plus sign (+) to the end of your email address followed by any text eg. [email protected];
- By adding a period (.) anywhere in your email address – [email protected]
Private email addresses in Gmail are not private. However, it helps to filter the emails you receive in Gmail and also keeps track of how your mails are sent.
Auto Delete Emails
Although Gmail doesn’t provide the ability to add aliases or create disposable email addresses, you can set rules to automatically delete emails.
