3 Hidden Ways to Create Instant Gmail Aliases
Generating Gmail Aliases on the Spot
You don't have to set up anything before doing this. Just follow these hidden rules to have access to unlimited aliases:
- The dots (.) inside your username don't matter (but do not use two dots together).
myemail@gmail.com->my.email@gmail.com - Anything after the plus sign (+) doesn't matter (including the plus sign itself).
myemail@gmail.com->myemail+friends@gmail.com - You can use either the domain gmail.com or googlemail.com. You already have both because "gmail" was registered in a few countries around the world before Google.
myemail@gmail.com->myemail@googlemail.com
Hunting Personal Information Sellers
If you replace your email address for an example company "Seller.com" from myemail@gmail.com to my.email+seller@googlemail.com, the email will still land in your original inbox. Next time you receive an email you never signed up for, you'll know who sold your data and you can prove it.
However, sometimes email validations may not allow the use of a plus (+), which limits the effectiveness of this technique. In such cases, it doesn't seem worth it to proceed with the alias idea. Additionally, certain websites, such as LinkedIn, may be aware of this trick and won't allow you to update your email address because they've validated the input and recognized it as just an alias, throwing the error "That address is already associated with an account".
Google Mail?!
The last tip, using googlemail instead of gmail, is very hidden because only 4 countries brought issues with the name "gmail" to Google. They were: the UK, Germany, Poland and Russia.