Don’t like your old Gmail address? You can create an alias.

Final 12 months, I advised you in regards to the grueling ordeal I went by to maneuver every thing from my outdated Google account to my new one. Though I did this for a lot of causes (a digital life reset, consolidating each digital asset beneath one account, and so forth.), a kind of causes was that I merely didn’t like my years-old Gmail deal with. I discovered the entire migration course of to be an absolute nightmare, which you’ll be able to learn extra about in the event you’re .

The truth that this was such a ache to do was infuriating, particularly when you think about that different platforms make the method a lot simpler. For instance, Microsoft lets you have a number of e mail accounts related to a single Microsoft account by an alias system. This made it extremely easy to maneuver all my current Microsoft account info and historical past — together with Home windows licenses, paid Home windows apps, my Microsoft 365 subscription, and extra — to a brand new e mail account with just some clicks. The concept that Microsoft has nailed this down however Google hasn’t is confounding.

Confusingly, Google does supply an alias system for Gmail — a proven fact that was identified to me repeatedly by commenters on my unique article. Nonetheless, this method just isn’t practically as sturdy as Microsoft’s and wouldn’t have solved my downside. Nonetheless, it’s a great tool that doesn’t get talked about sufficient, so I needed to provide it some love.

A Gmail alias lets you ship emails from an deal with totally different out of your major Gmail deal with. That is helpful if in case you have totally different e mail accounts for various functions — say, one on your private life and one other on your job. As a substitute of swapping between these two accounts, putting in a number of apps, or utilizing an e mail app that helps a number of account logins (Outlook, BlueMail, Thunderbird, and so forth.), you solely want to make use of the Gmail app. You’ll be able to have as much as 99 aliases related to anybody Gmail deal with.

Observe that this solely lets you ship emails from different accounts. You’ll not obtain emails in your major Gmail inbox by any alias accounts, at the least not robotically. To have emails addressed to different accounts despatched to your major Gmail inbox, you should utilize Gmailify, a instrument constructed into the Gmail internet app at mail.google.com. This requires that your secondary e mail account have POP entry enabled. You will discover full directions on doing this on Google’s assist web page. You’ll be able to add as much as 5 accounts with this method.

A extra easy (though much less elegant) system for doing that is to arrange computerized forwarding in your alias accounts. Most main e mail suppliers supply this, together with Gmail, Outlook/Hotmail, Yahoo, and so forth. The method for establishing an computerized ahead differs for every platform, however Googling “computerized e mail forwarding [email platform goes here]” will possible get you what you want. You are able to do this with a vast variety of accounts.

With Gmail aliasing and computerized forwarding setup on this trend, all of your emails from all of your accounts will be funneled into one Gmail inbox. While you reply to an e mail, you should utilize a drop-down menu to choose the deal with you’d like that response to come back from. Gmail thus turns into a one-stop store for all of your e mail wants, which is actually handy.

You’ll be able to even make this extra organized utilizing Gmail’s filter system. For instance, you could possibly create a filter that robotically flags any e mail that was addressed to an account that isn’t your major Gmail. That may let you simply see that an e mail in your inbox was not despatched to your major account and, thus, ought to possible see a response from an alias. You may even get extra organized by robotically transferring emails addressed to alias accounts into separate folders. The Gmail filter system is sort of highly effective, so there’s actually no restrict to what you are able to do right here.

Whereas this can be a terrific solution to hold all of your e mail accounts in a single spot, it additionally lets you change your Gmail deal with with out worrying about switching all of your publication sign-ups, third-party account logins, or different techniques to a brand new account. For instance, in case your major Gmail account is “[email protected]” and also you’d prefer to cease utilizing that and use “[email protected]” as an alternative, you’ll be able to create the brand new “[email protected]” account within the standard trend after which join it as an alias to “[email protected]” (or vice versa). With the following addition of computerized forwarding, you should utilize your new Gmail deal with whereas nonetheless seeing all of your e mail despatched to your outdated Gmail deal with. You’ll be able to both proceed with this method indefinitely or use it as a stop-gap when you slowly purge all associations to “[email protected].”

This might work for a lot of conditions, together with once you legally change your title, go away a job, want a “burner” e mail account, or simply want one thing contemporary. With 99 alias slots to fill, you could possibly do that a complete lot with minimal effort. Do notice, nonetheless, that you’d must undergo the same old steps to create a brand new Gmail account every time — there isn’t a solution to arrange a brand new account by the Gmail alias system.

Now that you just perceive what a Gmail alias can do, let me clarify what it can’t do and why the entire alias system wouldn’t have helped me throughout my digital life reset. Essentially the most vital (and considerably complicated) factor to know in regards to the Gmail alias system is that it has zero impact in your wider Google account.

For instance of what I imply, let’s take an app you bought from the Google Play Retailer. While you purchased that app, the acquisition was logged as related to your Google account title, that means the e-mail deal with you used for it. With a view to proceed utilizing that app, you’ll want to remain signed into that Google account. When you signal out of that Google account, you’ll now not have entry to the app. Likewise, in the event you change to a different Google account, you’ll must re-buy that app. That is additionally true for all different Google-owned services and products, together with YouTube, Maps, Drive, Pictures, and on and on.

Erroneously, some would possibly assume {that a} Gmail alias would clear up this downside. In different phrases, one would possibly suppose that in the event that they use Google Account A and join Google Account B to it by the Gmail alias system, the bought Google Play app would then be out there on each accounts. That is definitively not the case, although. There at present is not any solution to be a part of a number of Google accounts, neither is there a solution to switch a Google Play buy from one Google account to a different.

If Google had an alias system for Google accounts themselves, not simply Gmail, this downside could be mitigated. Throughout my digital life reset, I may have related my new Google account to my outdated one after which merely stopped utilizing the outdated account outdoors of safety checks and the like. That is what Microsoft has accomplished, which I described earlier. For causes I don’t comprehend, Google has no system in place for doing this.

The underside line right here is that the Gmail alias system is terrific for managing e mail throughout a number of accounts. That’s all it’s good for, although. It’s not an answer that can assist you fully ditch your outdated Google account and change to a brand new one — until you don’t have anything there that you just care about.