Don’t love your outdated Gmail tackle? You possibly can create an alias.

Final yr, I informed you in regards to the grueling ordeal I went by way of to maneuver all the things from my outdated Google account to my new one.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 underneath one account, and many others.), a type of causes was that I merely didn’t like my years-old Gmail tackle. I discovered the entire migration course of to be an absolute nightmare, which you possibly can learn extra about in case 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 permits you to have a number of e-mail accounts linked to a single Microsoft account by way of an alias system. This made it extremely easy to maneuver all my present 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 Microsoft has nailed this down however Google hasn’t is confounding.

Confusingly, Google does supply an alias system for Gmail — a indisputable fact that was identified to me repeatedly by commenters on my unique article. Nevertheless, this technique shouldn’t be practically as strong 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 wished to provide it some love.

A Gmail alias permits you to ship emails from an tackle totally different out of your main Gmail tackle. That is helpful you probably have totally different e-mail accounts for various functions — say, one to your private life and one other to your job. As an alternative 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 many others.), you solely want to make use of the Gmail app. You possibly can have as much as 99 aliases linked to anyone Gmail tackle.

Word that this solely permits you to ship emails from different accounts. You’ll not obtain emails in your main Gmail inbox by way of any alias accounts, a minimum of not routinely. To have emails addressed to different accounts despatched to your main Gmail inbox, you need to use Gmailify, a software constructed into the Gmail net app at mail.google.com. This requires that your secondary e-mail account have POP entry enabled. You could find full directions on doing this on Google’s help web page. You possibly can add as much as 5 accounts with this technique.

A extra simple (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 many others. The method for organising 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 an infinite variety of accounts.

With Gmail aliasing and computerized forwarding setup on this style, all of your emails from all of your accounts could be funneled into one Gmail inbox. Once you reply to an e-mail, you need to use a drop-down menu to select the tackle you’d like that response to return from. Gmail thus turns into a one-stop store for all of your e-mail wants, which is actually handy.

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

Whereas it is a terrific option to maintain all of your e-mail accounts in a single spot, it additionally permits you to change your Gmail tackle with out worrying about switching all of your e-newsletter sign-ups, third-party account logins, or different methods to a brand new account. For instance, in case your main Gmail account is “embarrassingname@gmail.com” and also you’d prefer to cease utilizing that and use “appropriatename@gmail.com” as a substitute, you possibly can create the brand new “appropriatename@gmail.com” account within the traditional style after which join it as an alias to “embarrassingname@gmail.com” (or vice versa). With the following addition of computerized forwarding, you need to use your new Gmail tackle whereas nonetheless seeing all of your e-mail despatched to your outdated Gmail tackle. You possibly can both proceed with this technique indefinitely or use it as a stop-gap whilst you slowly purge all associations to “embarrassingname@gmail.com.”

This might work for a lot of conditions, together with while you legally change your identify, go away a job, want a “burner” e-mail account, or simply want one thing recent. With 99 alias slots to fill, you may do that a complete lot with minimal effort. Do notice, nonetheless, that you’d must undergo the standard steps to create a brand new Gmail account every time — there isn’t any option to arrange a brand new account by way of the Gmail alias system.

Now that you simply 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 important (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 example of what I imply, let’s take an app you bought from the Google Play Retailer. Once you purchased that app, the acquisition was logged as linked to your Google account identify, that means the e-mail tackle you used for it. In an effort 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 case you swap to a different Google account, you’ll must re-buy that app. That is additionally true for all different Google-owned services, together with YouTube, Maps, Drive, Images, and on and on.

Erroneously, some may assume {that a} Gmail alias would remedy this downside. In different phrases, one may suppose that in the event that they use Google Account A and join Google Account B to it by way of the Gmail alias system, the bought Google Play app would then be obtainable on each accounts. That is definitively not the case, although. There at the moment isn’t any option to be part of a number of Google accounts, neither is there a option 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 can be mitigated. Throughout my digital life reset, I may have linked my new Google account to my outdated one after which merely stopped utilizing the outdated account exterior of safety checks and the like. That is what Microsoft has carried out, 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 will help you fully ditch your outdated Google account and swap to a brand new one — except you don’t have anything there that you simply care about.