Gmail alias – what it is and how to create it

It often happens that we have ten or more e-mail addresses in the company. These are the addresses of each employee and, in addition, general company emails or emails of the sales department. We cannot forget about the importance of communication in the company, which is why it is important that incoming emails reach the right employees directly.

To ensure the correct flow of information and efficient contact with the customer, we can create an alias. It is useful not only for G Suite users, but can also help free Gmail users.

What is an email alias?

An alias is an alternative email address name that is assigned to the same mailbox. In other words, messages sent to one of our email addresses can reach a mailbox operating at a different address. For example, an email sent to k.kowalski@fotc.com will also be delivered to karol.kowalski@fotc.com

How can you use an email alias?

An email alias should be used primarily for convenience. It makes work easier for both G Suite users and free Gmail users. Creating an alias, in addition to making communication easier, allows us to prevent frequent errors in email addresses.

If we know that our customers or friends often make mistakes in our email address, we can create an email alias from this account to make sure that even emails with an error in the name will reach us.

For free Gmail users, an email alias can help to connect different mailboxes. Instead of checking several, rarely used mailboxes, we can create an alias and redirect it straight to the address we use most often.

In addition, an alias allows:

• receiving emails from a general address,
• redirecting messages when one of the employees is on vacation,
• filtering emails and redirecting them to the appropriate group of people (e.g. for complaints, general inquiries, recruitment).

Does this look interesting? See how you can create an email alias in both G Suite and the free version of Gmail step-by-step.

How to create an mail alias in Gmail?

If you’re a G Suite user:

1. You can create an email alias as an administrator by logging into the Admin console at https://admin.google.com
2. After logging in, click the “Users” icon on the main page of the admin console.
3. Select the appropriate account in the “Users” list. In case of problems, you can use the article “Finding a user account” at https://support.google.com/a/answer/33324?hl=en
4. Open a user account by clicking on its name
5. Then click “User information” When the page appears, select “Email aliases”
6. After clicking “Alias” enter the exchangeable username, which is the part of the email address before the @ sign
7. Please note that it is not possible to create aliases assigned as an alias or main address to another person.
8. Administrators who have multiple domains (a field to the right of the “@” sign) select the appropriate domain for the alias from the menu.
9. It is worth remembering that domains that are added as the domain’s aliases are not visible in the menu. An alias of a particular domain is available to all users and cannot be customized for any of them.
10. Save your selection
11. To return to the user’s account page, press the up arrow in the upper right corner.
12. The user will start receiving emails at the new address up to about 24 hours after adding the alias.

If you are a user of the free version of Gmail:

1. 1. Log in to Gmail.
   2. Select the gear symbol in the upper right corner (“Settings”). Select “Settings” from the drop-down menu. In the top menu, find the “Accounts and Import” tab.
   3. In the “Send mail as” section, select “Add another email address”.
   4. A window will appear with fields for entering any name and email address (alias) of the account being configured. Then click ‘Next Step’.
   5. After moving to the next window it is necessary to complete the following data: “SMTP Server”, “Username” (full email address) and “Password”. Select “Port” from the drop-down list. It is recommended to check “Secured connection using TLS”. Finish by clicking “Add account”.
   6. If the information was provided correctly and Gmail could connect to the alias email server, information should be sent to the email address being configured.
   7. It contains the authentication link along with the password. To confirm the attachment of the email address, you can click the link in the message or enter the received code in the field in the Gmail settings window and select “Check”.
   8. Finally, configure the inbox. Again in the top menu select “Accounts and Import”. In the “Check mail from other accounts” section, find “Add a mail account.”
   9. Another window will appear in which you should enter the alias email address and click “Next”.
   10. The next step is to select the “Import emails from my other account (POP3)” option and click “Next”.
   11. After moving to the next window, fill in the correct data: “Username” (full email address), “Password”, “POP server”. You must select the appropriate port from the drop-down list. If you select “Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server”, correspondence will be archived on the hosting account. The option “Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail” should be selected when the configuration data indicate this. Incoming messages can be labelled – with a label available from the drop-down list or a custom label.
   12. Finish by clicking “Add account”. If the information was provided correctly, 

   Gmail would establish connection and retrieve messages from the address being configured (alias).

If you a have problem creating an alias, contact us! As a Google Partner, we provide technical support services from Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 18:00.

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