There are many times when you may need a new Gmail ID. Many websites and subscriptions have offers aimed at new customers, and this is particularly true for streaming platforms. So if you’ve already subscribed to something and want to access the sale prices again, the logical thing to do would be to simply create a new Gmail account.
But you don’t have to do that. Did you know that Gmail does not recognize any points in an email? So if your ID is thisismyemail@gmail.com, if you type this.is.my.email@gmail.com, this.is.myemail@gmail.com or this.ismyemail@gmail.com, Gmail won’t see any difference, like This Gmail blog post from 2008 clarifies. In fact, you can include as many periods as you want and you will still receive emails on your primary ID.
Gmail has always had this feature, and as someone who has been using my account for over two decades, I used this trick non-stop to sign up for websites and filter emails. Here’s what you need to know about Gmail aliases and how you can start using them with your email account.
Why you need to start using Gmail aliases
Creating new Gmail IDs is a hassle. Although the service costs nothing, there is no reason to do it if all you need to do is register as a new customer on a site or streaming platform where you have previously provided your primary ID.
All you need to do is add a dot anywhere on your existing email ID, and you’re done! You’re basically a new user wherever you sign up, but you’ll still receive the email on your primary Gmail ID. I use this annually to subscribe to the NYT and Bloomberg as a new user instead of having to renew, which costs a lot more. While all other websites distinguish thisismyemail@gmail.com and this.is.my.email@gmail.com as two different email IDs, Gmail doesn’t care if you have periods in the email address, and that basically gives you a lot of flexibility to create unique email IDs when signing up for a website, all without having to create a new Gmail account.
On that note, Gmail aliases are also a great way to identify if a website is selling your data to marketers. In addition to points, you can add a + sign after your email address and type any combination of letters or numbers and you will still receive the email on your email ID. I do this when I sign up for a newsletter or sign up for email alerts. I buy a lot of things from IKEA, so when I need to provide an email id to sign up for notification alerts, I simply give thisismyemail+ikea@gmail.com and the email appears in my main email id.
This way, if you ever receive spam at the address you provided (thisismyemail+ikea@gmail.com), you’ll know that IKEA shared your data with third parties (by the way, IKEA doesn’t do this, but you get the idea). I do the same trick when signing up for e-commerce sites that require an email ID.
How to use Gmail aliases
You don’t need to do much to start using Gmail aliases. There are no settings to change or configure, and you just have to remember to add a dot (or ten) when signing up with your Gmail ID to a service you’ve used before.
The same with him + sign; You can use as many variations of these as possible, and the only thing to keep in mind here is that you have to do it before @ firm, so thisismyemail+bestbuy@gmail.com will be fine, but not thisismyemail+best@buygmail.com.
Both methods work without problems and I have been using them for decades. Honestly, I’m only writing about this now because in recent conversations with friends and family I realized that this isn’t something everyone knows. So if you’ve had to create multiple Gmail accounts over the years just to get a new email ID, know that you don’t have to do that – you can simply add a period or a + sign while signing up anywhere.
