Why stick with one Gmail address when you
can have as many as you want without opening another account? I'll explain how
and why to create extra email addresses
Gmail always
ignores full stops in email addresses, so if you own the account
yourname@gmail.com, all messages send to your.name@gmail.com will also reach
you. And if you insert a plus sign and a word before the @ part of the
address, for example yourname+work@gmail.com, Gmail will ignore these
additions, too. Such tricks mean you can effectively create an infinite number
of Gmail addresses for one Inbox, and apply different actions to each one. In
this feature, we reveal the best uses for unlimited addresses.
Stop spam when you sign up with sites
Lots of websites
require you to register if you want full access to their features and content,
but handing over your email address can result in you being deluged with
unwanted junk mail from third
parties. You can prevent this from happening by adding a full stop or a plus
sign and word to your Gmail address when you sign up, for example robirvster+nospam@gmaiI.com.
You can then create a filter that automatically deletes all messages sent to
that variant of your address.
To do this, click the cog icon and select
Settings, Filters, ‘Create a new filter’. In the To field, enter your amended
email address, then click ‘Create filter with this search’. From the list of
actions to apply when a message arrives matching the search, choose either
‘Skip the In box (Archive it)’ or ‘Delete it’, and click ‘Create filter’.
Alternatively, you can choose Promotions
from the ‘Categories as’ menu, so that emails sent to the address only appear
on the Promotions tab of your In box, rather than the Primary one.
Highlight messages from important senders
As well as having a dedicated Gmail address
for junk mail, you can set up one for close friends and family to prevent their
messages from being lost in your Inbox. Add a full stop to your existing
address so that it resembles a standard one, for example rob.irvster@gmail.com,
then create a filter for the address as described in the previous tip. You can
select options including ‘Star it’ and ‘Always mark as important’, and apply a
label to emails sent to the address to ensure you never miss messages from the
people who matter most.
Another advantage to applying a label is
that you can set up the Gmail mobile app to alert you when emails from friends
and family arrive. Select the label from the app’s left-hand menu, then tap the
three-dot icon in the top-right corner and choose ‘Label settings’. Ensure the
‘Label notifications’ option is selected, and then choose a sound for the
notifications and whether you want your phone or tablet to vibrate when emails
with the label arrive.
Discover how people got your details
In the same way that you can avoid spam by
modifying your Gmail address when you register with sites, you can also
pinpoint the source of potentially unwanted messages. For example, if you sign
up with business network Linked In, you can add ‘+linkedin’ to your email
address to make it something like
robirvster+linkedin@gmail.com. Once you’ve
received the confirmation email and activated your account, you can create a
filter that applies a ‘linkedin’ label to all emails sent to that address. In
this way, you’ll be able to see when people have found your contact details
through Linkedin (or any other site on which you try this trick).
Stop mixing business (emails) with pleasure
Although Gmail’s tabbed In box sorts
incoming messages into categories such as Social, Promotions and Updates, it
doesn’t offer an easy way to separate your work-related emails from those to do
with your personal life. To solve this problem, you can create a variant of
your Gmail address for your job while keeping your proper address for home use.
This could be as simple as adding ‘+1’ before the’@’ in the middle of the
address, such as robirvster+1@gmail.com. Set up a filter
with an appropriate label for your work emails and you’ll no longer need to
sift through personal correspondence to find messages from your boss, and vice
versa.
If you want to send, as well as receive,
emails from your work address, go into Gmail’s Settings and click the ‘Accounts
and Import’ tab. In the ‘Send mail as’ section, click ‘Add another email address
that you own’
and enter your new business address and - optionally - a
variation on your name. Click ‘Next step’ to confirm and select ‘Reply from the
same address to which the message was sent’. Finally, click the ‘edit info’
link next to the address and choose ‘Treat as an alias’.
Now, when you compose a work related
message in Gmail, you’ll be able to select the new address from the drop-down
From menu. This will send emails from that address and ensure replies are kept
separate from your personal mail.
Set up an instant to-do list
To make sure
you never forget anything important again, you can assign a special email
address to things you need to do, such as robirvster+todo@gmail.com. Create a
filter with a ‘To do’ label so that messages sent to the address are
automatically grouped together and easily accessible from the left-hand side of
your Inbox or by bookmarking mail.google.com/mail/ u/O/#label/To+do. It’s a
useful way to remind you to ‘Buy some milk on the way home’ or ‘Remember to
finish tax return’. You can even forward mail from other accounts to add tasks
to your to-do list, and include photos.
Create a trigger for an IFTTT recipe
The amazing IFTTT, which
automates everyday tasks by connecting online services, provides plenty of
scope for making the most of your infinite GmaiI addresses. By sending an email from a customized ‘alias’
address (see tip on the left) to your standard one, you can use it as the
trigger in a ‘recipe’ (a combination of a trigger and an action). If you visit IFTTT’sGmail channel, you’ll find more than a thousand recipes for
the webmail service, including: save email attachments to Google Drive (or
Dropbox); make your phone ring if you lose it; and keep track of your orders
from Amazon. However, to use your special Gmail address, you’ll need to create
your own recipe.
To do this, click the ‘Create a Recipe’
button on the IFTTT homepage, then click the blue, underlined ‘this’ on the
following page and choose Gmail from the list of channels. In the ‘Choose a
Trigger’ section, select ‘New email in Inbox from’, enter the Gmail alias you
want to use and click Create Trigger. Now click the blue, underlined ‘that’ and
choose the service to connect, for example Facebook, Flickr or Google Drive.
Choose an action from the options provided, enter any other required details
and click Create Action. Finally, click Create Recipe to confirm the details.
You can repeat these steps for as many Gmail aliases and recipes as you want to
create.
