Aliases

This article will guide you through using aliases.

In brief, an alias allows you to send and receive email at an email address different from your master StartMail account address. These email aliases can be permanent or temporary, and unlike typical StartMail addresses, they end in use.startmail.com instead of startmail.com. This is done to ensure that email aliases, of which there can be many, do not conflict with the address options available for master email addresses. As a result, an email alias will look similar to the format of my_email_alias@use.startmail.com.

• Alias types
• Create an alias
• Create an alias from compose view
• (De)activate an alias
• Delete an alias

Alias types

You can create two different types of aliases:

1. Custom aliases, where you choose your own address.
2. Generated aliases, where the address name is system-generated.

If you're using a business account there's a third type.

There is no limit on the number of aliases that you can create. Generated aliases never display the name associated with your account in the From: field or elsewhere, but you can configure this for custom aliases.

Please note that emails sent to and from aliases will appear in your account's Inbox and Sent folders, just like emails sent to or from your main StartMail account address. Aliases do not have their own folders, although you can create an additional filter so incoming messages go to another folder.

Why use an alias? 

• Generated alias: Let’s say you want to purchase something online (concert tickets, for instance) that requires registration. You don’t want to share your personal details, but you also don’t want to deal with the hassle of managing a separate account. By using a generated alias, once it expires, the vendor has no way of spamming you. Your inbox stays spam-free!
• Custom alias: Data leaks have unfortunately become common. If you need to register with your email address somewhere, for instance for registration for an online message board, you might want to sign up using a custom alias. That way, if your email address ever leaks and spammers get to it, you can simply disable or remove the alias to get rid of the spam that is sent to it.

Create an alias

1. Click to go to Settings from the top menu.
   
   
2. Click on Aliases in the left menu.
   
   
3. Click on Create Alias in the top menu.
   
   
4. A pop-up window opens. Here you will select whether to create a generated or a custom alias. In this example, we'll select the Custom alias option.
   
   
5. Choose the email address you want to use, a display name (optional, this will be included as the sender name when you send from this alias) and whether it should expire or not. Finally, click on Create alias to create the alias.
   
   

Create an alias from compose view

It's also possible to create an alias directly when composing a message.

1. Click on the Compose message button.
   
   
2. Click on Create alias.
   
   
3. The same steps are offered as when you're creating an alias from the Settings menu. In this example we will create a generated alias. Click on Create alias.
   
   
4. After you've created the alias, it is automatically selected as the address to send the message from.
   
   

(De)activate an alias

1. Click to go to Settings from the top menu.
2. Click on Aliases in the left menu.
3. Click on the toggle at the left of the alias address to (de)active the alias.
   
   

Delete an alias

1. Click to go to Settings from the top menu.
2. Click on Aliases in the left menu.
3. Click on Delete next to the alias that you want to delete.
   
   
4. Read the warning. Confirm your action by clicking on Delete. As indicated in the warning dialogue: once an alias is deleted, it is not possible to recreate it.