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 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
You can create two different types of aliases:
- Custom alias, where you choose your own address.
- Quick alias, 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. Please note that emails that are 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?
- Quick 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 quick alias, once it expires, the vendor cannot spam 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
- Click on the Settings icon from the top menu.
- Click on Aliases in the left menu.
- Click on Create Alias in the top menu.
- A pop-up window opens. Here you can select what type of alias you want to create.
- Alias type: For a quick alias you don't need to come up with a name yourself. Click on Custom alias to choose the name for the alias yourself.
- Display name: Set a Display name so that when you send a message from the alias a different sender name will be used.
- Expiration: Set an expiration date if you want it to be removed automatically after the set time.
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.
- Click on the Create alias link on the Compose screen.
- The same steps are offered as when you're creating an alias from the Settings menu.
- After you've created the alias, it is automatically selected as the address to send the message from.
Change settings of an alias
- Click on the Edit button next to the alias.
- On the next screen you can change the Display name that is used for the alias, as well as whether it should be a permanent alias or expire automatically. Click Update alias to save your changes.
(De)activate an alias
- Click on the toggle at the right side of the alias address to (de)active the alias.
Delete an alias
- Click on Delete next to the alias that you want to delete.
- 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.