You have a Gmail ID and, you know what? it has several IDs hidden behind, these IDs can be used for sorting out emails and blocking spammers.
So, how do we do that?
The dot Character
Here we go, say for instance you have an ID called [email protected], now add one or several dots in between, like [email protected], emails sent to this modified address gets forwarded to your original ID. This is because Gmail ignores and removes all those dots (or periods) in between. So, [email protected] too gets forwarded to [email protected]
The Plus Sign
Append a Plus(+) sign and any combination of words or numbers after your email address. For example, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] etc., emails to these modifies address to reaches your inbox.
gmail can be replaced with googlemail
You can also replace the word gmail with googlemail, for instance, [email protected] and [email protected] are the same and all mails gets delivered to your inbox.
Uses of the these Manipulated IDs
1. Automatic and Easy Filtering: If you are subscribing to a newsletter, you can use ID like [email protected], now you can easily create filter for this ID and automatically move it to a particular label or star or archive it. You can create filter by clicking “More” and then “Filter Messages Like These”
2. Identify Spammers and Email Distributors: You can easily spot if someone has sold or distributed your ID. For example, if you are subscribing to some website named somesite.com, use an ID like [email protected], if this ID is in the “to” field of an email you received from some other site, then you can know that somesite.com has distributed your ID. By the way you can unsubscribe or report as spam.
3. Separate IDs for Work, Friends and more: If your friends asks your ID, give them [email protected], use [email protected] for official mails, by this way you can easily create filter to sort out email from particular group. You can also use the “dots” to differentiate emails from various groups and filter them accordingly.
If you find any other uses for these manipulated Gmail IDs, please leave us a note
