You may be tired of reading about Google Earth, Gmail, Google Calendar, Gmail Call and all other “G” related apps from me. However, when they offer something unique, useful or just plain fun, I feel like I owe it to you to let you know about them.
This week I stumbled on one I had never heard about. It may have been out for a while and I was just uninformed; nevertheless, it is new to me and may be new and quite useful for you. “Gmail Alias Address”. Yes, I know it is another “G” feature, but this is good and useful.
Pretend you have some communications going with a local company or person. You would like all of the emails from that entity to go to a particular folder/label in Gmail. You could always create a filter in Gmail for any email coming from that person to go into the correct folder. But think ahead a bit. What if that person hands your email address to another person to send you more information about the project? That email will then go to your overcrowded inbox and you may miss it.
OK, how about this? Instead of a filter for the person create a filter for the Subject Line. That way, if anyone sends you an email with “Super Project” in the subject line the email will go to a particular folder in Gmail. But wait (again). What if someone misspells the subject line or changes it? You may have another missed email.
Here is the way Alias Address works in Gmail. You have the ability to create a “new” email address or “alias”. Just place a “+” between your actual Gmail Username and your created alias then add “@gmail.com”. Give the concerned parties that address only.
To try it out I created a Gmail address for us to play with “dblclx@gmail.com”. Do not write me there since I may delete it in a couple of months. However, for the next couple of weeks write me at dblclx+DNR@gmail.com. Capitalization does not matter in the address.
I created a filter in that account for the DNR alias to move emails addressed to that alias into a particular folder. That is all you do. Just add the plus symbol between your username and whatever you want to call it. It is not a new account and any email sent there will still be delivered to your email address. If one day you don’t want to deal with those emails any longer, you can create a filter to delete them instead of placing it in the specific folder. Think of the possibilities. You could set up different aliases for people, websites, news, a group of people, etc. The possibilities are endless…as long as you can keep up with them all.
