I've always been careful about where I use my primary email.
Gmail has a simple built-in trick that lets me achieve almost the same result without creating a single extra email account, and I've been using it ever since.
Everything still ends up in your normal Gmail inbox, but from the website's perspective, it's a different email address.
I use Gmail aliases for much more than free trialsCredit: Lucas Gouveia / Android PoliceThere's another Gmail trick that's even more useful: the plus sign trick.
This Gmail trick is useful, but don't abuse itHaving what is essentially a temporary email built into your primary Gmail account is incredibly useful.
I've signed up for more apps and services than I can count over the years.
These days, it's almost impossible to live without an online account, and nearly every website, app, or service asks you to sign up with an email address.
That's where my dilemma always begins.
I've always been careful about where I use my primary email.
It also happens to be my main work email, so I don't want it flooded with newsletters, promotional emails, and random account notifications that could bury something important.
That's why, whenever I wanted to try a new service or sign up for a free trial, I'd usually create a brand-new email account first.
Only if I decided to keep using the service would I sign up with my primary email.
As it turns out, I was making things much harder than they needed to be.
Gmail has a simple built-in trick that lets me achieve almost the same result without creating a single extra email account, and I've been using it ever since.
Gmail has a hidden trick most people never notice
It lets you reuse your primary email without creating another account
The trick relies on something many people don't realize: Gmail completely ignores periods in the username portion of your email address (everything before the @ symbol).
For example, if your email address is [email protected], Gmail treats [email protected], [email protected], and every other dotted variation as the same email address.
Any emails sent to those addresses still arrive in the [email protected] inbox.
Many websites, however, don't recognize this behavior and instead treat each dotted variation as a completely different email address.
Gmail completely ignores periods in your email address.
That means if you're signing up for a service and don't want to hand out your main email address, you can use one of these dotted variations instead.
Everything still ends up in your normal Gmail inbox, but from the website's perspective, it's a different email address.
This isn't meant to be used to abuse free trials or repeatedly create accounts. Services charge for a reason, and I recommend using this trick primarily to keep your inbox organized or separate different types of sign-ups.
The next time you sign up for a website or app and don't want to create a new Gmail account, add a few periods to your existing Gmail username.
You'll still receive every email in the same inbox without the hassle of managing another account.
I use Gmail aliases for much more than free trials
Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police
There's another Gmail trick that's even more useful: the plus sign trick.
Gmail lets you add a plus sign followed by any word or number after your username, and emails will still arrive in your primary inbox.
For example, you could use [email protected] or [email protected].
Gmail ignores everything after the plus sign when delivering emails, but you can still use those custom addresses when signing up for different services.
This is the trick I use the most. I create separate aliases for different service categories, then set up Gmail filters. Emails sent to those addresses automatically receive their own labels.
For example, my streaming subscriptions go to one alias, newsletters to another, and shopping websites to a third.
It makes my inbox much easier to manage without needing multiple email accounts.
A bonus is that it helps identify where your email address may have been leaked.
If you start receiving spam at [email protected], you'll know that the streaming service, or someone it shared data with, is the source of those emails.
This Gmail trick is useful, but don't abuse it
Having what is essentially a temporary email built into your primary Gmail account is incredibly useful. It lets you keep everything inside one inbox without creating multiple email accounts.
Still, it's not something you should use to bypass free trials or avoid paying for services you use. If you like a service, support it.
This is just one of many hidden Gmail tricks. There are plenty of other useful features tucked away in Gmail that are worth exploring.
