How to add an email alias in Gmail? (a complete beginner's guide)

Sometimes you might need to use multiple Gmail accounts, but to stay organized you want to use the same Gmail inbox.

That’s something you can do using the alias feature from Gmail. It lets you send emails from multiple accounts using the same interface and the same inbox.

For those of you that are already subscribers to our YouTube channel, you’ll see that this post is a transcript of a video that we’ve made a few months ago on this topic. I’m sharing the video right here in case you prefer to watch it:

But, first, a bit of wording. Just to make sure we are on the same page when you add another email address to your account, people generally say that you are adding an alias to your primary account. Your primary account is the account where you want to manage all your emails. If you sign in to Gmail with account A and want to send emails from account B: your primary account is account A. Your alias is account B.

This being said, let’s get straight into it.

How to set up an email alias in Gmail?

1. Sign in to Gmail using your primary account.
2. Go to Gmail’s settings, then access the “Accounts” tab.
3. In that section, you will see your primary email address. Underneath, click on “Add another email address”.
4. Gmail opens a new window where you can enter the name of your secondary account (e.g. Edmond Alley) and the email address of the alias account (e.g. [email protected]).
5. Make sure the checkbox “Treat as an alias” is checked, then click “Next” to start the verification process.

Well done! You have hit the verification process, this means your primary account is all set.

Verification process

Now, for security reasons, you need to confirm from your alias account that you agree that your primary account can send emails under that email address:

1. Sign in to Gmail using your alias account.
2. You should have received an email from Gmail.
3. Open it and click on the link to finalize the process.

Test your alias

To make sure everything is well configured, you can send a test email. To do so:

1. Sign in to Gmail with your primary account.
2. Click on “Compose” to create a new message.
3. In the compose editor, you should see a new “From” section. Click on it to select the email address that you want to use.

How to set up an email alias in Google Workspace?

If you are a paid user of Gmail (i.e. you or your company uses Google Workspace, the business version of Gmail), the steps to add an alias are the same as for free users.

1. Sign in to Gmail with your primary account.
2. Open the settings and open the “Accounts” section.
3. In the “Send mail as” sub-section, click on “Add another email address”.
4. Gmail opens a new window where you can add the name and email address of your alias.
5. Follow the verification process and it’s done!

How many aliases can I add to my Gmail account?

There are no known limits on the number of aliases you can add to your account. If you want to add 100 aliases (or more), theoretically that will work. The only caveat is that you might have difficulty selecting the right alias if you have that many aliases.

But as pro-tip, if you plan on using more than 10 aliases, it might be best to start considering an email marketing solution that can help you (Psst! Do you know Mailmeteor?).

How many emails can I send from an alias in Gmail?

Gmail applies the same restrictions on your primary account and all aliases added to that account. The limits are:

• 2000 emails per day for a Google Workspace account.
• 500 emails per day for a free @gmail.com account.

Those limits are maximum and renew every 24 hours. Depending on your usage, you might have less sending capacity. For example, if Gmail detects abuse, it might lower your daily quota.

Also, keep in mind that those limits apply to the whole account. If you send 2000 emails from one of your aliases you won’t have any quota left. So you won’t be able to send emails for 24 hours (even with your primary account!).

Can I have a dedicated signature for one of my aliases?

Sure, you can create multiple signatures in Gmail and configure which one should be used when you send from one of your aliases.

Here’s how to assign a signature to one of your aliases:

1. Sign in to Gmail using your primary account.
2. Access the “Settings” page and open the “General” section.
3. In the “Signature” subsection, click on “Create new” to create a new signature.
4. Once your signature is created, just under the editor, access the “Signature defaults” subsection.
5. From there, select your alias email address and then select its associated signature.

Pro-tip, you can define the same signature for new emails and on reply/forward. Or a different one. It’s sometimes best to use your full signature when sending a new email, and a shorter version for reply/forward.

How to send a mail merge from an alias?

Mail merge is the process of sending a large volume of emails in just one click. Mailmeteor makes it easy to send a mail merge from one of your aliases. We have a video just on that:

With Mailmeteor, you can send very large campaigns (with thousands of contacts) using your Gmail aliases. Follow our getting started if you want to learn more.