A very useful Gmail secret that very few people know how to use…

If there’s one thing you probably use every single day, it’s your email. And since the vast majority of us use Gmail — whether the free version or the business one — we wanted to share a lesser-known feature that has proven extremely useful, both for our own work and for our clients’ digital campaigns.

This feature greatly simplifies automatic email organization: aliases.

Gmail aliases are like subdomains of a domain. Small variations of your original Gmail address where you add a suffix to create a unique address. In a way, they work like disposable addresses.

The practical advantage of aliases is that you can set up filters to trigger actions, highlight messages, or automatically sort them — without having to do anything manually.

How to create them

Let’s say your Gmail address is yourname@gmail.com. To create an alias (another address), you simply add the suffix +aliasname. For example: yourname+ideas@gmail.com.

You’ve just added the alias “ideas” to your original Gmail address. If someone sends an email there (or if you send one yourself), you’ll still receive all messages as usual in your main account, but it becomes much easier to anticipate them — and therefore filter, organize, and process them.

That’s because you can set up filters to move those messages to a folder, apply a specific label, star them, never show them in your inbox, mark them as read, or even forward them to another account on a different domain of your choice. I emphasize this because it’s important: all of this happens without you having to do anything manually.

Practical Uses

There are many. The idea that aliases are “disposable” addresses can spark ideas for practical applications. Ultimately, it’s up to each person to decide whether it’s worth using them and how. Here are some hints/suggestions for uses I personally give them (or have given in the past):

• Occasional Sign-UpsHow many times do you want to try a service that requires registration? You give your email, and then they send notifications or updates you don’t really care about. You can create an alias like yourname+signups@gmail.com and set up a filter to handle all emails sent there.

  
  

• NewslettersMany blogs (like this one) offer the option to receive new articles via email. In those cases, an alias like yourname+newsletters@gmail.com makes it easy to group and centralize all your subscriptions in a single folder. A filter set for that address will make organization simple and convenient.

  
  

• Multiple Accounts on the Same ServiceMany services (like Twitter) don’t allow you to create two accounts with the same email address. You can create an alternate alias for the second account, or one for each account. For example: yourname+twitter1@gmail.com and yourname+twitter2@gmail.com, and then use a filter to label all emails sent to both addresses as “Twitter.”

  
  

• Form MessagesIf you have a blog or website, you likely have a contact form. How do you organize and process all incoming messages? By creating an alias like yourname+form@gmail.com, you can automatically categorize (or forward to another account) all emails submitted through the form.

  
  

• Email CampaignsWhen sending an email campaign to clients with a reply button or form, it’s useful to direct responses to an alias that identifies the campaign. This is especially helpful if you have multiple emails or campaigns running, allowing you to quickly see which campaign the message came from.

  
  

• Web FormsIf your website has more than one contact form, creating aliases for each form is also helpful to identify which form is sending you the message.

  
  

• Emails to YourselfMany people send or forward emails to themselves with reminders, tasks, or things they need to check. This mixes their own emails with those from clients or coworkers, increasing inbox clutter and potential confusion. Using aliases helps separate these messages efficiently.

As an alternative, you can create a folder called “My Tasks” and then set up an alias like yourname+tasks@gmail.com. With a simple filter, you can better store and categorize your own messages. (And if you frequently use email on your mobile, create a contact with that new email — all notes or ideas you send to yourself from your phone will go there.)

Combine these new aliases with Gmail Filters to organize, archive, label, or highlight incoming emails, and you’ll have a powerful tool at your disposal. The best part? It’s FREE!

It’s not about creating aliases for everything and generating dozens of emails. But if you identify 2–4 specific uses that work well for you, they can be a huge help in strengthening your daily organization.