How to create additional email addresses in Google Workspace for free

Are you a small business owner? Do you want multiple email addresses to manage communications, like sales@ or info@ along with your own personal email address BUT don’t want to pay the additional Google Workspace license fees?

Good call – after all as a small business owner you want to make sure you’re not spending money where you don’t need to!

What you need in this case is the Google Workspace email alias option. This allows you to create up to 30 email addresses per user that look like they come from separate email accounts, but are all easily accessed under the one Gmail account and won’t cost you a single cent.

What is an email alias?

Basically it’s an additional email address, sometimes called an alternate email address, that’s attached to a user’s main email address.

The video version!

Why do I want to have an additional email address though?

Setting up an additional email address allows you to use different email addresses for different purposes for example:

• sales@specialdomainname.com.au – sends and receives all initial sales related emails whilst
• billing@specialdomainname.com.au – sends and receives all invoicing and payment related emails and
• info@specialdomainname.com.au is used by people getting in touch online.

It’s perfect for a small business where you’re probably filling multiple roles and don’t necessarily want to use your personal email address for everything.

You could even set up an alternate email address that is only used for signing up to newsletters or software trials!

There’s more ideas on how to use email aliases further down the page.

Steps to create an email alias in Google Workspace

• Log into your Google Admin console (at admin.google.com) at your computer 
• Access Menu > Directory > Users
• Click on the name of the person who is getting the additional email address.
• On the left, under the user’s name, click Add Alternative Emails.

• Now type a name for the alias (the part of the address before the @ sign) in the ‘Alternative email’ text field. As soon as you start typing, your domain name will appear – there’s no need to type that as well.

• (Optional) If you want to add more email aliases, simply keep adding them in the ‘Alternative email’ text fields. You can add up to 30 addresses per user.
• Click on Save.

Steps to read emails sent to an alternative email address

To read messages sent to the email alias, just sign in as per normal to your primary Google Workspace account.

For example, perhaps your Google Workspace username is name@specialdomain.com.au and you’ve assigned yourself the email alias support@specialdomain.com.au.

To read and respond to messages sent to the alias, you just have to sign into Gmail with your regular username: name@specialdomain.com.au

You’ll automatically start receiving emails in Gmail that are sent to support@specialdomain.com.au within 24 hours though typically you’ll start receiving them much sooner.

Organise these emails

Filters: Use Filters to star, label and archive emails that come into these alternate email addresses to visually differentiate them.

Templates: You can also set up Templates that can be used to cut down on the amount of times you have to type the same reply every time someone sends you an email with a common question. (Not available for use on the Gmail mobile app sadly).

Multiple inboxes: You could even use multiple inboxes in conjunction with labels to show up to 5 email aliases completely separate from your main inbox. (Can’t be seen on the Gmail mobile app sadly).

Steps to send emails using the alias or alternate email address as the ‘From’ sender

Although you will automatically receive emails sent to an alternate email address you do need to set up the option to send emails with that address.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. In the top right, click Settings / Settings / See all settings.
3. Click the Accounts and import or Accounts tab.
4. In the “Send mail as” section, click Add another email address.
5. (Optional) By default your regular name will be shown but you may wish to change that so that it appears for example as: Company Name Support
6. Enter the full email alias address, for example: support@specialdomain.com.au
7. Click Next Step

The new email address will now be shown in the list of email accounts that you can ‘send as’.

How to change the “From” address to show the email alias

1. Open Gmail and click on Compose
2. Click on the drop down arrow next to your usual email address and select the address you want to use

This will work on both your computer and the Gmail mobile app.

And to the recipient it will look like a completely different email address:

Steps to set up separate signature blocks

You might also want to set up unique signature blocks for each of your alternative email addresses to include information specific to that address. For example, the support@ email address may include a section that indicates your support hours.

When you change the From email address, the email signature will then automatically change to the associated signature block.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. In the top right, click Settings /Settings / See all settings.
3. Scroll down the General Tab until you reach the section titled Signature.
4. Click on Create new and type a name for the signature.
5. Then click on Create.
6. Enter the information you want to see in your signature block, including any text formatting etc.
7. Then click on the drop down arrows under Signature defaults to ensure your new signature block shows up automatically when you send new emails or replies, from the email alias:
   
8. Scroll down and click on Save Changes

Steps to remove a user’s email alias

• Log into your Google Admin console (at admin.google.com) at your computer 
• Access Menu > Directory > Users
• Click on the name of the person from whom you are removing the additional email address.
• On the left, under the user’s name, click Add Alternative Emails.

• Hover over the list of alternative emails and click on the Pencil icon
• Then click on the X next to the email address you want to remove.
• (Optional) If you want to remove more email aliases, just click on the X next to those addresses as well.

• Click on Save.

CAUTION: It may take up to 24 hours to stop receiving emails sent to that address, but typically it will happen almost immediately. So be prepared – make sure you’re not expecting any emails to that address, or think you’ll need it for any reason.

Steps for the user to remove the user alias

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. In the top right, click Settings /Settings / See all settings.
3. Click the Accounts and import or Accounts tab.
4. In the “Send mail as” section, click Delete next to the alternate email address.

More reasons for using an additional or alternate email address

• An employee left your organisation and you deleted their primary account. To forward email messages sent to the old employee, add their previous main email address as an email alias to a current user.
• Title/ Designation based email address. Maybe you want an email that’s related to a person’s job like ceo_assistant@specialdomain.com.au. This is really useful when someone changes jobs – you can just delete the email alias from the first person’s account, and then add it to the new employee in that position.
• Email address for stand-alone projects. Perhaps you’re working on a large project with external clients, customers and freelancers. It’s useful to set up a specific email alias that is just used for that project to keep it all organised.
• Marketing campaign. If you’re doing a specific marketing activity then having a dedicated email address for enquiries and sales related to that campaign can help you track leads generated from that activity but there’s no need to pay for a stand-alone address! Just use an alternate email address for free.

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Want more personalised help?

I hope this article was of assistance to you, but if you want more personalised help with your Google Workspace issue then why not get in touch?

Frequently Asked Questions about Email Aliases in Google Workspace