How to Set Up an Email Alias

An email alias is a forwarding address that sends mail to your real inbox while keeping that inbox hidden. You set one up in the AliasFleet dashboard, pick a name and a destination inbox, and it starts forwarding straight away. Give every site its own alias, and you can pause or delete one alias without disturbing the rest.

This guide covers the whole job: creating, editing, pausing, and deleting aliases. If you have not made one before, Your first alias walks through a single alias from creation to a verified test email.

How do I create an email alias?#

The form is short, and the alias goes live as soon as you submit it.

1. Open the Aliases page. Go to Aliases in your dashboard.
2. Select + Create Alias. You will find the button at the top right, with a matching control at the bottom of the left sidebar.
3. Choose a Generation Method. Manual lets you pick your own name. The rest are Random, Website, Random ID, and Keyword.
4. Type the Alias Address. This is the local part, the bit before the @. The hint says "Lowercase letters, numbers, dots, dashes (3-64 chars)". Choose your domain from the selector beside the box. The preview bar at the top shows the full address as you type.
5. Check Forward To. Make sure it points at the inbox where you want the mail to land, and that it is ticked. On the Destinations page, your main inbox carries the Primary and Default badges.
6. Enter the Company or Website. Type the name of the company or site, Amazon for example. Once this is filled in, leak detection kicks in: AliasFleet flags it if a different company ever emails that alias.
7. Pick a Category. General works fine to start with. See Alias categories for how to set them up.
8. Leave Auto-Expiration (TTL) on Never (Permanent). This setting is marked Custom Domains Only.
9. Add a Description. A short note to your future self helps here, something like "Amazon checkout, created October 2026".
10. Select Create. The button sits in the preview bar.

How do I read the alias card?#

Each alias shows up as a card in your Aliases list.

• Copying is one click. Clicking the alias address itself copies the whole address, and hovering over it shows a "Click to copy" tooltip. In list view, use the copy-icon button next to each address instead.
• See where it forwards. Under the address, the card shows the destination inbox, plus tags such as the company name and an Extension badge when the alias came from the browser extension.
• Glance at activity. The card shows how many emails the alias has taken in and how long it has been around.
• Pause with the Active toggle. The switch on the card turns forwarding on or off. Green with a tick means it is active; grey with a pause icon means it is paused.
• Compose and View do what they say. Compose starts a new email from the alias. View opens the alias detail page.
• Find the rest in the three-dot menu. Edit and Delete both live in the three-dot menu on the card.

How do I edit an alias?#

Open the three-dot menu on the alias card and choose Edit. This is where you update the details around the alias, such as its description, category, destination, and Company or Website. The alias address itself stays fixed: there is no field for changing it in the Edit view. If you need a different address, create a new alias with that address instead.

How do I pause or delete an alias?#

Both start from the alias card, and each has its own full guide.

• To pause: turn the Active toggle off. Mail to that alias bounces, while your settings and history stay put. Turn it back on to resume. See Activating and deactivating an alias.
• To delete: open the three-dot menu, choose Delete, then confirm. Deletion is permanent: the address is gone, with no recovery and no way to recreate it. See How to delete an email alias.

How should I name and organise aliases?#

One alias per service keeps things cleanest. Put the service name in the alias, such as amazon-shopping, newsletter-tech, or chase-bank, so each alias points back to one site. When a site starts spamming you, you know straight away which alias to pause, and which site passed your address on.

Descriptions earn their keep. "Amazon, created for Black Friday promo" tells you far more than a blank field when you are weighing up whether to keep an alias six months later. Categories help too: keep shopping aliases together and newsletters together, so the list stays easy to scan as it grows.

Give each site its own alias, and when spam turns up you will know exactly which website leaked your email.

Can I use my own domain for aliases?#

Yes. On Pro plans, you can use your own domain rather than an AliasFleet brand domain. Instead of shop.a3f9@aliasfleet.me, your alias reads shop@yourdomain.com. Set your domain up first: see Adding a custom domain, then choose it in the domain selector. Using your domain on aliases walks through a worked example.

How do I reply from an alias?#

To reply from your alias address instead of your real one, reply handling has to be switched on for your destination. See Reply from aliases.

What if emails are not arriving?#

Go through these checks in order before trying anything else.

• Make sure the Active toggle is on. On the alias card, the switch should be green with a tick. If it is grey with a pause icon, forwarding is switched off.
• Look in your spam folder. A first email through a new alias can end up in spam. If it is there, mark it as not spam.
• Confirm the destination is verified. On the Destinations page, check the inbox shows the Verified badge.
• Check you typed the address right. A single wrong character sends the email to a different address, or nowhere at all. Copy the address from the alias card rather than typing it from memory.
• Wait a few minutes, then resend. Mail normally arrives shortly. If it still has not arrived after a few minutes, send it once more.

If still nothing arrives after those checks, see Emails not arriving for the full troubleshooting guide.