How to Delete an Email Alias

To delete an email alias, open the three-dot menu on its alias card, choose Delete, then confirm in the dialog that appears. Deletion is permanent. The address stops working at once, its forwarding history goes with it, and you cannot get the address back. If you might need the address again, deactivate the alias instead.

How do I delete an email alias?#

The alias card is the quickest way to do it:

1. Find the alias. Sign in to the dashboard and track down the alias you want to remove.
2. Open the three-dot menu. Click the three-dot menu on that alias card.
3. Choose Delete. Pick Delete from the menu. A confirmation dialog appears.
4. Read the confirmation dialog. It asks you to confirm that you want to delete the alias permanently. Check the address shown in the dialog is the one you meant to remove.
5. Confirm. Confirm the deletion. The alias leaves your list straight away, and your alias count drops by one.

You can also delete from the alias detail page, where a delete option sits in the settings section near the bottom. The same confirmation dialog appears, and the result is the same.

What does the confirmation dialog ask?#

The dialog asks you to confirm that you want to delete the alias permanently before anything happens. It names the alias you are about to remove, so look at the address properly. Aliases for different services can look alike at a glance, above all when several follow one naming pattern, such as amazon-shopping and amazon-returns.

If the address in the dialog is not the one you meant to delete, close the dialog and start again from the right alias card. Nothing is deleted until you confirm.

What happens after I delete an alias?#

Deletion takes the alias and everything attached to it:

• The alias address itself. It stops working at once. It cannot be recreated or recovered.
• Forwarding history and stats. All forwarding history and stats for that alias go with it.
• Custom settings and descriptions. Any description, tags, or per-alias settings you set on it are removed.
• Your alias count. Your alias count drops by one, which frees a slot on your plan.

What does the sender see?#

Anyone who sends to the deleted address gets a bounce, the same as if the address never existed. Nothing in the bounce links the address back to your account or your real inbox.

Should I delete or deactivate an alias?#

Only delete when you are sure you will never need that address again. Most of the time, deactivation does the job with none of the risk.

Deactivate instead when:

• The alias is getting spam and you want the mail to stop now.
• You signed up for something seasonal or one-off and might come back later.
• You are not sure whether you will need the address again.
• You want to keep the forwarding history for your records.

A deactivated alias stops forwarding at once, keeps all its history and settings, and can be switched back on at any time. See Activating and deactivating an alias for the steps.

Delete when:

• You are certain you will never need that address again.
• You already replaced it with a new alias for the same service.
• You want to keep your alias list clean and easy to scan.

If the alias sits on a custom domain and you are about to remove that domain, delete the aliases first. Otherwise, removing the domain will break them anyway.

What if I delete an alias by mistake?#

There is no way to undo a deletion. If you delete the wrong alias, create a replacement with the steps in Setting up an email alias and update the address on the service that used the old one. Any mail sent to the deleted address in the meantime bounces and cannot be retrieved.

Troubleshooting#

The alias still appears in my list. Refresh the page. If it is still there after a refresh, check you confirmed the dialog rather than closing it. An unconfirmed deletion does nothing.

I confirmed, but mail still arrives. Check the mail is coming through the alias you deleted and not a different alias for the same service. Open the alias list and confirm the deleted address is gone. If a second alias is receiving the mail, deactivate or delete that one too.

I want the same address back. A deleted address cannot be recreated. Create a new alias with a different name and update it on the service that used the old address.

I have several aliases to remove. There is no bulk-delete option. Delete aliases one at a time, and confirm each dialog before moving on to the next.

Related guides#

• Activating and deactivating an alias - pause an alias without losing it.
• Setting up an email alias - create a replacement alias.
• How to use email aliases - where one alias per service pays off first.