Your First Alias

Your first alias is a forwarding address you hand to one website instead of your real inbox. Mail sent to it lands in your real inbox as normal. This guide covers one alias only: create it, send a test email to confirm it forwards, then use it on your next sign-up form. The whole thing takes a few steps.

What does your first alias do?#

Your first alias is one forwarding address tied to one purpose, so a website never sees your real inbox. Mail sent to the alias arrives in your real inbox as normal. If that alias starts collecting spam, you know which site it came from, because no other site has that address.

Start with one alias for one real sign-up. Once it works, give every site its own alias. The full management guide, Creating aliases, covers editing, deactivating, deleting, naming, and custom domains. This guide stays on the first win: one alias, verified, ready to use.

How do I create my first alias?#

You create it from the Aliases page in a few steps, by filling in a short form and clicking Create.

1. Open the Aliases page. Go to Aliases in your dashboard.
2. Click + Create Alias. Use the + Create Alias button at the top right, or the matching + Create Alias control at the bottom of the left sidebar. The form page is titled Create Alias.
3. Set Generation Method. Pick Manual for your first alias. The other options are Random, Website, Random ID, and Keyword.
4. Enter the Alias Address. Type the local part, the bit before the @, in the textbox. The hint reads "Lowercase letters, numbers, dots, dashes (3-64 chars)". Pick your domain from the selector beside it. Your available domains appear there. The screenshot below shows supademo.aliasfleet.me selected on the demo account. As you type, the preview bar at the top shows the full address, for example amazon-shopping@supademo.aliasfleet.me.
5. Check Forward To. Confirm Forward To shows the inbox you want mail to land in, checked. On the Destinations page in the app, your main inbox carries the Primary and Default badges, a useful cross-check that you are routing to the right place.
6. Add the Organization. Type the company or website name, for example Amazon. The sub-label reads "Company or Website", and filling it in enables leak detection.
7. Leave Category and Auto-Expiration (TTL) alone. You do not need either for a first alias. Set them later if a specific alias needs them.
8. Add a Description (optional). Write a short note to your future self, such as "Amazon checkout, created October 2026". A short note now saves guesswork later.
9. Click Create. The Create button sits in the preview bar.

How do I check the alias works?#

You check it by sending yourself a test email and confirming it lands in your real inbox.

1. Copy the alias address. On the alias card in your Aliases list, click the alias address itself. Hovering shows a "Click to copy" tooltip with the full address. In list view, use the separate copy-icon button beside each address instead.
2. Send a test email to it. From your real inbox, or another address you control, send a short email to the alias with a subject such as "Test".
3. Check your real inbox. Success means the test email arrives in your real inbox, addressed to your alias.

If nothing arrives, work through the checks in the troubleshooting section below before trying anything else.

How do I use the alias on a sign-up form?#

You use it exactly like a normal email address: paste it into the sign-up form instead of your real address.

Copy the full alias address from the alias card, then paste it into the email field on the next site you sign up to. Use your new alias for that sign-up, not your real inbox. From then on, mail from that site comes through the alias, and you can trace it back to that site.

For ideas on where aliases pay off first, see How to use email aliases.

What if the test email does not arrive?#

A missing test email is usually a simple problem, so check these in order before anything else.

• Check the Active switch is on. On the alias card, the switch labelled Active should be on: green switch with a tick. If it is off, the switch is grey with a pause icon.
• Check your spam folder. The test email can land in spam on its first arrival. If it is there, mark it as not spam.
• Check Forward To points to a verified inbox. On the Destinations page in the app, confirm the inbox shows the Verified badge before you route aliases to it.
• Check you typed the address correctly. One wrong character sends the test to a different address, or nowhere at all. Copy the address from the alias card instead of typing it from memory.
• Wait a few minutes, then resend. Mail usually arrives shortly. If it has not arrived after a few minutes, resend once.

If you have checked all five and mail still does not arrive, see Emails not arriving for the full checklist.

What do I do next?#

Your first alias is set up and verified. These guides take you further:

• Understanding forwarding - what happens between the alias and your inbox.
• Creating aliases - the full alias management guide: edit, deactivate, delete, naming, and custom domains.
• A different email for every website - why one alias per site is worth the habit.