Email aliases let you add (up to fifteen — five per year) new addresses to your Windows Live Hotmail account. You still sign on with your standard user name and get all mail in one place, but you can receive and send messages using the alias — which, to boot, is quick and easy to create.
Add an Alias Email Address to Windows Live Hotmail
To set up a new email address alias in Windows Live Hotmail:
- Move the mouse cursor over Inbox in the left column in Windows Live Hotmail.
- Click the gear that appears to the right of Inbox.
- Select Create a Hotmail alias.
- Type the desired alias under Email address:.
- Click Create an alias.
You can also use your alias as a throw-away email address. For help with a good and nondescript alias, you can turn to the random email user name generator.
Use Instant No-Setup Aliases with Windows Live Hotmail
To create, on the spot and without any setup, an email alias that will go to your Windows Live Hotmail account:
- Add '+' followed by your desired alias to your Windows Live Hotmail user name.
- If your Windows Live Hotmail user name is "example", for instance, you could add "+selenology", for example, to create the email address "example+selenology@hotmail.com".
Messages sent to the instant alias will go to your standard Windows Live Hotmail address but have the '+' alias in the "To:" or "Cc:" line, so you can filter these messages, for instance. You can also set up Windows Live Hotmail to let you send messages from the '+' alias.
(Updated January 2012)
