Boost Productivity with Gmail: How to Set Up Advanced Filters and Add Contacts Safely

What to Know

Add a dot: Gmail ignores dots, but adding a dot will make it seem like a new address to other websites:_j.oesfamily@gmail.com ._
Add a plus sign after the username to add other words to your address:_joeman+moretext@gmail.com , joeman+thatsmyname@gmail.com ._
Set filters:Settings >See All Settings >Filters and Blocked Addresses >Create a new filter . Enter the address >Create Filter .

This article explains how to tweak your Gmail address to create dozens of variations that appear different to senders, all without actuallymaking new Gmail accounts .

Add a Dot Anywhere

Gmail ignores periods in addresses, so put a dot anywhere in your email, and Gmail will pretend it doesn’t exist. Any website you sign up for, though, will see your dotted email address as different than your non-dotted one; this means you can sign up for multiple accounts on the same website without needing multiple email accounts.

Below are some examples. Keep in mind that each address is the exact same, so you could send mail to all of these to reach the same Inbox.

You can’t add a period after the_@_ sign, but anything before it is open for tweaking. You can even add more than one period, like this:

Again, all three email address above are exactly the same, according to Google. However, you could make three social media accounts with those addresses because they typically assume each address is from a different person.

Some websites recognize this behavior and will not let you make more than one account using the same email address, even when you use this period tweak. However, for most websites, you can expect it to work.

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Exception to Add a Dot

You could add several periods right next to each other, too. This method, however, works only for logging into Gmail; you can’t send someone a message if two dots are next to each other.

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Add a Plus Sign

Another way to spawn different Gmail addresses with nothing but asyntax trick is to add a plus sign at the end of the username (before the_@_ ). Doing this lets you add other words to your address, so it actually can look quite different.

Here are a few examples that expand on the email address_joeman@gmail.co m_ :

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Reasons to Add a Plus Sign

So, why would you want to add a plus sign to your Gmail account? Besides tricking some websites into letting you making multiple accounts as described above, you can more easily understand whether a website is selling your email address to advertisers.

For example, if after making an account on a website using_joeman+possiblespam@gmail.co m_ , you start getting emails sent to that unique address from companies you’ve never contacted, you can bet that the site you signed up for gave out your email address.

You also can use your plus-sign addresses toset up Gmail filters . For example, if you sign up for an email newsletter with the_joeman+ilovehunting_ example from above, you could make Gmail auto-filter emails sent to that address into a folder that contains messages only from that hunting newsletter.

How to Set up Email Filters With Hacked Addresses

Here’s how to set up email filters with your hacked Gmail address:

Click thegear icon on the upper right-hand side of Gmail, and then clickSee All Settings from the drop-down menu.
ClickFilters and Blocked Addresses from the Tabs list.
ClickCreate a new filter from the very bottom of the page.
Type the special Gmail address in theTo text box. For example, you might write**joeman+ilovehunting@gmail.com ** if you want to filter all emails sent to that address.
ClickCreate filter .
To automatically move messages sent to this address to a specific folder, select a label next toApply the label . There’s also an option in that drop-down menu tomake a new label .
Optionally, check any other options you want to enable, such asMark as read orNever send it to Spam .
ClickCreate filter to finalize the filter.

Gmail Ignores Periods and Plus Signs

These Gmail address tweaks are possible because Google ignores periods and plus signs in its email addresses. It treats all incoming mail, regardless of a dot or plus sign, as the exact same account. As far as Gmail is concerned, the periods and plus signs are simply not there.

If this is confusing, consider this: When you signed up for Gmail and chose your email address, you could have used the tricks above and wound up with the same address you have. In fact, you can log in to Gmail using one of these tweaked addresses, and Google will take you to the same email account with the same emails, contacts, and other information.

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Boost Productivity with Gmail: How to Set Up Advanced Filters and Add Contacts Safely