Email Aliases

An email alias is essentially a forwarding email address that can be used to forward messages to a single address or multiple email addresses. Aliases are most commonly used for departments or groups of individuals, like a small team of people working on a project or task.

For example, in a working environment with multiple email addresses, the office may want to make a central email address that distributes messages to all personnel. The alias workplace@example.com can be made for messages to be sent and then distributed to all of the employees.

To view a list of email aliases for the domain, click the settings icon. Then expand the Domain Settings folder and click Aliases in the navigation pane. A list of existing aliases will appear in the content pane.

To create a new email alias, click New in the content pane toolbar. To edit an existing email alias, select it and then click Edit in the content pane toolbar. Whether creating a new alias or editing an existing one, the settings for these will appear in a modal pop-up and the following options will be available:

• Alias Name – The name of the alias. This name will be used to create the email alias address. For example, if you named the alias “info” and the domain was “example.com,” the email alias address would be info@example.com.
• Email Address (one per line) – Type the full email address(es) of the user(s) who should receive the messages sent to this alias.
• Include all domain users – Select this option to include all domain users automatically in the alias. Note: This option does not override the email addresses listed in the Email Address box. If selected, all domain users will be included in addition to the users entered in the Email Address box.
• Enable in Live Chat (XMPP) – Select this to allow the alias to appear as a contact in live chat. Enabling aliases for live chat means that instant messages can be sent to the alias from within webmail as well as when using third-party chat clients.
• Show in Global Address List – Select this to display the alias in the Global Address List.
• Internal only – Select this option to only allow emails to be received from addresses within the alias’ domain.

Note: Even though an alias acts as an email address, users cannot login to an alias like they do a standard email address since no email is ever actually stored for the alias. Emails are just sent to the list of addresses provided for the alias.

A Note About Catch-All Aliases

A catch-all alias is simply that: an alias that catches all email sent to a domain that doesn’t correspond to an actual account. Catch-all aliases can be useful as long as they are monitored and kept clear of unwanted email. However, due to the nature of email and the amount of spam that is sent every day, a catch-all can become a burden to email systems and to domain administrators. Therefore, it is suggested that they be used sparingly, or not at all if it can be avoided.