If you have one, you have them all: You can skip the dot for Gmail addresses

Many users have a Gmail address where, for example, their first and last names are separated by a period. However, the character doesn't play a role in this service. Nevertheless, the period can make a difference, as can another useful special character.

Millions of Germans use a Gmail address. According to an analysis of around 40 million login credentials used in e-commerce – online shops, streaming, and other services – the number is even higher, reaching around 35 percent, which corresponds to almost 27 million people. Many of them have a dot in their addresses, for example, [email protected]. But they can actually skip that, as it usually makes no difference.

This means that an email reaches its recipient regardless of whether a period is placed somewhere before the @ symbol. It also doesn't matter whether you write [email protected], [email protected], or even [email protected]. No one can set up another Google account using a period-based version of the combination.

Emails from unknown people are an accident

Nevertheless, there are numerous users in internet forums who write that they have received emails from people they don't know, which were obviously addressed to someone else. According to Google, the most likely explanation is that someone made a typo, for example, they wanted to send a message to [email protected] but omitted the 1. Another plausible explanation is that the address was guessed based on a name.

It also doesn't matter whether you originally signed up with Google with or without a dot. The combination of names, words, or letters without a dot before the @ symbol (local part) is always secured. No one can set up another Google account with a dotted version of the combination.

The address doesn't have to make sense either; with [email protected] you automatically also own [email protected] and any other combination with these letters and dots.

However, points can still be important, especially if you've registered with another service using your email address as your username. Once you've set points, you often have to use them every time you log in. A website can also accept variations; it all depends on whether its mechanisms recognize that the email address is identical.

The "+" trick

If you want, you can use many more so-called aliases with a Gmail account by adding a "+" to the letter/word combination. Everything after that symbol is ignored by Google. You can use this to organize your inbox or identify spam sources.

For example, if you subscribe to newsletters with the address [email protected], you can set up a corresponding filter in your email program (client) to automatically store all newsletters in the "Newsletter" inbox.

To identify spammers, use a specific extension on suspicious sites, such as [email protected]. If you then receive emails sent to this alias address, you know which website is behind it.

To see which alias was sent, for example, in the browser version of Gmail, click on the small downward-pointing arrow next to "To me" below the sender. This will display all relevant information, which is also useful for identifying phishing emails. It works similarly in any email client.

Another advantage of extensions with a "+" is that services usually accept them as standalone addresses, which isn't always the case with combinations with dots. This allows you to create multiple logins with the "+" symbol if a service otherwise doesn't allow multiple registrations with one email address.

However, this doesn't always work. Sometimes websites want to prevent users from logging in with aliases. Occasionally, a "+" is considered an unacceptable special character because a login method doesn't support the official standard (RFC 5322), which actually allows it.