Quick Tip: One Gmail Account = Multiple Test Email Addresses
Don't know about you but a lot of what I do requires having access to multiple email addresses (testing websites that require signup etc). To aide my development I have a few email accounts I use - a Gmail, a Hotmail, a Yahoo and a Google Apps one (my main account). That's only four addresses though, which can be quite limiting at times.
In steps Gmail. If you have a Gmail account then you have access to "infinite" email addresses using that one account.
The Gmail account I use for general testing is:
jakehowlet@gmail.com (I left a t off on purpose)
But I could also use any of the following:
jakehowlet+1@gmail.com
jakehowlet+2@gmail.com
jakehowlet+3@gmail.com
jakehowlet+123456789@gmail.com
jakehowlet+returnfailuretest@gmail.com, etc etc
You get the idea. You can tack a + sign and then any random string after it to invent a new email address. Obviously it still delivers to your Gmail account and it lets you signup to a website over and over as a "different" user.
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You can subscribe to an individual
+1
Maybe you should add your own 'Like' Button here...
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Thanks Jake, wasn't aware of that.
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Thanks for the tip, I didn't realise that was possible.
Another useful tip is that when you read the email in web interface you will see an "down-arrow" beside your name in the To: field of the email. If you click on this it will tell you which exact email address it was sent to.
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Not as flexible but worth noting, all the following are legitimate email aliases to my account:
jake.howlet@gmail.com
j.a.k.e.howlet@gmail.com
jakehow.le.t@gmail.com
I.e: all dots/periods are also ignore.
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A real gem this tip!
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Nice! You could also use this to determine who leaked your email address to spammers, if you were so inclined.
datatrib+lifehacker@gmail.com
datatrib+makezine@gmail.com
datatrib+disquis@gmail.com
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Indeed. And then filter out any compromised addresses using GMail filters (sending straight to trash?)
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FYI... Hotmail does this too: http://explore.live.com/hotmail-organize-your-inbox?T1=t10
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This also appears to work for Google Apps hosted accounts such as mine.
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I've used this trick for a number of years to segregate my e-mail from various sites. For example, I'll use jorge.coelho+tech@gmail.com for any tech sites that might require my e-mail address. I then setup all e-mail to be tagged with TECH in Gmail. This is also useful in finding out who is sharing your e-mail address.
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I wonder if the reason you left the t off Howlett is the same reason that IBM left an "L" off "Traveller"?
Probably not. :-)
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@Jake - awesome tip
@Jerry - useful suggestion
Thanks.
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