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Aliases, groups and masked emails

Not every address needs a mailbox behind it. A mailbox is a real account with a password, storage and someone to check it; often what you actually want is another address that lands in a mailbox you already have. Mailspace gives you three ways to do that, and the mailspace sidebar lists them separately: Aliases, Groups and Masked Emails.

None of the three is a mailbox, so none of them uses up a mailbox in your mail plan — only mailboxes count against that. The mail they deliver still arrives in a real mailbox, so it counts toward your plan's storage like any other mail.

Which one do you want?

Aliases Groups Masked Emails
In one line Extra addresses that deliver to a mailbox, group or mailing list. Distribution lists that forward incoming mail to multiple members. Disposable addresses that forward to a mailbox — use one per site or service to control spam.
Who receives the mail Whatever you point it at — one mailbox, group or mailing list Several members at once One mailbox
Members can be outside addresses n/a No — only mailboxes in this mailspace n/a
You choose the address Yes, on any of your mailspace's domains Yes, on any of your mailspace's domains No — it's generated for you
Changing it later Remove it and add a new one Description, members and aliases can be edited; the address and the name built from it can't Delete it and create another

A group and a mailing list are close cousins, and the difference that matters is membership: a group can only contain mailboxes hosted in this mailspace, while a mailing list can carry any address at all — see Mailing lists.

All three are managed in the dashboard. The REST API covers mailspaces themselves, not the individual addresses inside one — see Mailspace for what it does reach.

Before you start

  • A finished mailspace. These screens only exist once the mailspace has been verified and created on the mail server. Until then the dashboard sends you to the domain verification page instead — see Verifying your domain.
  • A role that can edit this workspace. Creating, editing and deleting any of the three are edit actions; a member whose role can't edit is turned back with You do not have permission to perform this action.
  • At least one mailbox. All three ultimately deliver into a mailbox. With none yet, the new-alias screen says Nothing to point an alias at yet — An alias delivers to something that already exists. Create a mailbox first. — and offers New Mailbox. See Managing mailboxes.
  • A mailspace that isn't scheduled for deletion. During the retention window after a delete, every screen here is read-only and changes are refused with This mailspace is scheduled for deletion and can't be changed. Restore it first. See Deleting and restoring a mailspace.

Add an alias

  1. Open Aliases. Choose Mailspace in the workspace sidebar, open the mailspace, then Aliases in the mailspace sidebar. The list is headed All aliases, with the subtitle Extra addresses that deliver to a mailbox, group or mailing list.

  2. Click New Alias. With no aliases yet, the empty state says No aliases yet and carries the same button.

  3. Enter the address. Under Email address, type the part before the @ — the hint reads The new address people will send to. If the mailspace has one domain it's shown beside the field; with several, pick one from the Domain selector next to it.

  4. Choose what it delivers to. Delivers to is a searchable picker, prompted Choose a mailbox, group or mailing list… and grouped under Mailboxes, Groups and Mailing lists. Its hint spells out the one rule: Mail for the alias lands here. An alias can't point at another alias. Only primary addresses are offered, so chains can't be built.

  5. Click Create alias. You come back to the list with a confirmation reading alias@yourdomain.com now delivers to the target you picked.

Each row of the list shows the Alias, what it Delivers to, and its Type — badged Mailbox, Group or Mailing list. Filter aliases by address… at the top of the card matches the alias and the address it delivers to. The row's menu also has Edit mailbox / Edit group / Edit mailing list, which jumps straight to the edit screen of the thing on the far end.

One address can only be one thing

Addresses are shared across the whole mailspace. If the name you want is already taken, the alias is refused with a message naming what holds it — a mailbox, a group or a mailing list — and that includes addresses that are only aliases of those. An address on a domain the mailspace doesn't have is refused too, telling you to add the domain first.

Remove an alias

Open the row's menu and choose Remove alias. The confirmation is specific about what you're undoing: Mail sent to alias@yourdomain.com will stop being delivered to mailbox@yourdomain.com. The mailbox itself is not affected. Only the extra address goes away.

Aliases you can manage elsewhere

An alias belongs to the thing it delivers to, so the same aliases appear on that thing's own edit screen — a mailbox, a group or a mailing list each has an Aliases field with its own Add button. Two differences are worth knowing:

  • The Aliases page can put an alias on any domain in the mailspace.
  • A mailbox's own edit screen adds addresses on the mailspace's primary domain — its hint names that domain directly. For an alias on one of your other domains, use the Aliases page.

Create a group

A group is one address that several mailboxes read. Mail sent to it is forwarded to every member.

  1. Open Groups. In the mailspace sidebar, choose Groups. The list is headed All groups — Distribution lists that forward incoming mail to multiple members. Empty, it reads No groups yet / Groups allow multiple mailboxes to share a single address.

  2. Click New Group.

  3. Name it. Name is required; its hint is Shown wherever this group appears (the placeholder suggests e.g. Support Team).

  4. Set the address. Under Email address, type the local part and pick the domain. The hint reads The address mail is sent to. Unlike the new-mailbox form, this one doesn't check availability as you type — a name that's already in use is refused when you submit.

  5. Describe it, optionally. Description is Optional — a note about what this group is for.

  6. Add members. Members is an add-one-at-a-time picker prompted Select a mailbox…, with the hint Who receives mail sent to this group. Only mailboxes in this mailspace can be members. Pick a mailbox and it drops into the list below with its own Remove control; the count beside the field title tracks how many you've added. A mailbox scheduled for deletion isn't offered.

  7. Add aliases, optionally. The Aliases field on the same form — Additional addresses that also deliver to this group — takes a bare name plus Add. With more than one domain in the mailspace an Alias domain picker sits beside it.

  8. Click Create group. The list returns with Group created successfully.

A group's members must be mailboxes hosted here

The picker won't offer an outside address, and one that reaches the server anyway is refused before anything is written: the message names the addresses that aren't mailboxes in this mailspace and points you at a mailing list instead. Typing an address that doesn't match a mailbox shows No mailbox matches — a group can only contain mailboxes in this mailspace. in the dropdown.

The list gives each group a name, its Email, and counts under Members and Aliases; Filter groups by name or address… narrows it.

Change or delete a group

Edit group in the row's menu reopens the group's fields, with two exceptions. The Email address is shown as plain text, because It can't be changed after the group is created. And there is no Name field at all: a group's name is the part of its address before the @, so it's fixed the moment the group is created. To relabel a group, edit its Description — that's what the list shows in its Name column, falling back to that name (the part before the @) when the description is empty. Save with Save changes.

Delete group asks Delete <name>? and warns This cannot be undone — if you need the address to keep working, point an alias at something else rather than deleting and rebuilding.

Create a masked email

A masked email is a throwaway address that forwards into one of your mailboxes — one per site or service, so you can tell where spam came from.

  1. Open Masked Emails. In the mailspace sidebar, choose Masked Emails. The card is headed All masked emails — Disposable addresses that forward to a mailbox — use one per site or service to control spam. Empty, it reads No masked emails configured.

  2. Click New Masked Email.

  3. Choose where it forwards. Forward to is a picker prompted Select a mailbox…, and it is the only required field. Its hint also tells you what you don't control: Mail sent to the masked address is delivered here. The masked address's own domain is assigned automatically. You don't type the masked address — it's generated when you create it. The picker offers active mailboxes only: one that is suspended, or scheduled for deletion, isn't listed. (Groups are more lenient here — they still offer a suspended mailbox as a member.)

  4. Label it, optionally. Description is an Optional label to help you remember what this address is for (the placeholder suggests e.g. Newsletter signup for example.com).

  5. Leave Status on. The switch reads Active — accept incoming mail and starts on. Turn it off and the address is created but won't take mail: A blocked address keeps existing but stops accepting mail.

  6. Fill in Optional details if a password manager wants them. That card is subtitled Useful for password managers that manage masked emails and holds Associated domain (The website domain where this masked address will be used), Associated URL (The specific page where this address was entered) and Created by (The tool that generated this address, if any).

  7. Click Create masked email. The list returns with the generated address and the mailbox it forwards to.

Each row shows the Masked Address — with the associated domain under it, when you set one — its Description, and a Status badge of Active or Disabled. The dashboard's only action on an existing masked email is Delete, which asks Delete <address>? and warns This cannot be undone. To change where an address forwards, delete it and create another.

Next steps