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Email Account vs Alias Account

alias email account

Email Account vs Alias Account, What’s the difference?

Email Account
An Email Account (or Mailbox) has two qualities it is the place where messages are stored (has storage) and is an address for messages on the internet. If you send and receive email messages you have an Email Account on the server.
Aliases Address
An Alias Address looks like a “real” Email Account but it acts differently. Alias accounts only have one quality the address, there is no storage assigned to an alias address messages are immediately directed to the mailboxes of those assigned to the alias. An Alias address is typically used for non-personal addresses such as departments or functions, (e.g. info@, orders@, accounting@, etc.).

Comparison

An Email Account: An Alias Address
  • Can send & receive messages
  • Has a limited amount of storage space assigned to the account.
  • Accounts are configured to store messages until your email client deletes them.
  • You can forward messages to other email addresses.
  • You can Set up auto-responder messages to notify contacts when you are away from the office.
  • Can receive messages, cannot send messages.
  • Has no storage for messages assigned.
  • Can be routed to multiple recipients. For example, each member of the sales department can receive a copy of all sales@ messages.
  • Can be used for purpose addressing rather than personal or individual addressing.
  • Cannot use auto-responder on the alias, but individuals within the alias receivers may respond directly.
   

 

In Summary

Email Accounts are typically used when you want the sender or recipient to communicate with a person. Aliases are useful when you want the sender’s message to be routed to one or more recipients without requiring the sender to know each recipient’s email address and for purpose driving email addresses (e.g. sales@, accounting@, info@, etc).

Hopefully this clarifies the differences between Email and Alias accounts. If you have specific questions please feel free to call or email us, we are happy to provide additional support.

Tips & Tricks

  • We recommend every user have their own Email Address by name. Common formats for name emails are firstname@, first.lastname@, or flastname@. Consider how many people might have the same name in your organization when developing a scheme.
  • Use Alias Addresses to direct messages to groups, functions, or multiple recipients. For example John Doe might be a member of one or more groups (Aliases) such as sales@example.com, support@example.com, or info@example.com.
  • Use Alias Addresses to support secondary addressing. For example john.doe@example.com might have an alias setup as john@example.com, jdoe@example.com, and/or j.doe@example.com, etc.