Email aliases
What is an alias?
An email alias allows more meaningful names to be created for email addresses. They can be advertised on websites, business cards or other printed material. When a message is sent to an alias, it is forwarded on to the email address the alias points to.
For example:
User: abc123
Email: abc123@le.ac.uk
Alias: andrew.clarke@le.ac.uk
When an email is sent to andrew.clarke@le.ac.uk, the email system determines it should be delivered to abc123@le.ac.uk - this means it arrives in the inbox of account abc123.
If Andrew was using Microsoft Outlook 2010 (or Outlook Web Access) to reply to that email message, then the reply would come from abc123@le.ac.uk - the alias is only used for incoming messages.
Types of alias
There are two types of email alias available:
Personal aliases
These are intended to provide a more meaningful version of an individual persons email address. The example above is a personal email alias. Another example might be an alias for the departmental administrator.
Shared Aliases
These aliases point to multiple email addresses causing messages sent to them to be distributed to more than one person.
Email aliases can only point at University IT accounts. To send emails to those outside the University you will need to use a Mailing list.
Who can request aliases?
- Personal aliases: Members of staff can request personal aliases for themselves or for a role/function in the department
- Shared alias: Any member of staff of DITC can request a shared alias. The request should come from one of the people who will receive emails sent to the alias.
- Student societies can also request aliases
Alias Criteria
There are specific criteria for an alias to be accepted. Aliases:
- Must be 18 characters or less
- Can contain the characters A-Z, 0-9, *, _ and -. They cannot contain other characters. They cannot start with a number or the word ‘admin’
- Must point to University IT accounts
- Need to be specific. If you request an aliases which is a common, English language word, we may turn it down unless it is for a genuinely University wide function
- For Student Union societies will always have su- put on the front by us (this means you only have 15 characters for the rest of the alias)
- For Personal accounts must be based on your name and must include both your first name or initials and surname.
Requesting an alias
Contact IT Help to request an alias. Please make sure you have the following information:
- The name of the alias you would like to register.
- The email address (or addresses) you would like it to point to
- The purpose of the email alias (is it personal, role based, for a conference, etc.)
