How an email alias works

An email alias is an alternate email address that delivers to the same mailbox as your assigned McGill email address (firstname.lastname@mcgill.ca or firstname.lastname@mail.mcgill.ca).

After you perform the steps below, people will be able to send you email using your new email alias, and all email you send will appear to come from your new email alias. You will also receive email sent to your assigned McGill email address. If you have both a student (mail.mcgill.ca) and a staff (mcgill.ca) account, your alias will apply to both.

Note to staff: Your email alias address will be the one that is displayed in the GAL. 

Before creating an alias, read McGill Email Address Naming Convention Guidelines for examples of acceptable choices.

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Email Address Naming Convention Guidelines

McGill email aliases must comply with McGill’s Email Address Naming Convention Guidelines. Aliases which do not comply may be rejected by the Service Desk. To ensure that your email aliases is accepted and enabled as quickly as possible, please choose an alias that conforms to the following guidelines:

• The email alias does not include any spaces or plus signs (+).
• The email alias consists of at least one name (a first name or nickname) followed by a dot, followed by your last name.
• The first name portion of the alias is based on your first or middle name, a common nickname, or another name you commonly use.

For example, if William John Smith wishes to change his email alias, here are some acceptable aliases he can choose:

• will.smith
• bill.smith
• billy.smith
• will.j.smith
• bill.j.smith
• will.john.smith
• w.john.smith
• john.smith
• johnny.smith

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Email aliases and gender transition

If you are currently undergoing a gender transition, you may choose to create an email alias as an intermediary step. For example, you may wish to set up an email alias towards the beginning of your transition in order to continue to receive important emails addressed to your former name while you inform your contacts of your new name. If you wish to change your McGill username, please consult this article and follow the appropriate steps.

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Steps to create an alias

1. Consult the McGill Email Address Naming Convention Guidelines to ensure your desired email alias will be accepted.
2. Complete the Email Alias form in Service Now. You can check on the progress of your request at any time by clicking on My Tickets on the McGill IT Support Site.

Note: You can only have ONE email alias. However, you can replace your email alias whenever you wish by completing the Email Alias form in Service Now. If you no longer wish to use an email alias and want to revert to your assigned McGill email address, please contact the Service Desk. If you remove or change your email alias, all emails sent to that alias will bounce back. Redirects cannot be added for email aliases, so please ensure that you inform your contacts if you are removing or changing an email alias.