Dots in Gmail Email Addresses

If you use Gmail you might already know (or are about to find out) that dots in a gmail email address are completely ignored. This means that you login or share your email as being:

• myemail@gmail.com
• my.email@gmail.com
• or even:
• m.y.e.m.a.i.l@gmail.com

All will give access and send email to the exact same account.

For some users this might be a pain - if someone else shares an email address thinking they've registered a "dotted" email address that is different from your non-dotted one (and you'll receive email intended for them); but for other this is a godsend.

You see... you can put these dots to good use. For instance, you can use your personal email without dots, for your friends, but use different dotted versions to register to different sites - that way you'll know which one is leaking your email should you begin to receive extra spam email in the future.

But the best part is probably allowing you to register multiple times in the same service without having to create a secondary email account or use a temporary email service.

If you try to register multiple times in the same service using the same email, you'll be notified that you're already registered. But if you enter your email with some dots in it... it will be regarded as a different email, and you'll be able to register again, without having to create a new email.

Of course, these service might check for it in the future, so... I don't really recommend it if you want to use it seriously (though I imagine no service would want to risk deleting users accounts without any notice.)

Be sure to use your dots wisely. :)