How to use private email addresses (hide my email) in mello

Why use one

• You know who leaked your address. Each address goes to one site, so spam to it can only have come from there, or from whoever that site passed it to.
• You can stop it in one click. Turning an address off ends the mail from that site, and nothing else changes.
• Your real address stays private. Shops, forums, trial sign-ups and Wi-Fi portals never see it.
• Nobody notices. The address looks like any other, and mail sent to it once it’s off is refused like mail to an address that doesn’t exist. The sender gets no hint that it was yours.

Create an address

1. In the mello webmail at mail.mello.mx, open Settings, then the Aliases tab.
2. Choose New alias. mello makes up a random address on your domain, for example quiet.otter.7k2@mello.mx.
3. It appears next to Ready:. Click it to copy it, and paste it into the sign-up form.
4. To remember what it’s for, choose the pencil next to the address, write a Note such as “Bike shop, signed up in October”, and save. Only you see the note.

The address works at once. Mail to it arrives in your inbox like any other message, and filters, search and the assistant treat it the same way.

See what each address receives

The Aliases tab lists your addresses, the ones that received mail most recently first. Under each you see how many messages it received and when the last one came in, so an address that suddenly gets busy stands out.

• The inbox icon next to an address opens your mail sent to it. It shows once the address has received something.
• The filter box appears once you have more than eight addresses. It searches the addresses and your notes.
• Copy the address again any time by clicking it.

A tip: if you want this mail out of your inbox, make a filter on the address that moves it to a folder of its own.

Reply from a private address

Sometimes you need to write back: a question for the shop, a support ticket. mello keeps your real address out of that too.

• When you reply to a message sent to a private address, mello sends the reply from that private address on its own. You don’t need to change anything.
• When you write a new message, open the From list at the top of the form and choose the address. Private addresses are shown with their address and the word private.

Only addresses that are on can send. An address that is off disappears from the From list.

In another mail app (Apple Mail, Thunderbird, an Android app), you can send from a private address too: add it as an extra sender address in that app’s account settings. mello’s server accepts it, because it’s yours.

Turn an address off

When an address starts getting spam, or you’re done with a site, turn it off.

1. In Settings → Aliases, find the address. Its note helps if you have many.
2. Flip the switch at the end of its row. Hover over it to see what it does: On: mail to it arrives, or Off: mail to it is refused.

mello now refuses mail to that address while it’s still being delivered, so it never reaches your inbox and no one gets a bounce from you. Variants with a +tag are refused too. Addresses that are off move to the end of the list, and each one counts how many messages it refused, so you can see if the spam goes on.

You can turn it on again any time, for example to receive one password reset, and off again afterwards.

Delete an address for good

Turning an address off is usually enough. If you’re sure you’ll never need it again, you can delete it:

1. Choose the bin icon next to the address.
2. mello asks Delete for good? Choose Delete, or Keep to change your mind.

A deleted address keeps being refused, and mello never hands it out again, to you or anyone else. So mail meant for you can’t reach a stranger years later.

How many you can have

• Up to 500 addresses at a time. Addresses that are off count; deleted ones don’t. When you reach the limit, New alias is greyed out, and the tab says that all 500 are in use. Delete the ones you no longer need to make room.
• Up to 20 new addresses an hour. That’s plenty for normal use; it keeps the feature from being misused.
• On your domain. New addresses use the same domain as your mello address.

The addresses can’t be chosen: they are always random, so no one can guess another one of yours from them.

Good to know

• The aliases your admin gave you (on a company or family domain) also show in the From list, marked alias. Only an admin can change those.
• Private addresses also work from the API. If you script your mail, /private-addresses creates, lists and turns off addresses, the same as the webmail.
• Moving to mello? When you update your accounts with your new address, it’s a good moment to give each site a private address instead. See how to move from Gmail.