Aliases and rename in Outlook.com

Here are answers to some common questions about renaming your primary alias or adding an alias.

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How many aliases can I create?

You can create up to ten new aliases per year, for an overall maximum of ten. Deleting an alias removes it from the overall count, but not the yearly limit.

Can I join together two Microsoft accounts by making one an alias of the other?

Practically speaking, you can't turn an existing Microsoft account into an alias. You'd have to cancel the account, wait 365 days for the email address to be released (at which point it would be available to anyone) and then make the address an alias.

Can I send email from an alias by default?

Yes. Here's how to set an alias to be your default email address:

  1. In Outlook.com, click the Options iconOptions icon, and then click More mail settings.
  2. Under Managing your account, click Your email accounts.

  3. Under Default "From" address, select a default account.

You can also change what address an email is sent from while you're composing the email.

  1. In your inbox, click New.

  2. Click the down arrow next to the From address.

    Down arrow next to the From address
  3. Choose the address from which to send the mail.

Can I rename my primary alias?

You can, but since aliases can be used to sign in, send and receive mail, and do pretty much anything else you can do with a primary alias, we don't recommend renaming. Instead you can Add an alias to your account.

If you still want to rename your primary alias:

  1. In Outlook.com, click your user name in the upper-right corner.

  2. Click Account settings. You might have to sign in again.

  3. Click Overview, and then click Account aliases.

  4. Check if the address you want to rename the primary alias to is already listed as an alias. If so, click Remove under the alias.

  5. Click Remove alias.

  6. Follow the instructions in Rename your primary alias.

Warnings

Warnings

  • If you remove an alias, the address will become available to anyone in 30 days.

  • If you rename an MSN account, you can't go back to the old address.

  • To go back to an old email address, you must be in the country in which you created the account.

If you rename a Hotmail or Outlook account

Outlook.com turns your original email address into an alias. Aliases can be used to sign in, send mail from an app, and do pretty much anything else you can do with a primary alias.

If you renamed an account from another domain, such as Gmail

No alias is created, so you can simply Rename your primary alias to your original address. You’ll want to do this before that address becomes available to anyone.

Can I change my custom domain name to outlook.com?

No, but you might be able to send and receive email from your custom domain account using Outlook.com. For details, see Send and receive mail from other email accounts.

Coming from Hotmail?

Welcome to Outlook.com! For more info about your upgrade, see our FAQ.


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