100 MACWORLD MARCH 2020
WORKINGMAC USE ICLOUD ALIASES TO SEND AND RECEIVE EMAILI wrote in April 2019 about setting up
aliases (go.macworld.com/sual), which is
handled only at iCloud.com. (In brief: Log
in, click the Mail icon, click the gear icon,
select Preferences, click Accounts, and
click Add An Alias.)
The Accounts tab lets you manage
aliases by selecting it in the list at left. You
can opt to disable an alias, which keeps it
associated with your account, but it stops
receiving email and cannot be used as a
“from” address to send messages. You can
also delete it, which frees up a slot if you
had three aliases allotted. (You may be
unable to reclaim it later if you delete it, so
take care in making that decision.)
Incoming email is tagged in the From
line with the alias, which lets you use
filtering in any email program or rules at
iCloud.com or in email apps to decide
what happens to a message based on the
alias to which it’s addressed. (I offer
instructions on creating such a filter in this
2019 column [go.macworld.com/rtid].)
If you want to send a message from an
iCloud.com alias, you may have to enable
it wherever you want to use it—iCloud.com
syncs to Mail, but Mail can’t choose which
addresses may be used for sending. iOS
and iPadOS don’t appear to sync these
changes with iCloud.com or macOS.
Here’s where to find the settings:
At iCloud.com, in mail preferences,
click the Composing tab and then check
the box next to any address you want to
enable sending from. You can also choose
which is the default sending address for
iCloud.com. Click Done.
> In macOS, launch Mail and choose
Mail → Preferences → Accounts and then
click the iCloud entry. From the Email
Address list, you can select your default
Send From address, but select Edit Email
Addresses and iCloud is opened to the
settings in the previous bullet point.
> In iOS and iPadOS, go to Settings →
Passwords & Accounts → your iCloud
account → iCloud → Mail, which is found at
the very bottom. Turn on and off individual
addresses in the Allow Sending From list.
You can pick the default address by
tapping the address next to the Email
field, even though it’s grayed out and
looks like it can’t be selected from. ■iCloud.com aliases are a powerful tool for
filtering mail and creating effectively dispos-
able addresses.