Manage aliases on your Microsoft account

Applies to: Microsoft Account

You can change the way you sign in and show up to recipients by adding aliases to your Microsoft account. An alias is like a nickname for your account that can be an email address, phone number, or Skype name. It uses the same inbox, contact list, and account settings as the primary alias. You can sign in to your account with any alias, and you only have to remember a single password for all of them.

Some reasons to use aliases on your account include:

You’ve changed names, set up a personal business, or just want to try something new.
You're ready for a new email address but don't want to lose all your settings and data.
You want the flexibility of having several aliases that share the same subscriptions and inbox.
You want an alias that can't be used to sign in to your account so that you can give it out to companies or other people and know they can't use it to access your info.

Notes

You cannot add an alias that is already associated with another Microsoft account. Aliases cannot be used to share information between two Microsoft accounts—the ability to link Microsoft accounts was discontinued in 2013.
Existing @hotmail.com, @live.com, @outlook.com, and @msn.com addresses can't be added as aliases.

By default, the email address or phone number that you use to sign up for your Microsoft account is considered the primary alias. Your primary alias shows up as the main account name when you view your profile information. This can be changed at any time.

Any other aliases are considered secondary aliases. You can control which secondary aliases can be used to sign in to your Microsoft account.

You can have up to ten aliases on your Microsoft account at any given time.

Go to Add or remove an email alias in Outlook on the web to learn how your inbox works with multiple aliases. For more help with how to edit your information, contact customer support.

Show all

Add an alias to your account

You can add an alias that is a phone number, a new email address, or an existing email address that isn't already associated with another Microsoft account.

Every calendar year, you can add an alias ten times. This is different from the total number of aliases you can have at any one time. If you add an alias and then remove it, that action still counts toward your annual limit.

Sign in to the Microsoft account website.
Select Your info.
Select Manage how you sign in to Microsoft.
Select Add email or Add phone number.
Follow the instructions to set up and verify your new alias. If you chose Add email, you have the option to use an email address that you already have, or you can create a new Outlook.com email address.

Change which alias is primary

Your primary alias appears on devices, such as your Xbox, Surface, and Windows Phone, and is the email address that OneDrive sends from when you share things like photos or documents. You can change your primary alias up to twice a week. You can include your work or school email address as an alias, but it cannot be made the primary alias.

Sign in to the Microsoft account website.
Select Your info.
Select Manage how you sign in to Microsoft.
Select Make primary next to the alias you want as your primary.

Remove an alias from your account

Sign in to the Microsoft account website.
Select Your info.
Select Manage how you sign in to Microsoft.
Select Remove next to the alias you want to remove.

If you want to get rid of an email address entirely, you have to close the account. Closing the account means you lose access to your inbox. For more information, see How to close your Microsoft account.

Notes

If you remove an email address from a non-Microsoft domain (like @gmail.com), then it usually becomes immediately available to be added as an alias on another Microsoft account.
If you remove an email address from @outlook.com, it can be re-created as a new account or alias after 30 days.
Email addresses from other Microsoft domains (like @hotmail.com, @live.com, or @msn.com), cannot be added again as an alias to any Microsoft account once they're removed.

Manage which aliases can be used for sign-in

By default, you can sign in with any of your aliases, but you can change this setting for your secondary aliases. This can be useful if you want to use a website that you don't know is safe. If you give them an email address that can't be used to sign in, you don't have to worry about anyone stealing that information.

Sign in to the Microsoft account website.
Select Your info.
Select Manage how you sign in to Microsoft.
Select Change sign-in preferences.
Uncheck the box next to any aliases that you don't want to use to sign in.

Last Updated: 26 Jan 2018

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