I’m always looking for small tricks that make a difference. And recently, I stumbled on something that felt a bit like discovering an old Swiss army knife I forgot I had. It’s built into Outlook.com (and works with @outlook.com, @live.com, and even old @hotmail.com addresses). I actually learned from it by someone using GMail (where it worked first 🙂 )

You can use the “plus alias” trick to make your email address behave in a much smarter way—without setting up multiple accounts.

How it works

Say your regular email is:

rene@live.com

You can now use:

• rene+spam@live.com
• rene+shops@live.com
• rene+newsletters@live.com

They will all still land in your rene@live.com inbox. But to whoever is sending them, they look like different addresses.

This is built-in behavior. No settings, no hacks. Just works.

Why this is actually useful

At first, this sounds a bit like a gimmick. But once I started using it, I realized how practical it is:

• Filtering spam: You can create a rule that says: if the email was sent to rene+spam@live.com, just throw it straight into the bin. No mercy.
• Tracking signups: I once signed up to a service using rene+storeX@live.com. A few months later I started getting marketing emails from companies I’d never heard of. Easy conclusion: storeX sold my email. Good to know.
• Inbox organization: You can use +newsletters@live.com for all your newsletter subscriptions. Then you auto-label them or move them to a folder. Keeps the main inbox clean.

A few caveats

Of course, there are always some limitations.

• Some websites are weird about email validation. Even though + is totally valid in email addresses, some signup forms just don’t accept it. No idea why.
• You also can’t send from these addresses unless you go a step further and create real aliases. The plus addresses are just routing tricks, not separate identities.

Want to send from a different alias?

If you actually want to send emails from another address, you can go to your Microsoft account and set up a proper alias. It’s easy:

1. Go to account.microsoft.com
2. Click Your Info > Manage how you sign in to Microsoft
3. Add a new alias, like rene.shops@outlook.com
4. You can even set this alias as your default “From” address in Outlook

Takes a few minutes, and you suddenly have a clean way to separate personal, shopping, newsletter, or even side project mail traffic.