How to create and manage aliases on your Microsoft account

Instead of having multiple email accounts, such as for personal use, work, and online subscriptions, you can create multiple aliases on your Microsoft account.

An alias is just an additional name you can add to your Microsoft account. It can be a completely new email address, or you can bring your email address from Gmail, Yahoo, GMX, and other services. In addition, you can add your Skype name, or use OneDrive, Office, Xbox account, and you can even use your phone number as an alias.

When you set up aliases there is always a primary name and then the rest of aliases, and they all use and share the same inbox, contact list, and account settings. Unless you change your alias settings, you can sign in to your Microsoft account using any alias and the same password.

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to create and manage aliases on your Microsoft account.

• How to create an alias on your Microsoft account
• How to make an alias primary on your Microsoft account
• How to delete an alias on your Microsoft account
• How to select which aliases can sign in on your Microsoft account

How to create an alias on your Microsoft account

1. Open your web browser on Manage how you sign in to Microsoft.

2. Sign-in with your account if you’re not already signed in.

3. Select the alias type you want:

   • Add email: Lets you create a new alias name or you can bring another email address name from another service.
   • Add phone number: Allows you to add your phone number as an alias.

   

   If you picked “Add email”, do the following:

   1. Select whether you’ll be creating a new alias, which it’ll technically be a new Outlook.com name. Or you can select the second option to add an existing email address for another service as a Microsoft account alias.

   2. Click the Add alias button.

      

   3. If you’re using an existing email address, you’ll need to click the Verify link and follow the on-screen directions to confirm that you own the account and you really want to add it as an alias to complete the task.

   If you picked “Add phone number”, do the following:

   1. Enter your phone number.

   2. Click Next.

      

   3. Enter the code that was sent to your phone.

   4. Click Next to complete the task.

Once you completed the steps, you can use any alias to sign in to your Microsoft account and the same password.

How to make an alias primary on your Microsoft account

1. Open your web browser on Manage how you sign in to Microsoft.

2. Sign-in with your account if you’re not already signed in.

3. Click the Make primary link next to the alias you want as your primary.

   

How to delete an alias on your Microsoft account

At any time, you can remove any alias from your account, but it’s important to note that once you delete an alias, it’ll become available for anyone who wants to use it.

1. Open your web browser on Manage how you sign in to Microsoft.

2. Sign-in with your account if you’re not already signed in.

3. Click the Remove link next to the alias you want to delete.

   

How to select which aliases can sign in on your Microsoft account

Microsoft by default allows you to sign-in using any alias you create on your Microsoft account, but you can decide which one you use to access your account.

1. Open your web browser on Manage how you sign in to Microsoft.

2. Sign-in with your account if you’re not already signed in.

3. Click the Change sign-in preferences link.

4. Uncheck the box of the aliases you don’t want use to sign in.

   

There are various reasons to use an alias in your account. For example, you’re probably ready to move to a new email address, and you don’t want to lose your account settings and data.

It’s very convenient to have one account with different email addresses, if it’s something you want to do.

And perhaps the most important advantage of aliases is when you want an email address that doesn’t have permission to sign in. You can use this account to give to anyone or use to subscribe to different online services knowing that no one can’t access your information — even during data bridge hacks.

It’s worth pointing out that you can’t use an email address associated with another Microsoft account to create an alias.

Also, if you’re looking to create an alias in Outlook.com, you won’t find the option there because this is a feature that can only be manage from your Microsoft account.

What’s your reason to use aliases on your Microsoft account? Tell us in the comments below.