Guide on How to Setup Two or More Gmail Accounts to Use One Account (Create, Forward, Link)

I have one Gmail account I use to check the mail from 10-12 different accounts I’ve created. I create different Gmail accounts for different online activities:

• For friends
• For resume/job hunting
• For professional use
• For this blog
• For video games and video game modding

I set all of the accounts to forward to one Gmail inbox. When someone sends an email to any of these accounts, Gmail will automatically respond as that account even though I’m logged into a different Gmail account.

This is how I do it.

#1: Create a secondary Gmail acount

1. Login to your primary account.
2. Invite yourself to join Gmail.
   • Only works if you have Gmail invites available.
   • 
3. Wait for invitation to appear in your inbox.
4. Click on the “To accept this invitation and register for your account, visit …” link.
5. Fill in the details for your new Gmail account.

#2: Forward your secondary account to your primary account

1. Login to your secondary account.
   • Settings >> Forwarding and POP >> Forward a copy of incoming mail to address
   • 
2. Fill in your primary email address and Save Changes.

#3: Link your secondary account to your primary account

1. Login to your primary account.
   • Settings >> Accounts >> Add another email address
2. A pop-up window will open prompting you to enter your secondary email address.
   • Enter your secondary email address
   • 
   • Next Step >> Send Verification
   • Close the pop-up window.
3. Refresh your inbox and there will be an email from Google prompting you to send email as your secondary account.
   • Please click the link below to confirm your request
   • If you didn’t get an email it was because you either put in the wrong secondary account name or you didn’t setup your secondary account to forward to your primary account.
4. You’ll be taken to a confirmation success page.

#4: Test that the accounts work

1. Login to your primary account.
2. Compose an email to your secondary account.
   • 
3. Beside the From: there will be a drop-down box that will let you select which account to send the email from.
   • Choose your secondary account.
4. Refresh your inbox and there will be an email from your secondary account to your secondary account — but you’ve never left the inbox of your primary account.
   • Notice that if you reply to this email, it automatically changes your From: to your secondary account.

#5: The Gotcha

Your primary email address still shows up in the Sender: field. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this technique gives you complete anonymity.

More Options >> Show Original

X-Gmail-Received: 0499bfd1083d28805a116367173XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Received: by 10.90.65.2 with HTTP; Sun, 10 Sep 2006 12:52:52 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID:
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 15:52:52 -0400
From: engtech
Sender: XXXXXX@gmail.com
To: engtechwp@gmail.com
Subject: Test
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline
Delivered-To: XXXXXX@gmail.com

This is a test email

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