Can I stop messages wrongly directed to my email?
QI’ve taken Computeractive since the first issue, but I cannot find a way around my current problem. I keep getting someone else’s emails in my Gmail account inbox. My email address includes a dot, while the wrong messages do not. I’ve contacted Google, but it said my Gmail account ‘owns’ both variants – so someone is misspelling the address of the person to whom they want to send these messages. Is there any way I can filter them? Please change my name so I don’t get more unwanted emails!
Gmail ignores full stops in email addresses, so it considers and one and the same. If you’re receiving emails to a dot-less address, then clearly someone is sending them to that variant.
There’s probably nothing you can do to stop these, unless you can figure out the intended recipient’s real email address. You could then you could let them know some of their contacts are doing this – because it’s not ideal for them, either.
Otherwise, yes, you can create a filter. First, in Gmail, click the Settings cog at the top right then click ‘See all settings’. Next, click ‘Filters and Blocked Addresses’ followed by ‘Create a new filter’ (see screenshot). Then, in the To field, type the ‘incorrect’ Gmail address (robertowaterford@gmail.com), then click ‘Create filter’. Finally, decide what action you’d like Gmail to take when an unwanted message arrives. We’d suggest ‘Skip the inbox (Archive it)’ rather than ‘Delete it’, as this will allow you to take a look later if you want – and then finish by clicking ‘Create filter’.