The Gmail "dots" phenomenon

Even though it has been more than a decade and a half since Google launched Gmail, users regularly post about receiving emails intended for someone else, addressed to a dot (or the dotless) variant of their username and wonder if the other person is receiving their emails in turn as well. So, it won't be unfair to say that the Gmail "dots" issue is still one of its most misunderstood features.

This blog is my take on this issue. I have shared all relevant information that is known to me on this issue, through the three following sections, detailing what the issue is in reality, mentioning the common rebuttals, and describing self-tests that anyone can perform to dispel their doubts.

1. The reality of the issue
2. The common rebuttals
3. The self-tests

1. The reality of the issue: what exactly happens?

What happens is the simple act of someone (say Person A) giving out an email address that they incorrectly think is theirs, but in reality, belongs to someone else (say Person B).

In almost all cases, both share the same first and last names as this confusion seem to happen most with such usernames. When that happens, emails intended for Person A gets sent to Person B in much the same manner as phone calls or letters intended for Person A will reach Person B if the phone number or the street address of Person B was given out by Person A instead of the email address.

Just as the sharing of the phone number or the street address was an error on the part of Person A and it didn't make Person B's phone number or the street address, his; similarly, the sharing of Person B's email address by Person A or someone else is an error on their part and do not make Person B's email address theirs.

Prior to Gmail, other free email providers would count the period "." as a character, which meant that username@domain.com would be a separate username to user.name@domain.com. 

But that doesn't happen with Gmail. When Gmail arrived on April 1, 2004, they introduced several new concepts in email, such as Labels instead of Folders, Search instead of Sort, Grouped messages (Conversations) instead of ungrouped ones. Additionally, they also chose to ignore case and dot variants of a username.

What that meant was, when someone registered a Gmail username, they also owned all possible dot variant (and one dotless variant) as well as all possible upper/lower/mixed case variant aliases of that registered username leaving no way for anyone else to subsequently register any of those variants.

2. The common rebuttals:

"This is something introduced later and was not the case when Gmail was launched."

Many users dispute that this wasn't the case when Gmail was launched. So, here is the screenshot of one of the earliest recorded references of the feature, http://www.errorik.com/archive/2004-04.htm, written a month after Gmail's launch. I have highlighted the relevant information in that article below.

"My account is username@googlemail.com and I'm receiving emails sent to username@gmail.com"

Due to legal reasons, Google offered @googlemail.com alias in the UK and Germany for the first few years when they launched their Gmail service in 2004. Usernames registered under @gmail.com were made unavailable from being registered under @googlemail.com and vice-versa. By blocking all those aliases as available options for a separate username, Gmail prevents what would be an easy way to impersonate a person.

As a consequence, besides owning all possible dot-variants and the one dotless variant of their username, a user would also own the username@googlemail.com alias for their registered username@gmail.com address and all incoming emails addressed to any of the other dot variants or the dotless variant of the registered Gmail username, irrespective of the @gmail.com or the @googlemail.com suffix, will get delivered to the same inbox.

The above fact can be corroborated by looking at the message header for any incoming emails received at your username@googlemail.com address. The details of that test are included in the self-tests section below.

3. The self-tests: the proof of this being an impossibility.

There is no better way than to be convinced by running the tests yourself. Assuming for a moment that username@gmail.com and user.name@gmail.com are two separate Gmail usernames or accounts, then:

• It would be possible to register any of the other dot/dotless/case variants of the username after you have registered one.

You can't. When you attempt to register any of the other dot/dotless/case variants of a previously registered username, you are shown this error message.

• It would be impossible to sign into any of the dot/dotless/case variants of the username using the same password as that of the registered version of the username.

Except it isn't. You can sign in to your registered version of the username by using any of the dot/dotless/case variants of the username and the password for your account. No matter which version of the username you may have used to sign in, a click on the circular profile icon in the top-right will show you the registered version of your username proving all others are aliases of it.

• It would be possible to forward emails from the registered version of the username to any of the dot/dotless/case variants of the username and not receive an error.

Except you can't. Trying to forward messages from the registered version of your Gmail username to any of its dot/dotless/case variants will display this error message.

• It would be impossible to add any of the dot/dotless variants or the Googlemail version of the Gmail username as the "Send mail as:" variant without requiring any additional verification.

Commonly, adding a username as a "Send mail as:" alias would require going through a verification process as mentioned in the screenshot below.

But not when you add any of the dot/dotless variants of your registered username or the Googlemail version of your registered Gmail username (or vice-versa). You just enter the alias username in the "Email address:" field and click on the "Next Step >>" button to add it as an option.

• Test to confirm that username@googlemail.com and username@gmail.com redirect and delivers to the same inbox.

Look at the message header for any email sent to your username@googlemail.com address. Open a message, click on the 3-dot (more/overflow) icon, and click on "Show original". In there, compare the email addresses listed under the "To" and "Delivered-To" fields. While the "To" field will list your @googlemail.com address, the "Delivered-To" field will show its @gmail.com version indicating both versions of the username redirect and delivers to the same inbox.





Finally, the absence of proof. In all these fifteen years, there has been zero proof, not a single documented case, where this conjecture that username@gmail.com and user.name@gmail.com are two separate usernames, has been proven right.

So, if one of your username aliases is similarly shared by someone, what are your available options to resolve this?

Not many because you do not know the actual email address of the person who is sharing your email address, to begin with. But depending on what you observe in those emails, you might find the following suggestions helpful.

• If the emails are from institutions, check if there are contact information included - website, phone numbers, email addresses that'll accept replies, and other social media options where you can write to contact support and receive assistance.
• Also, check if any of the emails are CC'd to other recipients. If you find any such email, you can write to them about contacting him/her and asking the person to verify their actual email address. You may also similarly use other contact details you see included in those emails.