- Append a plus ("+") sign and any combination of words or numbers after your email address. For example, if your name was hikingfan@gmail.com, you could send mail to hikingfan+friends@gmail.com or hikingfan+mailinglists@gmail.com.
- Insert one or several dots (".") anywhere in your email address. Gmail doesn't recognize periods as characters in addresses -- we just ignore them. For example, you could tell people your address was hikingfan@gmail.com, hiking.fan@gmail.com or hi.kin.g.fan@gmail.com. (We understand that there has been some confusion about this in the past, but to settle it once and for all, you can indeed receive mail at all the variations with dots.)
Description
The answer is quite simple- Gmail does NOT recognize dot in username. That means username@gmail.com and user.name@gmail.com are same.Conclusion
Questions And Answers
Still I Don't Believe, I Have Proof
Documentation Time
Here we are providing some documentation which have been published already by Gmail or Google Team.
Repost
This week's hot topic is dots in usernames.
We still get a lot of inquiries about dots, and this leads to confusion about security.
For example, many users will say that they are receiving messages addressed to 'user.name [at] gmail.com' but their email address is 'username [at] gmail.com.' Or vice-versa. The confusion about security is that many users believe they are receiving someone else's mail, and that someone else must also be receiving mail meant for them.
But, don't fret - Gmail doesn't pay attention to dots in usernames. In many ways, this is an added feature of Gmail.
For example, let's assume my username is 'gmail.guide [at] gmail.com.' This is the address I give to friends and family. Now, if I also wanted to use this as my work address, I could make business cards with 'g.mail.guide [at] gmail.com,' and create a filter to send those messages to my 'Work' label.
So, if you own 'gmail.guide [at] gmail.com,' you also own 'gmailguide' and 'g.m.a.i.l.g.u.i.d.e' and 'gm.ai.lg.ui.de,' and many more possibilities!
For security purposes, you can only log in with the exact username you used to create your account. So, if you started with dots, you have to log in with dots, but people who send you messages don't have to include dots.
Also, if you find that you're always receiving spam messages at a variation of your username. For instance, my username is 'gmail.guide' but I always get spam sent to 'gmailguide' and it ends up in my inbox. If that's the case, you can create a filter for messages address to 'gmailguide' and send them directly to Trash.
Hot-topic 2006 by Gmail Guide
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Repost from Gmail Guide Feb.21,2007
You can rest assured that no one else is getting emails you send to any dot variation of your username. Gmail's policy about dots in usernames was the same the first day the product launched as it is now. The messages you are receiving that aren't intended for you are the result of an error on the part of the sender and are not due to a bug in Gmail.
Thanks, ~Gmail Guide
Gmail Guide post from Feb. 21,2007
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Repost of the Gmail Blog
2 hidden ways to get more from your Gmail address
Posted by Robby Stein, Associate Product Marketing Manager I recently discovered some little-known ways to use your Gmail address that can give you greater control over your inbox and save you some time and headache. When you choose a Gmail address, you actually get more than just "yourusername@gmail.com." Here are two different ways you can modify your Gmail address and still get your mail:
For me, the real value in being able to manipulate your email address is that it makes it really easy to filter on those variants. For example you could use hikingfan+bank@gmail.com when you sign up for online banking and then set up a filter to automatically star, archive or label emails addressed to hikingfan+bank. You can also use this when you register for a service and think they might share your information. For example, I added "+donation" when I gave money to a political organization once, and now when I see emails from other groups to that address, I know how they got it. Solution: filtered to auto-delete.
2 hidden ways to get more from your Gmail address
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also you will have the same username as @gmail.com and @googlemail.com
From Official Gmail Help Center.
Sometimes you may receive a message intended for someone whose address resembles yours but has a different number or placement of dots. For example, your address might be homerjsimpson@ gmail.com, but the message was sent to a Homer.J.Simpson@ gmail.com. What's going on?
Gmail allows only one registration for any given username. Once you sign up for a particular username, any dot or capitalization variations are made permanently unavailable for new registration. If you created yourusername@ gmail.com, no one can ever register your.username@ gmail.com, or Your.user.name@ gmail.com. Furthermore, because Gmail doesn't recognize dots as characters within usernames, adding or removing dots from a Gmail address won’t change the actual destination address. Messages sent to yourusername@ gmail.com, your.username@ gmail.com, and y.o.u.r.u.s.e.r.n.a.m.e@ gmail.com are all delivered to your inbox, and only yours.
If you're homerjsimpson@ gmail.com, no one owns Homer.J.Simpson@ gmail.com, except for you. Sending mail to Homer.J.Simpson@ gmail.com is the same as sending mail to homerjsimpson@ gmail.com, or even HOMERJSIMPSON@ GMAIL.COM. If you're getting mail addressed to Homer.J.Simpson@ gmail.com, most likely someone was trying to send a message to Homer.J.Sampson@ gmail.com, or Homer.J.Simpson1@ gmail.com, and made a mistake. You might even get messages from mailing lists or website registrations because the intended recipient accidentally provided the wrong email address. In these cases, we suggest contacting the original sender or website when possible to alert them to the mistake.
For security reasons, when you log in to Gmail, you must enter any dots that were originally defined as part of your username.
Note: Google Apps recognizes dots. If you'd like to receive mail with a dot in your username, please ask your domain administrator to add the desired username as a nickname.
This have been Gmail Policy since Day 1
Gmail Help Center dots artcles
