How to Create an Email Alias in ISPConfig

This guide shows you how to create an email alias in the ISPConfig control panel on your Noiz hosting account. An email alias is an additional email address that delivers into an existing mailbox, so you can receive mail at [email protected] and [email protected] without creating a separate mailbox for each address. An alias is sometimes called an additional address, a nickname address or a virtual address. This article also explains when to use an email alias and when an email forward is the better choice.

Last reviewed: 27 July 2026, against ISPConfig 3.3.1p1. This article follows the official ISPConfig manual procedure for creating an email alias, cross-checked against the current interface. ISPConfig evolves between releases, so if a screen differs from this guide, check the official documentation links below.

Official Documentation Reference

• ISPConfig official documentation index
• ISPConfig 3 documentation: Basic Email Configuration
• ISPConfig 3 documentation: My First Email
• ISPConfig source repository: the field names, menu labels and error messages in this guide were verified against the released 3.3.1p1 code

Prerequisites

• You can log in to the ISPConfig control panel.
• At least one mailbox already exists on the email domain. If not, first create an email mailbox in ISPConfig. An alias must point at an existing mailbox, so the Destination list is empty until you have one.
• The address you want to use as the alias is not already in use on the same domain. ISPConfig refuses to save an alias whose address matches an active mailbox, and refuses to save a second alias with the same address and the same destination.

Email Alias or Email Forward: Which Do You Need?

ISPConfig offers two similar tools under the Email tab, and choosing the right one saves you rework later:

• An Email Alias maps one extra address onto one existing mailbox hosted on your Noiz account. You pick the destination mailbox from a drop-down list, mail sent to the alias lands in that mailbox, and with the Send as option the mailbox owner can also send mail using the alias as the sender address. Use an alias when the recipient already has a mailbox with Noiz and simply needs to answer to more than one address.
• An Email Forward redirects mail for an address to one or more destination addresses that you type in freely, including addresses hosted elsewhere, for example a Gmail address or a colleague's address on another provider. Use a forward when mail must leave the server or go to several people at once.

In short: alias for one local mailbox, forward for external or multiple destinations. This guide covers the alias; the forward has its own entry in the same menu.

Create the Email Alias

Step 1: Open the Email Alias list

1. Log in to the ISPConfig control panel.
2. Click the Email tab in the top navigation bar.
3. In the left-hand menu, under Email Accounts, click Email Alias. The list of existing aliases for your account appears; on a new account this list is empty.

Step 2: Add the new alias

1. Click the Add new Email alias button. The Email Alias form opens.
2. In the Email row, type the part of the address before the @ sign into the Alias field. For example, type info if you want the alias [email protected]. ISPConfig accepts letters, digits, dots, hyphens and underscores here. The first and last character must be a letter or a digit, and a dot may not appear twice in a row. A plus sign is rejected, so an alias such as info+sales is not possible. If the address breaks any of these rules, saving fails with Email address is invalid.
3. Select your email domain, for example yourdomain.com, from the Domain drop-down menu next to the Alias field.
4. In the Destination drop-down, select the existing mailbox that should receive mail sent to the alias, for example [email protected]. The destination address is also the username the mailbox owner uses to log in for sending and receiving.

Step 3: Review the optional settings

• Send as: ticked by default. When enabled, the owner of the destination mailbox is allowed to send outgoing mail using the alias as the sender address, while still logging in with the destination mailbox's own username and password. Leave this ticked if replies should appear to come from the alias.
• Enable greylisting: an anti-spam measure that briefly delays the very first message from an unknown sender. Legitimate mail servers retry automatically, so genuine mail still arrives, just a little later the first time. Leave it unticked unless the alias attracts a lot of spam.
• Active: ticked by default. The alias only works while this box is ticked, so leave it as it is. Unticking it later is a quick way to switch the alias off without deleting it.

Step 4: Save and test

1. Click Save. The new alias appears in the Email Alias list.
2. Wait a minute or two: ISPConfig applies configuration changes to the mail server on a short cycle, so a brand-new alias may not accept mail instantly.
3. Send a test message from an outside address, for example a personal webmail account, to the new alias. It should arrive in the destination mailbox.
4. If you enabled Send as and want to reply from the alias, add the alias address as an additional sender identity in your email program or webmail, using the destination mailbox's username and password for the outgoing server.

Troubleshooting

• The Destination drop-down is empty: no mailbox exists on your account yet. Create a mailbox first, then return to the alias form.
• Your domain is missing from the Domain drop-down: a domain that is set up as a domain alias is deliberately left out of this list, because mail for it is already rewritten to the domain it points at. Create the alias on that target domain instead.
• Error "There is already a mailbox with this email address": an active mailbox already uses that exact address, so the same address cannot also be an alias. Choose a different local part, or simply use the mailbox itself.
• Error "This email alias does already exist": an alias or forward with that same address and that same destination is already set up. Edit the existing entry rather than creating a second one.
• Error "The max. number of email aliases for your account is reached": your hosting plan's alias limit is full. Delete an unused alias, or open a support ticket with the Noiz support team to discuss raising the limit.
• Mail to the alias bounces or never arrives: check that the alias's Active box is ticked and that the destination mailbox itself is active and not over its storage quota. Also allow a couple of minutes after saving before testing.
• You cannot send from the alias address: confirm the Send as box is ticked on the alias, and that your email program authenticates with the destination mailbox's credentials while using the alias as the From address.

If you get stuck at any point, open a support ticket with the Noiz support team and include the full alias address, the destination mailbox address and, if a message bounced, the complete bounce message text.