Multiple email addresses per user

Problem reported by terry fairbrother - 12/17/2025 at 3:13 AM

Resolved

I'm at the trailing stage and working out how to setup SM as close to Exchange server. One thing that is used a lot is having multiple email addresses per user. For example, ladies get married and change their surname so I then need to have more email addresses as both their maiden name and married name etc etc.

After a fair bit of digging, I have found I can edit the GAL / user and add additional email addresses. However, these additional email addresses don't appear in the address book outside of webmail, moreover, SM totally ignores them anyway so if I try to email any of the extra email addresses, it's bounced back as no such user.

I thought about content filter to redirect the additional email address to the primary email, but it seems the email is still rejected as no such user before it hits the content filter.

This effectively means a user has one email address only forever.

10 Replies

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Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied

12/17/2025 at 5:44 AM

You can/must use ALIASES to do that:

Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins and CISO at SERSIS Currently manages 6 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 5 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)

Derek Curtis Replied

12/17/2025 at 5:47 AM

Employee Post

How many are you looking to add per user? You could rename the actual account, then add an alias for the previous name. For example, First.OldLast@ becomes First.NewLast@ and then you add First.OldLast@ as an alias that points to First.NewLast.

Derek Curtis CCO SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied

12/17/2025 at 5:48 AM

And if necessary, you can also completely rename a user...

Oliver Replied

12/17/2025 at 6:33 AM

Hello Terry,

I have had significant issues with cases where individuals change their last names and consequently receive new email addresses, causing the old address to be redirected in SM.

This is because when recipients receive a calendar invitation to their old address, it is displayed incorrectly in SM. This has caused significant issues with dissatisfied customers, prompting me to migrate them to Exchange Online or other email solutions.

terry fairbrother Replied

12/17/2025 at 7:24 AM

I looked at aliases and felt that the design of these, and the SM help page, was more like distribution lists rather than email account aliases.

I don't see why this can't work within contacts / address books.. I can add additional email addresses on SM...

And on exchange, I can do this when staff get married

So since the option to add additional emails exists, why can't SM check for them on incoming emails?Renaming the primary email address is not a viable workaround I want as people will email the old address and will get 'no such user'.

terry fairbrother Replied

12/17/2025 at 7:36 AM

EDIT

I have figured it out now, using aliases, however I think it's poorly designed approach as it's feels like SM is trying to merge email aliases and distribution lists under one heading when they are two different things.

Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied

12/17/2025 at 8:59 AM

Marked As Resolution

In SM, you can add an additional FUNCTIONAL email address to USERS only through ALIASES.

Period.

What you yourself mentioned above (and which I've reproduced below) is only an INFORMATIONAL profile that describes a USER's contact information and therefore indicates the OTHER email addresses the user has and uses elsewhere (think of it as an address book where you can add details), but it doesn't in any way enable their use in SM.

The same goes for phone numbers that you see in the image: you can add as many phone numbers as you want, but they're only a DESCRIPTION, and SmarterMail won't be able to use them to make or receive calls or text messages.

terry fairbrother Replied

12/17/2025 at 9:38 AM

Gabriele, thank you for your reply. This and your earlier replies have helped me understand more about Aliases than the online help. As I said at the start, i'm trialling this (day 2) and have Exchange deeply ingrained into my logic, so things don't make sense, but i'm sure they will eventually.

Derek Curtis Replied

12/17/2025 at 1:14 PM

Employee Post

Hey, Terry. Appreciate the feedback on the help page. I did take another look and yeah, it's more catered towards groups, which does make an alias sound more like an Exchange Distribution Group. But aliases can be user-based as well. I'll get a task to have that cleaned up and be a bit more apparent.

Derek Curtis CCO SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Jay Dubb Replied

12/17/2025 at 2:03 PM

Speaking as someone who works for a provider that administers both Smartermail and Exchange Server, I understand the confusion about aliasing, I appreciate the request to simplify it, and appreciate the part about aliases feeling more like distro groups. With that said, there are both advantages and disadvantages to how each platform handles aliases.

Exchange: On the plus side, it's easy to jump into a user profile and add an alias, such as a married name. Key in the alias and save the change. Done. On the negative side, it's more difficult to determine WHO has a particular alias. In a small office that's not a problem, but when dealing with thousands of users, it's a pain and the answer usually involves an Active Directory query or powershell script against Exchange to find the account an alias is tied to.

Smartermail: On the negative side, you can't jump into a user account and add an alias. You have to go to an administrative screen, add the alias, then manually enter the user account to associate with. Takes more effort. But on the flip side, after the alias exists, it's a lot easier to see all the aliases and their associated accounts in a single pane of glass.

Winner: In our opinion, it's pretty much a tie. You either do more work on the front-end to create, or you do more work after the fact to determine ownership and/or discover where an alias routes to. If I had to choose, I'd pick the Smartermail way of doing it because we more often run into "who has that alias already?" on Exchange, which takes a lot more time to discover.

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