Temp Gmail Generator

Published: 2018-06-11 · Updated: 2026-09-19

Gmail does not see dots. john.smith@gmail.com, johnsmith@gmail.com and j.o.hnsmith@gmail.com are one mailbox, and mail sent to any of them lands in the same inbox. A site that asks for your address sees a different string each time; Google sees one account.

Type a Gmail name below to list the forms. Between n letters there are n−1 gaps, and each gap either holds a dot or does not — nine letters give 256 forms, fifteen give 16,384.

People also call this the “dot trick”. Nothing you type here is stored: the list is built for the page in front of you and written down nowhere.

Possible written forms: 256

Where the trick stops helping

• Sites that normalise the address. More and more of them strip dots and everything after + before they compare — exactly because of this trick. All your forms collapse into one, and the second sign-up is refused.
• Anything the account itself controls. Password resets, two-factor codes and recovery mail arrive in the same inbox, because it is the same account. A dotted form hides nothing from Google.
• Every other provider. Dots are meaningless at Gmail and nowhere else. At most providers j.smith@ and jsmith@ are two different people, and writing to the wrong one is a real mistake, not a trick.

When a throwaway address is the better answer

The dot trick keeps the mail coming to you. Often that is the opposite of what you want: a shop that needs a confirmation code today has no business holding your address next year. In that case take an address from the front page, read the code, and walk away — nothing to unsubscribe from later.

Related

• Email domain debugger — check what a domain actually does with incoming mail before you rely on it.
• Use your own domain — read mail addressed to a domain you own, here.
• A temporary address for signing up — what happens when a service later asks you to confirm that mailbox again.

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