Gmail does not recognize dots (.)!!

A few days back, I received one email from an unknown sender, which did not sound like a spam. It was from some investing company, where probably, the addressed has invested and the email confirmed that and had an attached contract note. The addressed shares the same name as mine but has an address very different. The mail details showed that the addressed has similar email ID as me, except for a DOT in between the user words.

Thinking that it was very important, I wrote one email to the supposed receiver and told her about the goof up. After a while when I checked back, I found that the mail has come back to me! I found it strange and tried to log into my google account with the same user name but with a DOT in between. I entered the same password and guess what! It worked! The inbox opened right in front of me!

I tried signing up with the same user name that I have but with a DOT in between and I was told that the user name was already taken. This increased my curiosity and after a little research I found that the DOTS in between the words are not recognised by google. You can see this if you try to sign in with your user name, but adding or removing a DOT from it. You'll still go to your account!


Google states that:

There are three common reasons why Gmail users think they're receiving someone else's mail. Please select the description that matches your situation below.

Your address is similar but has more or fewer dots (.) or different capitalization.

Sometimes you may receive a message sent to an address that looks like yours but has a different number or arrangement of periods. While we know it might be unnerving if you think someone else's mail is being routed to your account, don't worry: both of these addresses are yours.

Gmail doesn't recognize dots as characters within usernames, you can add or remove the dots from a Gmail address without changing the actual destination address; they'll all go to your inbox, and only yours. In short:

o homerjsimpson@gmail.com = hom.er.j.sim.ps.on@gmail.com
o homerjsimpson@gmail.com = HOMERJSIMPSON@gmail.com
o homerjsimpson@gmail.com = Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com

All these addresses belong to the same person. You can see this if you try to sign in with your username, but adding or removing a dot from it. You'll still go to your account.

If you get mail that seems to be intended for someone else, it's likely that the sender entered the wrong address, just like if you've ever dialed a wrong phone number for someone. In these cases, we suggest contacting the original sender or website when possible to alert them to the mistake.

One last thing: Google Apps does recognize dots. If you'd like to have a dot in your username, please ask your domain administrator to add your preferred username as a nickname.


That was quite a revelation!