An address with your name for your CV, clients and applications, without buying a domain. How to receive for free, how to send from it with Gmail and which plan you need.
Reviewed
An email like hello@yourname.does.software looks much better on a CV or a quote than the address you created at fourteen, and you don't need to buy a domain. This guide covers how to send from it, what to put in your signature and which plan you need.
What makes an email look professional
Three things, an address with your name and not a nickname, replies that go out from that same address, and a sender name that is really yours, with a clear signature.
The first one you get for free. The other two depend on whether you only receive or also send, and that is the difference between a forward and a mailbox.
Receive for free with a forward
On the free plan you can create a forward, for example hello@yourname.does.software, that drops everything it gets into your usual inbox. For a contact address on your CV, LinkedIn or your site it is enough.
The limit is that you can't send from it. When you reply, it goes out from your real address, and whoever wrote to you sees it. In a conversation with a company that looks odd.
The forwards and mailboxes guide explains how to set it up step by step and what else is worth knowing about forwarding.
Send from your name
To send you need a real mailbox, which comes with the Starter plan, from €2.56 a month. It has webmail and IMAP and SMTP credentials, so you can use it from the email client you already have.
On your subdomain, go to the email section, add a mailbox and give it a password of at least 12 characters.
If the browser is enough for you, open it from the panel with the webmail button and you can send right away.
If you prefer your usual client, add the account over IMAP with the full address as the username. The panel shows you the server and ports, and the steps for Outlook and your phone.
In Gmail, add it as an address to send from with the SMTP server mail.does.software, port 465 and SSL, and choose which one you reply from on each email.
Signature and details
Set your full name as the sender name, not just the address. Add a short signature with what you do and a link, for example to yourname.does.software, which leads to your portfolio.
Use the same address on your CV, on LinkedIn and on your profiles, and always reply from it. If the address you write from changes halfway through a conversation, people notice.
The limits
The free plan comes with 1 forward. The Starter plan, 10 forwards and a 1 GB mailbox that sends to 30 recipients a day. The Pro plan, 20 forwards and 3 mailboxes of 3 GB per subdomain that send to 150 a day each.
The limits are meant for your everyday email and won't stretch to bulk sending. Each recipient counts as one send, and if you hit the cap you will have to wait a few hours.
To receive, a free forward. To reply from your name, a mailbox on the Starter plan and your email client set up with its SMTP. That gives you professional email with no domain, registrar or DNS.