How to share one email/inbox between many users
Need to share a single email address / inbox with multiple users?
Each learner requires their own, unique email address in order to be registered on any training site hosted on Calibrae.com. However, there are some situations when it's handy to be able to have several users share the same email address / inbox, for example, a school situation where several pupils may need to share a parent's single inbox. In this post, we'll show you how!
Calibrae's Email Trick
Calibrae has a pretty neat trick up its sleeve! If you create or import a user with an email address with a # sign in the username part of the address (the bit before the @), then we'll simply ignore that part of the address when sending emails.
In other words, you can create a user with an email address of parent#child@example.com, and we will deliver emails to parent@example.com. When signing in, the email address of parent#child@example.com would be used.
This Calibrae method will work with all email providers!
Example
Let's say that Alice (alice@example.com) is a parent with 2 children - Bob and Carol. As Bob and Carol are pupils, they both need to be set up as pupils on Calibrae.com, each with their own unique email address. In the import spreadsheet, or in the New User modal, simply assign Bob and Carol the following email addresses:
alice#bob@example.com
alice#carol@example.com
Once they've been enrolled on a course or a virtual classroom, the welcome email sent will remind them to log in using alice#bob@example.com. They will also be reminded of this on the page where they set their password.
Alternatives?
Alternatively, if your email provider supports it, you can use a super helpful trick to get access to unlimited email addresses using your existing email inbox! Often called the 'email + trick', with GMail, Outlook, iCloud and some other email providers, you can add a '+' to the username part of your email address without changing the inbox that you receive your emails in.
Before using the email + trick, be sure to check if the email provider supports it!
For example, if your GMail address is alice@gmail.com, you can use alice+bob@gmail.com or alice+carol@gmail.com on Calibrae.com (or any other site for that matter!) and still receive the emails sent in the same, single inbox.
If using this approach, do not use the Calibrae trick (alice#bob@example.com) - just use one or the other. For more information, see: https://gmail.googleblog.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways-to-get-more-from-your.html.
