The Insider’s Guide to Anonymous Email Essential

Living in a digital world has its fair share of advantages.

But you often trade our anonymity and privacy to be able to enjoy them. And you do that without a second thought.

Sometimes, however, you don’t want the other side to know you messaged them.

Can You Send an Anonymous Email?

It’s hard to imagine life today without using email. For many, it’s the first thing they check in the morning (58% of adults do this) and the last they see before bed.

Every day, you receive dozens of emails and send almost as many.

Unfortunately, you often give away your privacy and anonymity by doing this.

But you don’t have to.

All you need to do is learn how to send an anonymous email.

Can you send an anonymous email in the first place?

Absolutely, and we’ll show you how.

Can You Send an Anonymous Email from Gmail?

Now, let’s look at the most popular email service in the world.

Can you send an anonymous email from Gmail?

Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible for billions of people to use Gmail daily.

That’s because you would have first to register an anonymous email account, and that alone is difficult for three reasons:

• Gmail requires SMS verification. One way to go around this is by using a fake number. For example, you can use a website called Fake Phone Number for that.
• It stores cookies every time you visit a website (you can clear cookies, though)
• And finally, your IP address can tell a lot about you to Gmail

Now, it’s not entirely impossible to send an anonymous email over Gmail. To do that, you will need to do three things:

1. Use a VPN to change your IP address
2. Browse in “incognito” mode
3. Use an SMS privacy service

The problem with this is that a lot can go wrong.

Your VPN might not be as secure as you think, or you configured it incorrectly.

Or, the SMS privacy service you chose is not so private.

Or, there can be other things that can go wrong.

So, can you send an anonymous email over Gmail?

In theory, yes, but in practice no.

Can You Send an Anonymous Email from Outlook?

Ok, if not Gmail, can you send an anonymous email from Outlook?

Unlike Gmail, Outlook allows you to conceal your real address when sending a new email or replying. 

To do this, you have two options:

Change your account settings

1. Go to File and select Account Settings from the Account Settings dropdown menu.
2. On the Email tab, select your email address and click on Change.
3. In the Email Address field, enter a different address.
4. Click Next. In a few moments, the Test Account Settings window will show Completed.
5. Finally, click on Close and Finish.

Change Individual Messages

1. Start composing a new email message or reply to an existing one.
2. Select Options and then From in the Show Fields.
3. Click the From menu and select Other Email Address
4. Enter another email address in the window.
5. Click OK to confirm.

If you do this, you should be able to remain anonymous while sending or replying to messages on Outlook.

Can You Send an Anonymous Email over Yahoo?

Finally, let’s do a trifecta and answer. Can you send an anonymous email to Yahoo?

Yahoo doesn’t allow you to leave the From name blank. However, you can change this to anything you want by visiting the General Preferences page.

Depending on your version of Yahoo, the steps to do this are slightly different:

• Classic Yahoo Mail

1. Click Options
2. Select Mail
3. Go to Accounts
4. Select an account you want to edit
5. Edit and Finish

• All-New Mail

1. Go to Options
2. Select Mail Options
3. Choose Accounts
4. Select an account to edit
5. Edit and Finish

Can My Anonymous Email be Traced?

Now that you know how to send anonymous emails over the most popular services, there’s one more thing to discuss.

Can someone trace an anonymous email?

And if so, how?

Tracing an anonymous email is indeed possible and takes two steps:

1. Locate the IP address in the email header.
2. Find the location of that IP address.

Let’s see how to find the IP address in the email header first.

Gmail

1. Open the anonymous email in your Gmail account.
2. Click on the three dots to the right of the Reply arrow
3. In the dropdown menu, select Show Original

4. In the new window, Original Message, find: Received: from. If there were multiple emails, you’d want the last one down.
5. Find an IP address. It should be something like 165.88.55.255.

Outlook

1. Go to View in the Outlook email options and select Options. 
2. In the next dialog box, look for the Internet Headers box.
3. In it, find the Received: from and the IP address there.

Yahoo

1. Open your Yahoo account and email.
2. Click Actions in the menu bar.
3. Click View Full Header.
4. A new pop-up window, Full Header, will now open.
5. Find the last Received email and look for the IP address next to it.

Okay, now that you know the IP address, you still need a way to track it.

The most accurate way to do this is by using an IP Geolocation API tool. 

Simply enter or paste the IP address you found in the email header into the field and hit Enter or the search button to the right.

IP Geolocation isn’t 100% accurate and you won’t be able to find the exact location of someone, but it will give you a good general idea of where they are.

It will let you see the sender:

• Country
• Region
• City
• Latitude
• Longitude
• Postal or Zipcode
• Time zone
• ISP

You can, however, hide your IP address and prevent someone from tracking your anonymous email.

We won’t get into the technical details here, but here are a few ways to hide your IP:

1. Use a proxy server.
2. Use VPN software.
3. Use public WiFi (not recommended for security).
4. Use a mobile network (not encrypted).
5. Use the TOR browser.

Conclusion

So, if you were wondering if you can send an anonymous email to someone from Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, or Yahoo, in theory, you can. 

However, in practice, it’s not that simple. 

Yes, you can, for instance, sign up to Gmail using a fake name, mobile phone, or address, but someone can still trace your general location by tracing your IP address.

As you can see, Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo weren’t designed with user anonymity.

 You’ll need an anonymous and encrypted email service to keep your privacy intact when emailing. There are a few anonymous email services to compare and choose from, but we strongly recommend CTemplar for its encryption, anonymous payment options and not tracking the user’s IP.