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Are Email Addresses Case Sensitive?

Generally you can use just lower-case letters

By Heinz Tschabitscher Heinz Tschabitscher Writer University of Vienna A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on May 18, 2021 Reviewed by Jerrick Leger Reviewed by Jerrick Leger Jerrick Leger is a CompTIA-certified IT Specialist with more than 10 years' experience in technical support and IT fields. He is also a systems administrator for an IT firm in Texas serving small businesses. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email

In This Article

Expand Jump to a Section Does Case Matter? Prevent Email Confusion Your Message Will Be Delivered Every email address has two parts separated by the @ sign: the username and the email service's domain. Usernames often contain both upper-case and lower-case letters and may also contain numbers, underscores, or periods.

Does Case Matter Mostly No

Is recipient@example.com the same as Recipient@EXAMPLE.com as far as email servers are concerned? The domain name in an email address is not case-sensitive, meaning it doesn't matter whether you use upper or lower case letters. The same applies to usernames, although outdated email servers can misinterpret capitalization in rare cases. For simplicity's sake, the best practice is to use only lower-case letters in a username. Lifewire / Theresa Chiechi Google email addresses ignore the letter case and periods. For example, jsmithe@gmail.com is the same as j.smithe@gmail.com.

Help Prevent Email Address Confusion

To minimize the risk of email delivery failures in your email address: Use only lower case characters when you create a new email address.Avoid unusual or whimsical spellings whenever possible. You run the risk of contacts forgetting your address if your name is Susan Davis, but your email address is "soozindvs@gmail.com."

Your Message Will Likely Be Delivered

Since the case sensitivity of email addresses can create confusion and delivery problems, most email providers and clients either fix the case if the email address is entered in the wrong case, or they ignore upper-case entries. Not many email services or ISPs enforce case-sensitive email addresses. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Guess a Surprising Number of Email Addresses How to Email a Phone Number 10 Best Free Email Accounts for 2022 How to Email a Text What Does Case Sensitive Mean? (Case Sensitivity) How to Use AOL Mail Through an Email Client Parts of an Email Address and the Characters You Can Use in Them Everything You Need to Know About Email Addresses How to Email Undisclosed Recipients in iPhone Mail Compose and Send an Email in Windows Mail How to Forward a Text Message to Email How to Reset or Change Your Instagram Password How to Send Email From a PHP Script How to Password Protect an Excel File The 5 Best Secure Email Services for 2022 How to Forward an Email as an Attachment in Outlook Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies