From January 2027, Gmail will eliminate a function which, despite being little known to the general public, has over the years become a rather useful tool for those who manage multiple email addresses. Google has announced that the “Send as” feature will no longer be available for third-party email accounts, such as Yahoo and Outlook. In practice, if today you use Gmail to send messages with a Yahoo, Outlook, Hotmail or custom domain appearing as the sender, from 2027 this possibility will no longer exist, neither on the Web version nor on the Gmail app for Android and iPhone.
While on the one hand Google continues to enrich the service with new functions, including those based on artificial intelligence, on the other hand it is eliminating tools which, according to the Mountain View company, require too much maintenance compared to their use. In fact, in the official documentation, Google explains:
As part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring that Gmail remains secure, efficient, and easy to use, we sometimes have to make the difficult decision to discontinue features that require disproportionate maintenance resources.
What is the “Send as” function for?
If you are only now hearing about this feature, we will take this opportunity to explain what it is. Basically a tool that allows you to configure an email address in Gmail that is different from your @gmail.com account and use it to send messages. In this way it was possible to manage addresses belonging to other services, such as Yahoo, Outlook or Hotmail, or mailboxes associated with a personal domain from a single interface, without having to access the respective mail services every time. For those who received the message, nothing changed: the chosen address always appeared as the sender, even if the email was written and sent directly from Gmail.
From January 2027 this possibility will be eliminated for all third-party email addresses. However, Google specifies that the change will not affect aliases between Gmail accounts (an alternative address connected to the same inbox, which allows you to receive and, in some cases, send messages with a different name without creating a new account) nor the “Send as” function available in Google Workspace.
The news will not be limited to sending messages. Google will also eliminate the ability to add or sync third-party email accounts in the web version of Gmail. In practice, it will no longer be possible to configure a Yahoo or Outlook account from the browser to manage it directly within the Gmail interface. On mobile applications, however, support for multiple accounts will remain available: you will continue to consult emails from external mailboxes, but it will no longer be possible to send new messages using those addresses.
Among the functions destined to disappear there is also Gmailify, a tool that allowed some of the typical features of the Google service to be applied to non-Gmail accounts, such as the anti-spam filter, i.e. the system that automatically recognizes and blocks unwanted messages, and the intelligent organization of incoming mail. Retrieving mail via POP, a protocol that allows email programs to download emails from a server to your device, will also be abandoned. Thanks to this system it was also possible to collect messages from other compatible services in Gmail, but this method will be definitively eliminated.
The alternatives suggested by Google and user criticisms
For those who still use these features, Google has suggested some alternatives. It will be possible to continue sending messages from third-party addresses using an email client installed on your computer, such as Thunderbird or Outlook, relying directly on your provider’s email service or choosing a paid Google Workspace plan.
All this has sparked debate especially among more experienced users, who for years have been using Gmail as a control center to manage multiple personal addresses and domains. On Reddit some users criticized the decision, claiming that it will make it more complicated to administer mail from a single platform. Some also believe this may encourage users to switch to paid services like Google Workspace or the custom domain solutions offered by Google One.
