An email alias is most useful when you can identify it instantly. When you have 20 aliases (or 50), a list of auto-generated names like cedar-fox-31, pine-river-08, and dusk-hollow-14 becomes hard to navigate without context. Custom labels solve this: every alias gets a human-readable tag that tells you exactly what it is for and who has it.
What Custom Labels Are
A label is a short text string you attach to an alias when you create it (or any time after). Examples:
AmazonNewsletter - TechCrunchWork - Freelance clientsFinance - FNBGaming - SteamEvent - Cape Town Tech Summit 2026
The label appears alongside the alias address in your MyShield dashboard. It serves as the human-readable name for an address that is otherwise a random string.
How Labels Work Technically
Labels are stored as a text field in the alias record in the MyShield database. They are purely metadata (they do not appear in any email header, they do not affect forwarding behaviour, and they are never exposed to senders or anyone outside your account).
When you view your alias list in the dashboard, the label appears alongside the alias so you can identify what that address is for without decoding a generated name from memory.
Labels have no character limit restriction beyond what fits readably on screen, but short, descriptive labels work best. Think of them as the "folder name" for a single address.
Why Organisation Matters as Your Alias Count Grows
The value of labels scales directly with the number of aliases you manage.
With 3 aliases (Free plan), you can probably remember what each one is for. With 20 aliases (Pro) or 50 (Business), memory is not a reliable system. You need a label (a persistent, searchable record of why each alias exists) to manage your alias list as a meaningful privacy tool.
Without labels, common problems emerge:
You can't identify a compromised alias. If dusk-hollow-14 starts receiving spam, you have to go back through your memory or your signup history to figure out what service that address was used for. With a label of Takealot, the source is immediately clear.
You can't audit inactive aliases. Which aliases are you no longer using? Without labels, there is no way to scan your list and identify aliases that belong to services you've cancelled or stopped using. With labels, a quick scroll reveals candidates for deletion.
You can't make smart decisions about pausing vs. deleting. If you know an alias is labelled Amazon - Returns Portal, you might choose to pause it during quiet seasons rather than delete it. If it's labelled Beta signup - Forgotten app, you'll delete it immediately.
Label Strategies That Work
Strategy 1: Company + Purpose
Woolworths - Orders, FNB - Statements, Discovery - Medical. This gives you both the company name and the specific function. Useful when you have multiple aliases for the same company.
Strategy 2: Category + Source
Shopping - Small retailers, Finance - Brokers, News - Tech. This groups by category rather than individual company. Useful when you want a single alias to cover a whole category of similar services.
Strategy 3: Trust tier
Trusted - Bank, Untrusted - Competition entry, High risk - Public forum. This labels by how much you trust the recipient with your alias. You can prioritise auditing your "untrusted" aliases first when clearing out unused ones.
Strategy 4: Temporal
Cape Town Marathon 2026 - Registration, Black Friday 2025. For one-off events or seasonal signups where you know the alias has a natural expiry date. When the event is over, delete it.
Labels vs. Folders in Your Email Client
Your mail client likely already has folders or labels. Why not just filter forwarded MyShield emails into folders using rules?
The difference is control. Folder rules in Gmail or Outlook organise messages after they arrive, but the alias still exists, it still forwards, and it is still a live address that anyone with it can deliver to. A MyShield label is part of the alias management layer. When you decide to delete or pause an alias, the label is what helps you make that decision. It is an identity management tool, not just an inbox sorting tool.
Custom Labels Are a Pro Feature
Custom labels are available on Pro and Business plans. The Free plan includes 3 aliases without labels (which is enough to get started and understand the value of aliasing before upgrading).
If you are using aliases to seriously compartmentalise your online identity, labels are the tool that makes the system legible as it scales.
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