Good news for people who regret the Gmail address they came up with when they registered for an account: Google is now letting users change it.
Google started quietly rolling out the change late last year in India and said this week in a blog post that it is now available for all Google Account users in the US. There were no details on when it would be available to users in other countries.
Google chief executive officer Sundar Pichai suggested the update will be welcomed by people who want to keep their accounts but have outgrown the awkward, embarrassing or nonsensical Gmail handles they created after the service launched 22 years ago.
Photo: Reuters
“2004 was a good year, but your Gmail address does not need to be stuck in it,” Pichai wrote in a post on X, adding that the policy change means users could “say goodbye to v0t3f0rp3dr02004@gmail.com or mrbrightside416@gmail.com (or whatever you were into at the time).”
The company also updated a help page to reflect the new policy. Here is a quick run-through:
a simple process
The procedure is fairly easy to follow. First, go to your Google Account page. From the Google homepage in your computer browser or the Google mobile app, click the account icon in the top right corner, and then click or tap “Manage your Google Account,” then “Personal info,” then “E-mail.”
You should be able to click “Change Google Account e-mail.” If you do not see it, you might not have the option yet. Google says it is “gradually rolling out to all users.”
Now you will have to enter your new address, so make sure you have an idea for what you want. Then click to confirm that you want to make the change. Google says addresses cannot be identical to any existing address or one that was “used by someone in the past and then deleted.”
Second thoughts
But what if you miss your old Gmail address? Do not worry, you will still be able to access it because Google is effectively creating a second Gmail address.
The old address will remain as an alternate and messages sent to either the old or new addresses will appear in your Gmail inbox. To find out which address an e-mail was sent to, check the “to” field.
You can switch back to the old address by changing the settings in your Google account.
If you do not like the new Gmail address you have created, unfortunately you are out of luck — at least for the next year. Google will not let you create another Gmail address for your account until 12 months have passed. And you can only do so three times in total.
Potential issues
Gmail addresses are also used to sign in to other Google services like YouTube, Google Docs, as well as third-party websites and apps. However, the company warns that some non-Google apps and services might not recognize you with the new Gmail address, so it provided some troubleshooting tips on a help page.
Google also says Chromebook users might encounter problems, though many issues will go away after a few hours. It advises users to check a troubleshooting page, but warned that if the problems persist, “you may need to change back to your previous Google Account e-mail,” although the new address can still be used to send and receive messages.
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