Why is altering your Gmail tackle a nightmare?

I’ve been utilizing the identical Google account for over 15 years. Clearly, I used to be a lot youthful after I made it, and C. Scott Brown from 15 years in the past didn’t have the most effective style in usernames. It’s not an embarrassing username or something, nevertheless it hasn’t aged nicely. Moreover, for the previous 15 years, I’ve been utilizing an Outlook account in tandem with my Gmail account. This two-pronged strategy has made my digital life extra difficult than it must be.

This yr, I made a decision to shutter my Outlook account and go all in on Gmail as a part of what I’ve been calling a Digital Life Reset. This has additionally concerned shifting each digital factor I personal into one cloud storage system (Google Drive), consolidating my good dwelling below one umbrella (Homey Professional), making an attempt to make use of the Gmail app throughout all platforms (which was a dismal failure), and extra. I figured that if I’m doing all this Digital Life Reset stuff, I’d as nicely additionally change my Google account to one thing that the present me can be happier about. I went into this course of with optimism. In any case, how tough might it’s to alter your Gmail account?

Because it seems, it’s very tough. So, so tough. And needlessly tough, at that.

If you happen to’re contemplating altering your Google account username, let me prevent the difficulty of figuring this out: there isn’t a system to carry out this motion. There’s no setting in your Google account that permits you to swap [oldname]@gmail.com to [newname]@gmail.com, and no method to chat with Google on to ask it to alter it, both. When you decide to a Gmail identify, it’s yours ceaselessly.

In actual fact, you possibly can’t even disavow your possession of a Gmail account. If you happen to cease utilizing an account, it simply enters a dormant state indefinitely. After two years, Google has the choice to delete your account, however even then, your username by no means turns into accessible once more. That is wild when you consider it. What if [yourname]@gmail.com hasn’t been utilized in over a decade? Too dangerous, you possibly can by no means have it (until, after all, you get the proprietor to switch it to you personally, however good luck with that).

The one method to change your Gmail identify is to start out over from the start. You will need to create a brand new Google account and manually switch every little thing over out of your present account.

If a Google account have been tied solely to e-mail, this wouldn’t be that massive of a deal. However as everybody studying this already is aware of, there may be a lot extra related to your Google account than simply e-mail. Regardless of figuring out it could be a problem, I pressed on. I made a brand new Google account with a reputation that even future-me will likely be OK with and began shifting issues over.

Throughout this course of, I discovered that some issues transferred simply, some have been difficult, and a few have been merely not possible to switch in any respect. I’m hoping that placing my expertise right here will assist anybody on the market fascinated about altering their Google account identify, as these previous few months have been very painful for me. If I may also help even one particular person do that extra simply (or persuade them to not trouble), I’ll be completely happy.

Earlier than I get into my whole expertise with this activity, I wish to tackle Google Takeout. For these unaware, Takeout is a service Google provides that permits you to obtain your knowledge from most of its merchandise. It’s a method to allow you to depart a Google service (or the complete Google ecosystem) with out shedding all of your knowledge.

I naively assumed that Takeout’s very existence meant that shifting knowledge from one account to a different can be easy. Nevertheless, I shortly discovered utilizing Takeout for this course of was a idiot’s errand. First, once you create a Takeout package deal, you could have seven days to obtain it earlier than it expires. If you happen to don’t obtain it earlier than that seven-day interval closes, you will need to request a brand new Takeout package deal and begin once more. This is able to be OK for those who solely had small knowledge packages (not going for one thing like Google Drive), and Google’s switch speeds have been quick (for Takeout, they’re dismally gradual).

The extra vital roadblock with Takeout, although, is that your Takeout package deal lands as cut up ZIP recordsdata, and the service doesn’t enable you truly do something with the info when you get it. For instance, you possibly can obtain all of your Chrome knowledge by way of Takeout, however good luck then importing that knowledge into your new Chrome account as a result of there isn’t a one-click answer for doing this. You would want to unpack the ZIP file(s) after which manually transfer the person datasets (in three totally different codecs) to your new Chrome account. No thanks.

The gist right here is that Takeout isn’t designed to help with shifting knowledge; it simply permits you to save a backup to entry even for those who lose entry to your Google account. In different phrases, Takeout is Google’s manner of giving customers a semblance of management over their knowledge, however it isn’t a useful software for working with that knowledge.

Due to these points, I prevented utilizing Takeout each time doable for this course of.

The 2 issues that have been best to switch to my new Google account have been Chrome and Google Contacts knowledge. For each, you want to go into the respective settings, sync your present knowledge to a bodily drive as a substitute of the cloud, flip off computerized syncing, sign off of your present account, log in together with your new account, after which begin syncing once more. For Chrome, I did this on my Home windows laptop computer, and for Contacts, I did it on my smartphone. In each conditions, actually every little thing transferred. When firing up Chrome below my new account, it was like I used to be utilizing my outdated account. It was good.

For contacts, it’s also doable to export all of your knowledge as a CSV after which import that file inside your new account. Nevertheless, I preferred utilizing the logout/login methodology as a result of it could forestall any doable group errors, such because the imported knowledge not going into the right fields. I’m positive this wouldn’t have occurred, however why threat it? Simply save, sign off, and log in.

Then, there’s the remaining.

For e-mail, there’s no method to export or ahead all of your present emails to a brand new account, even with the logout/login methodology. As an alternative, you want to join your two Gmail accounts to an e-mail shopper by way of the IMAP protocol after which manually copy all content material out of your outdated tackle to your new one (together with folder constructions). I used the Outlook app for Home windows to do that, however you too can use the free Thunderbird app for those who don’t have a Microsoft subscription. After you have moved all of your outdated content material, you possibly can then go into settings below your outdated account(s) and ahead any newly obtained e-mail to your new Gmail account.

Bear in mind, I moved 15+ years of content material from two accounts, so this course of took a protracted, very long time. Nonetheless, I acquired it completed. Now, all my Outlook.com emails and all of the emails in my outdated Gmail account are in my new Gmail account, and all new e-mail despatched to both of these outdated addresses involves my new tackle mechanically. I additionally arrange a Gmail filter to mechanically flag any new mail imported from these outdated accounts, giving me a simple method to know that that sender must be knowledgeable of my new tackle. I used to be fairly happy with how easily I used to be capable of make it by way of this course of!

The following factor I wanted to deal with was Google Photographs. This one was shaping as much as be an actual ache. Essentially the most easy factor to do can be to obtain each single piece of media to a bodily drive after which add that media to my new account. Nevertheless, this is able to have taken me hours and hours, as I’ve plenty of stuff in Google Photographs.

Fortunately, I discovered a neater and quicker manner to do that. In my outdated account, I arrange a function referred to as Associate Sharing. This lets you mechanically share any media uploaded to Google Photographs with one other account. I merely set my new Google account as my outdated account’s “companion,” which made it so any new media went to my new account. For the outdated media, I put each single factor I had saved in Photographs into a brand new album after which shared that album with my new account. Then, utilizing my new account, I saved all that media (to the account itself utilizing the “Save” hyperlink, not downloading all of it). I then deleted the album, and increase: all my outdated media is in my new account and any media that will get shared to my outdated account mechanically will get saved to my new one.

Conveniently, this exploits a storage loophole. The media shared to my new account utilizing this methodology doesn’t rely towards my new account’s storage restrict. Even for those who delete the media from the outdated account in order that it solely exists within the new account, Google nonetheless treats the transferred media as “free.” Theoretically, you could possibly do that each from time to time between two totally different accounts and by no means want to fret about paying for Google Photographs storage. Normally, I’d keep away from disclosing this in an article out of concern that Google would shut the loophole, however this has been exploited for years now, and Google doesn’t appear to care. Truthfully, I’d have used this methodology even when it counted towards my storage restrict, however the truth that it doesn’t is definitely a pleasant perk.

The following and most overwhelming activity was to maneuver all my knowledge in cloud storage. This included knowledge in my outdated Google account’s related Drive folders in addition to different knowledge I had saved within the OneDrive folders related to my Outlook.com account. As with the media in Google Photographs, essentially the most easy methodology can be to obtain all this knowledge — actually terabytes of recordsdata — after which add all of it to the brand new Drive account. I needed to keep away from this for the apparent time suck it could entail.

Fortunately, I discovered a paid service referred to as MultCloud. This service permits you to enter your credentials for any of your storage accounts after which have it transfer issues round for you. This price me cash, nevertheless it saved me a lot time. In case you are tight on funds however have loads of time and bodily space for storing, the obtain/add methodology will work tremendous. In order for you it completed quick with minimal effort, a service like MultCloud is definitely worth the funding.

Do observe that MultCloud or comparable companies could not have the ability to transfer all of the recordsdata which were shared with you by different folks. In these circumstances the place it fails to do that, you’ll must manually obtain them after which add them to your new account. Even when MultCloud does seize them, these recordsdata (clearly) is not going to be shared recordsdata anymore, so any adjustments made to them by different folks is not going to mirror in your downloaded copy. In these circumstances, it could in all probability be simpler to ping the file’s proprietor and request they add your new account as a sharing recipient, saving you the difficulty. Fortunately, I didn’t have many shared recordsdata in my private account, so this wasn’t an enormous problem.

After this level, my success price for shifting extra issues from one account to a different diminished considerably.

For Chrome, Contacts, Gmail, Photographs, and Drive, I used to be capable of get every little thing moved to my new account comparatively simply. Nevertheless, different companies had blended success, with some data needing to be left behind. Others have been utterly unsuccessful, which means there was merely no method to switch the info to my new account. Let’s begin with the stuff for which I had partial success.

Virtually every little thing in my outdated Google Calendar has been transferred to my new one. The best methodology for that is to make use of the export software throughout the internet browser model of Calendar after which import that file into your new account. This doesn’t work on the smartphone app; you will need to do it on a pc.

The problem with Calendar, although, is that you may’t export every little thing. For instance, Google’s assist web page explicitly says, “If you happen to use Google Calendar by way of your work, faculty, or different organizations, you could not have the ability to export occasions.” Likewise, you possibly can’t export occasions from calendars you don’t explicitly personal. With the intention to export these occasions, you want to share them together with your new account. That is tremendous, however because you gained’t personal that calendar, not every little thing will get shared, simply the newest occasions and future ones.

If in case you have a calendar that goes again years and years, you’ll possible lose a number of the outdated occasions within the switch to your new account. You may wish to be additional cautious right here for those who always reference your Google Calendar to determine issues out (when was the final time we visited Grandma?). As a workaround, you possibly can all the time sign off of your new account and log in together with your outdated account to verify on any of these older occasions, assuming you retain the calendar knowledge.

Sadly, Duties don’t export by way of this methodology in any respect. Regardless that they seem in Google Calendar, they don’t seem to be a “calendar,” so they don’t seem to be an export choice. For duties, you want to use Google Takeout. However, as I discussed earlier, after you have this knowledge, there’s no method to import it into Duties below your new account. In my case, I manually recreated every activity. I had Duties from my outdated account open in a single window and Duties from my new account open in one other, and I simply typed every little thing in. It was silly, however solely took about 20 minutes.

The underside line right here is that Calendar is a blended bag. Anticipate to want to do some workarounds.

One of many worst issues about this entire transition was shedding out on all of the purchases I’ve made on the Google Play Retailer. Video games, apps, icons, and anything bought with my outdated Google account are locked to that account ceaselessly, with no method to change their possession. Nothing might be completed about that.

Nevertheless, due to the Google Play Household Library function, you possibly can barely get round this limitation. Merely add your new account as a member of your loved ones after which share any paid apps, video games, films, and many others., purchased by way of your outdated account together with your Household Library. It will permit your new account to entry most of these paid apps with out re-buying them (there are exceptions right here, so your mileage could fluctuate). If you happen to go this route, ensure you maintain your outdated account lively by periodically utilizing it. If you happen to depart it dormant for over two years, Google might delete it, which might trigger you to lose entry to all these purchases for good.

Fortunately, not every little thing I’ve bought used my Play Retailer credentials. For instance, I bought a lifetime membership to Lose It!, which is my favourite calorie-counting app. This buy was made throughout the Lose It! app itself, not by way of the Play Retailer. This allowed me to log into Lose It!, change my e-mail to my new Gmail account, after which log into the app utilizing my new tackle, with my lifetime subscription shifting over to that new account. If solely every little thing else labored like this!

Hopefully, with the accusations towards Google and Apple for his or her alleged anti-competitive practices of their respective app shops, this gained’t be an issue ceaselessly.

Sadly, every little thing I haven’t touched on but associated to my outdated Google account is caught there. As I discussed earlier, my outdated account is mine ceaselessly, in order that data isn’t gone — there’s simply no method to transfer all of it to my new account.

Right here’s a abstract:

• YouTube: There is no such thing as a method to import data into YouTube, so my subscriptions, play historical past, playlists, and many others., are locked to my outdated account. You may share present playlists together with your new account, which lets you proceed to entry them, however this doesn’t switch possession (for those who delete your outdated account, the playlists will vanish). There’s nothing you are able to do about subscriptions and watch historical past, although.
• Google Maps: Google not too long ago determined to cease saving your Maps historical past to the cloud and as a substitute lock that data to particular units. Whilst you have a restricted time to avoid wasting that cloud knowledge, there’s no method to transfer it to a brand new account. So my Google Maps Timeline will likely be ceaselessly locked to my outdated account. If you happen to use Lists, although, these might be shared together with your new account equally to the YouTube playlists workaround talked about earlier than.
• Fitbit: As you might need guessed, there isn’t a method to import knowledge into Fitbit, so all my well being knowledge in my outdated account is caught there. Google did simply introduce a method to import/export knowledge by way of Well being Join, which may be a workaround for this drawback. Nevertheless, I haven’t had the prospect to determine it out but.
• Google Pockets: Not solely is there no method to import knowledge into Pockets, however there’s no method to export it, both. There’s not even a Takeout choice for Pockets! So, for this, you want to recreate every little thing from scratch.
• Google Dwelling: You may share a Dwelling with anybody, and Google doesn’t deal with anybody particular person as an proprietor, so you need to use your outdated account to share your present Dwelling together with your new account after which delete your outdated account from that Dwelling. If you happen to do that, it’s best to positively take away your outdated account from the house, as having two very comparable accounts related may cause points (for instance, your voice for Account A would be the identical as for Account B, which might confuse Google). Regardless, though you possibly can share a Dwelling together with your new account, your particular person good dwelling units inside Google Dwelling are owned by the account related to them, so that you’ll must replace all these linked units together with your new account credentials for those who ever wish to make any vital adjustments. Fortunately, in my case, my prior funding into Homey made this much less of an ordeal than it could have been, however for these with out Homey, Dwelling Assistant, or one thing comparable, it may be a tough time.
• Google Retailer: If you happen to’ve ever purchased one thing from the Google Retailer, these purchases are locked to your authentic account. Any warranties are locked to it, too.

On high of those companies — which I take advantage of myself — there are others that I don’t use that I do know additionally don’t permit for account transfers. For instance, companies related to your telephone quantity, corresponding to your Google Meet historical past, are locked to that account. You may’t switch your present Google Fi subscription to a brand new account, both. Your YouTube TV subscription additionally gained’t switch. For these conditions, you possibly can cancel and re-subscribe, however you’ll lose any legacy plan pricing you’ve acquired, so watch out.

Many little issues don’t switch, both. Discover My Machine setups, household teams, shared Google Photographs albums, shared Drive recordsdata…the checklist goes on and on.

Clearly, that is all infuriating. The factor that basically suggestions it over into rage-inducing, although, is that it doesn’t have to be this manner.

There are such a lot of private signifiers related to my Google account that I can change at will. My telephone quantity? I can change that simply. My identify? I can change that 100 occasions every day, no massive deal. My tackle, my picture, my biometric logins — they will all be modified. So why can’t I alter my account username?

It might be really easy to do that, too. You log into your present Google account and run by way of myriad safety checks. You then log into your new Google account and, as soon as once more, undergo each safety verify recognized to man. You get to the tip, hit a button, and [oldaddress]@gmail.com is now [newaddress]@gmail.com. Google’s engineering crew might create a system like this in a matter of months, if not weeks.

The issue, although, is that Google is such a siloed group. The crew operating YouTube has no connection to the crew operating Google Maps, for instance, so getting all of them on the identical web page for something is an enormous ask. Now, compound that by 100 to include each single Google product, and you’ve got a large number that nobody of their proper thoughts would even wish to attempt to clear up.

However you realize what? Robust. Folks want to alter e-mail addresses on a regular basis. I did this simply because I needed to, however what if I modified my identify legally for private causes? What about individuals who get married and tackle their companion’s final identify? What about individuals who have a Google account related to a faculty or office and must switch knowledge after they transfer on from these organizations? What about trans individuals who undertake their most well-liked identify and want a brand new e-mail to mirror that? What about individuals who enter witness safety and are pressured to alter names? Google owes it to everybody to make transitioning to a brand new Google account much less of a nightmare than it’s.

To make issues even worse, Google hasn’t even adopted a manner so as to add a secondary account to your present Gmail account. This is able to mean you can maintain your present Gmail lively however let Google “ahead” management to a secondary account in most conditions. Outlook.com provides this, and it really works in your wider Microsoft account. I do know this as a result of I did it: my Microsoft 365 subscription and my a number of Home windows 11 licenses are all related to my new e-mail account. It took me 5 minutes to modify.

In the end, if I might return in time, I wouldn’t have bothered with this. My outdated Gmail account was dumb, nevertheless it wasn’t price this problem. If in case you have a Gmail account, I implore you to do no matter you possibly can to carry on to it. I want I had higher information to offer, however that’s what Google has determined to restrict us to.