How to Change Your Gmail Address

There are many situations where you may need to change your Gmail address: you change jobs, get married and change your name, or the email address you set up in 2003 suddenly looks a little tired. Whatever the reason, here’s how to change your Gmail address and make sure you don’t lose any important data in the process.

     Create a new Gmail address

In Google , you can’t change your email address, so you’ll need to create a new one.
To create a new email address, you need to set up a new Gmail account:
Step 1. Go to the Google account creation page.

Step 2. Enter your first and last name and choose your new username. This will be your new email address.
Step 3. Select and confirm a Gmail password.
Step 4. Click Next.
Step 5. Select a phone number and recovery email address, then enter your date of birth and gender.

Step 6: Agree to the Google Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, then click Create Account.

     Set up email forwarding in Gmail

After you create a new email account, you may still wish to continue receiving emails sent to your old email address. To do this, you will need to forward these emails to your new account.
To set up email forwarding, follow these steps:
1. Go to Gmail and log in with your previous Google ID (the email account you want to forward mail from).
2. In the upper right corner, click the gear, and then click Settings.
3. Click the Forwarding and POP/ IMAP tab.
4. In the Forwarding section, click Add Forwarding Address.

5. Enter the email address you want messages forwarded to (the new address you just set up).
6. Click Next > Continue > OK.
7. You will then receive a verification to this new address, so click on the verification link in the email.
8. Go back to your old account’s settings page, refresh your browser, and navigate to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tabs.
9. In the Forwarding section, select To forward a copy of incoming mail to.
10. We recommend that you choose to keep a copy of Gmail in your inbox.
11. Click Save Changes.
To undo this and cancel forwarding, go back to Settings, and on the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab, click Disable Forwarding.

     Change your “Email As” name

When you email someone, you have the option to change the name that appears in their inbox. For example, say you currently appear as “John” in recipients’ inboxes, but you want your full name to appear as “John Smith” instead.
1. Go to Gmail .
2. In the upper right corner, click the gear, and then click Settings.
3. Click the Accounts and Import tab.
4. In the Email As section, click Edit Information. 

5. Add the new name you want displayed when sending messages.
6. Click Save Changes at the bottom.

     Remove or add a “dot” to your email address

As mentioned above, you usually have to create a new Gmail account to set up a new email address. One exception is if you want to tweak your email address slightly to remove the dots (if any).
If your email address is john.carter@gmail.com but you want it to be johncarter@gmail.com , you don’t need to do anything. Google understands them to be the same address, so you can just start using your preferred email address and your emails will arrive in your inbox.

     Add another login email to your account

1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Click your avatar in the upper right corner, then click Google Account. 

3. On the Personal Information tab, click the arrow next to Email.
4. Click Advanced.
5. In the Alternate Emails section, click Add Alternate Email.
6. You will then need to enter your password to confirm that it is you who are making the changes.
7. Enter your alternate email and click Add.

8. Go back to your inbox, where you will receive a verification email with the new changes. Click on the link to confirm the changes.

     How to Change Your Recovery Email in Gmail

Your recovery email is the email address you used to access your account if you were locked out; for example, if you forgot your username and password, you will need a recovery email address.
To change it:
1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Click your avatar in the upper right corner, then click Google Account.
3. On the Personal Information tab, click the arrow next to Email.
4. Click Recovery Email and enter your password to confirm it’s you.
5. Enter the new email address you want to use as your recovery email.

     What to do after changing your Gmail address

  1. Update email addresses on all your accounts

The annoying part of changing your email address is updating the information on all your online accounts. First, you have to remember the account you registered with your previous email address, and second, you need to log in and update your details.
This step is easy if you use a password manager, which keeps all your login details in one central account. If you have a password manager, set aside some time to check all your online accounts and update your email address.
If you haven’t used a password manager, open a spreadsheet and list all of your online accounts — your social media, online banking, shopping sites, blog subscriptions, and more. One way to remember them is to perform a search in your email accounts using keywords such as “unsubscribe”, “thank you for signing up”, or “welcome”, you will be able to find emails from some of your accounts Mail is registered.

   2. Tell your friends and family

This step is often overlooked, but it’s important to let your friends and family know you’ve changed your email address so they can update their contacts.
The best way is to email them directly with your new email address. Depending on the number of contacts, you can email everyone individually, send everyone a blanket email, or set up smaller lists – for example, one for your family, one for your friends, and one for your colleagues ,etc. Be careful to bcc everyone on your list so you don’t end up sharing the email addresses of those who would rather remain anonymous.
Once you’ve posted the news, it’s time to set up an autoresponder on your old email address that redirects your contacts to your new address. Eventually, you will find that fewer and fewer people contact your old address, and it will gradually cease activity.

   Supercharge your Gmail with the right inbox

We all love Gmail – it’s one of the easiest email providers to use and has a range of features that other email providers don’t, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. 

Don’t have a Gmail account?
Recommended purchases:  Google Mail ,  Google Voice .