UKRAINE – 2021/12/15: In this photo illustration, the logo of Google mail, a free email service … [+]
Google is planning to delete inactive Google accounts, which includes Gmail, Photos and Drive services, this week.
Ahead of the deadline there appears to be a bit of a scramble by users to get back into their old accounts. A post on Google’s support forums, from a user who can’t log into their Gmail account because they have forgotten their password, has over 7000 upvotes. This is up from 5000 two days ago.
On X/Twitter, users are complaining to the official Google page that they are locked out of their accounts because they can’t remember their recovery information.
If you’re in a similar boat, and you’re struggling to get back into an old account, Google has several limited recovery options available. But those methods, understandably, rely you knowing some information about your account. Read on for details on how to get regain access to your Google services.
If you have lost or forgotten your password
This appears to be one of the more common issues for Gmail and Google account users. First, go to your regular sign-in page and under the password field, hit “try another way”. If you have a phone number associated with the account, Google will send you a verification code.
Once you enter your verification code, Google will want to confirm your identity again by sending another code to a recovery email address. After this you will be able to create a new password.
If you don’t have a phone associated with the account, hit “try another way” again. This will send a verification code to your recovery email address, or to the email address that you’re trying to get back into.
Why send a code to an email address you can’t access? Because it’s worth checking all of your old devices to see if they’re still signed in. An old tablet, phone or laptop might still be signed-in to your account.
If you do have a recovery email address on file, a sign-in link will be sent to you after 30 days, which Google explains is because it needs time to verify your identity. From the sign-in link you will be able to set a new password. But, of course, this will happen after Friday’s content deletion deadline.
Google will send an activation link after 30 days if you have exhausted other options.
If you don’t have a recovery email address associated with your account, Google may ask you to answer some recovery questions. This is the last option to save your account, but Google says its possible to attempt to sign-in more than once.
The company has some tips for getting passed the recovery questionnaire, including answering them on a device that you have used to sign-in to that account from before. Or, using the same browser in a familiar location (with the same IP address).
Google says not to skip questions and try to answer them with your best guess, while also paying attention to details like spellings and capitalization. You may also be asked to enter the last password you remember.
If you fail at this stage, it’s likely time to accept defeat and set up a new account. If you do so, you’ll need to secure it with two factor authentication, a recovery email address or phone number (ideally both) and make sure you keep those details somewhere safe.
If you have forgotten your email address
If, however, you have forgotten your email address Google will run through the same questionnaire to verify your identity and find your lost account. Go to the account recovery page and click on the “forgot email?” option. From there you can enter a phone number or one of your other email addresses.
Google will ask for your full name. From there a verification code is sent to the recovery email account associated with your lost address. Once you have entered the code, Google will display all of the email addresses linked to your identity, as you can see below.
Google will present all of your accounts once it has verified your identity.
The key for all of these recovery options to have some information about your lost account. For security reasons, Google can’t hand over access to an account if it can’t verify the owner’s identity. If you managed to make it back into your old address then it should be spared from the upcoming content purge because signing-in counts as activity. Read more about the mass content deletion on Friday and how to protect your account here.
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