You can permanently delete your Gmail account if necessary. But before you decide whether you no longer need your Gmail account, think carefully about what you are doing. Deleting an email account can have serious consequences.
This tutorial will walk you through when you might need to delete your email account. We also describe the details of what happens when you delete a Gmail account. To conclude, we provide a screencast and step-by-step guide on permanently deleting your Gmail account – if you need to move quickly and decisively. But first…
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Still, if you are determined to delete your Gmail account, now is the time to do it.
Warning: 3 consequences of delete your Gmail account
Deleting an email account is a severe action and has no results. Here are some of the main problems to face when deleting your Gmail account:
No Access to Your Messages – The most apparent consequence of deleting Gmail is that you will lose all of your saved messages. Forward important messages to your new email before deactivating your Gmail account. Even if you are careful, you can easily forget about that vital message you archived months ago. If you haven’t moved it, it will be gone when your email account is deleted.
Others Cannot Reach You – If your customers and co-workers are used to reaching you at the deleted Gmail address, you may lose touch with them. Even if you notify everyone you know about the change of email address, there is still a risk that someone might carry around a business card with the old email address on them.
Your Passwords for Other Accounts Cannot Be Reset. Virtually all of your accounts, from your bank account to your social media accounts to your pizza delivery account, are linked to your email address. If you forget a password, most charges will send a reset link to your email address. If your email address is deleted, you may have problems accessing your account.
Fortunately, Gmail doesn’t currently recycle Gmail addresses. Once a username has been deleted, it cannot be reused. That means there is now no chance of someone else using your deleted Gmail account and pretending to be you.
Why you might need to delete your Gmail account
With all the drawbacks of deleting a Gmail account, you might be wondering why you would ever do this. There are a few good reasons why you might want to delete an email account. Here are five:
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Someone hacked into your account to delete gmail account
While you may be tempted to delete a hacked email account right away, there are a few other steps you should take first.
First, you need to change your password. Then report the hack to Gmail. Let your contacts know that your account has been compromised and that emails sent from this account may not be from you. Finally, close the account and open a new one.
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You receive too many unsolicited messages.
If you are being harassed or received too much spam, you may want to delete your account. However, if you are cyberbullying or otherwise harassed through your Gmail account, you might be able to set up a filter and block unwanted messages. You can learn more in this tutorial:
However, sometimes the cyberbully or the spammer is too persistent. You can switch email addresses and keep sending unwanted messages. If so, your best option may be to close your Gmail account and open a new one for which the scammer doesn’t have the address.
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Your email is full of junk.
Suppose you rarely use your Gmail account to send regular emails and instead provide your address to enter competitions or sign up for email newsletters. In that case, your inbox may filled with unsolicited messages.
The best thing you can do is delete unwanted messages and unsubscribe from the mailing lists that you are currently on. However, the junk might be too overwhelming. You may want to restart with a new email address.
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You have outgrown your username.
It is also possible to grow out an email address. If your username is your teenage nickname or related to your high school and you are now in your thirties, it may be time to switch to an adult Gmail username.
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You haven’t used your account in years.
An unused email account can pose a security risk. If you don’t check your account regularly, there will be no way of knowing if the version is at stake.
If you’ve decided to delete a Gmail account definitely, do the following:
How to Delete Your Gmail Account (Quickly and Permanently)
Start with the short video screencast below or check out the written guide that follows. Learn how to back up your Gmail messages and permanently delete a Gmail account.
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First, back up all the messages you need
First, download the data stored there before deleting your Gmail account. If you already have an up-to-date backup of your data, you can skip this step.
Step 1. Go to the Download Your Data screen
Start by logging into your account. Then click the Download your data link. The Google Download Your Data screens displays:
The download your data screen displays.
You will see various Google products with a box to the right of each of them. Use the scroll bar to scroll to the products you want to backup. Since we’re deleting Gmail, I recommend downloading data from Contacts and, of course, Mail.
Step 2. Select what data to download
By default, the download activates for all products. (You will see a green checkmark.) To disable unnecessary downloads, click the white box next to the green checkmark. (You’ll see a gray X.) The screen should look like this:
Select what data to download.
When you have selected the product data you want to download, press the next button. The Customize Archive Format screen appears:
Choose the archive format, size, and shipping method.
On the screen to download your data, you need to make three decisions:
- File Type – Select from a ZIP file, a .tgz or .tbz file.
- Archive size (max) – sizes range from 1 GB to 50 GB.
- Delivery method – choices include downloading links via e-mail, adding to drive, adding to dropbox, and adding to OneDrive.
Use the down arrow in the box below each option to bring up a drop-down menu and make your selection:
Choose an option from the drop-down menu.
Step 3. Create and manage your data download before delete gmail account
When you have made your selections, click the Create Archive button. For this option, I choose to download it in my Gmail inbox. The following screen displays:
Press the Manage Archives button.
When you’re done, click the Manage Archives button. The following confirmation screen will displays:
Press the Done button to complete the process.
Hit the Done button. Google will take you to a privacy settings screen. If you want, you can adjust your privacy settings now.
Step 4. Download your data to your computer
Since I chose to download it by email, I’ll open my Gmail inbox. A message will appear with a link to my downloaded information:
Your data archive is ready.
Note: If you choose any other options to download your data, you will find your data where you sent it.
Click the message to open it. The message indicates:
Click Download archive to save your data.
Hit the Download Archive button. You will ask to sign in to your Gmail account. Register. The Download your data down: Archive screen displays:
Save your data download.
Notice the prompt asking what you want to do with the downloaded data. I’ll click the Save As button that opens a Windows browser window on my PC in this example.
I use the browser window to find the folder in which I want to save the data. I click the save button in my browser window, and the data save on my computer. The file is now held on my computer. A prompt displays next to the button on the screen, asking whether you wish to open the download, open the folder, or view downloads. If I want to review my details, I can choose one of these options.
At this point, your data has back up. You can now move on to the next step, to delete your Gmail account.
Conclusion
Permanently deleting your Gmail account is a serious step, but sometimes it is necessary. If your account has hack or spam over, you may be asking, “How do I delete my Gmail account?”
If you need to close a Gmail account, it’s quick and permanent. Just make sure to back up all of your data first. There are third-party services that connect to your Gmail system and notify your contacts. Then, follow the instructions in this tutorial to remove your Gmail address from your Google Account.
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