Good news for those who regret the Gmail address they created 20-years ago: Google is now letting users change it.
Google announced last week it is rolling out the ability for U.S. users to change their Gmail username for the first time in he platform’s 22-year history.
Instead of having to start fresh with a new email, users can now change their username with all emails and other account data and history being preserved when they make the switch.
According to Google, your old email address won’t disappear — it becomes an alternate address. Emails send to it still land in the inbox, users can still send from it, and it can still be used to sign in.
The old email address will still appear in some cases and “won’t be immediately reflected in older instances” such as events on Google Calendar created before the change, according to Google.
Ready to change your username? Here’s how to do it:
While logged into your Gmail account, look to the right side of the screen for your profile picture. Click it, and you should see a menu with “Manage your Google Account” at the top.
- From there, click “Personal info” in the left-hand menu, then select “Email.”
- Under the “Google Account email” option, tap the “Change Google Account email” button to start the process of changing your username. If the rename feature is enabled for your account, you will see a pencil (edit) icon next to your Gmail address.
- Enter your account password and complete any two-step verification prompts to continue.
- Type in your desired new username. Google will check availability in real time.
- Save your new address. The update is applied instantly across Gmail and all connected Google services. Once completed, your old Gmail address automatically becomes an alias, and your account continues to function exactly as before.
