Deleting your Google account is a
big decision. By doing so, you lose access not only to Gmail, but to any Google
product and service attached to your account. Deleting accounts can be a little
confusing if you have multiple Google accounts and only want to remove one, so
read this guide for step-by-step details on how to permanently erase your
Google presence.
Method
1 of 2: Deleting Your Whole Google Account
1
Sign out of all of your Google accounts. Make sure that you are not logged in with any of your
accounts on any Google website. This is especially important if you are trying
to delete just one of multiple accounts.
·
Make sure that you are signed out
of Gmail, YouTube, Drive, and Google+.
·
Check that you aren’t signed in
with multiple accounts. Look at the top-right corner of a Google page. Make
sure that it says Sign In and doesn’t show any account information. [1]
2
Log in to your Google account that you want to delete. Click the arrow next to your name to double-check that
you are not signed in with multiple accounts.
3
Open your account details. In the upper right next to your avatar, click the
small downward-pointing arrow to pull up your card, and click Account.
4
Click Data tools at the top.
5
In the Data tools box, scroll down to Account
Management and clickDelete account and data.
6
Check all of the boxes. In order to delete your account, you will need to
confirm that you understand that you will lose access to all Google services.
Before you can delete your Google account, you must confirm your intention to
do so, by checking off each and every service you will lose should you close
your account.
7
Close your account. Enter your account password and then check the boxes
to confirm you want to delete your account. When you have affirmed that you no
longer wish to have a Google account, click DELETE GOOGLE ACCOUNT.
·
You will also need to confirm
that you will be responsible for any outstanding financial transactions through
Google Wallet.
Method
2 of 2: Delete Only Your Gmail Email Address
1.
1
Sign into your Google account.
2
Look for your email address in the top right-hand
corner. Click the small downward-pointing
arrow to pull up your basic account information and selectAccount.
3
Click Data tools at the top.
4
In the Data tools box, select Delete products.
5
Select Remove Gmail permanently.
6
Make sure you want to delete your email. This action will delete your Gmail data and remove
access to your email account, for good. If that's what you want, check the box
to confirm your wish. Then enter a new primary email address to sign into
Google with (an alternative, external email address), and enter your password.
ClickREMOVE GMAIL.
·
If you don't want to access your
Google account at all anymore (not even with an alternative email address), use
the first method listed above, to delete your whole Gmail account.
7
Review the confirmation. It lets you know that you need to check your email at
the alternative email address to confirm the action.
8
Check your email. You should receive an email from Gmail with the
subjectGmail Removal Confirmation. Click the link in it.
9
Enter your password one more time. Hit Verify to finalize the removal.
10
Done. It may
take a few days for all of the deletion to go through, so be patient.
Tips
·
To avoid receiving spam, create a
new email address at a different provider and do not sign up for anything with it.
Make another email address somewhere and use it only to sign up for things.
·
If you just can't figure out how
to delete your account, you can simply change your status to offline. Write
something such as "Account no longer active" and never log in to it
again.
·
When creating an account at
Gmail, do not make it your name such as: "john.smith@gmail.com". Some
spammers put random names and last names to send spam to.
·
Keep in mind that if you have a
Droid or device with Android OS and currently "Sync" to your Gmail
account, you will not be able to access the "Market" since your
account has changed. You'll need to reset to factory settings to authenticate
to a new account for these services to work for you again.
·
When you are creating an account
at Gmail, make it unique. If it is something just like
"bob@gmail.com" you're more likely to get spam because it's short and
easy to guess.
·
If you use Gmail offline, you'll
also need to delete cookies associated with Gmail offline to remove your
account completely. In Google Chrome, follow these steps:
o Type chrome://settings/cookies into your address bar
and press Enter.
o Search for mail.google.com.
o Hover over the search results and click the X that
appears.
·
Before you delete your email
account, create a backup of the email using a cloud-based email backup
solution.
Warnings
·
Making too many email addresses
will confuse you and you may not remember them all (and their passwords). If
you really need to have more than one email account, try to keep a maximum of
three active e-mail accounts.
·
Keep in mind that if you delete
your account, it is no longer retrievable after a few weeks. However, Google
will work with you to recover addresses that have been recently deleted if you
decide that you want them back.
Sources and Citations
