How to Delete Gmail address
Many of us have created multiple Gmail addresses over time for various reasons. Every Gmail address is a separate Gmail account. You might still be using a current Gmail account but you do want to tidy up and delete all the old Gmail addresses you no longer need. So how do you delete Gmail address?
Google uses your Gmail address as a login to your account. So if you have 2 Gmail addresses, then you have 2 Google accounts! Therefore you first need to login to that specific account that you wish to delete.
If you are currently logged in to your current Google/Gmail account, you need to log out first. Or use a different browser.
To log in to the Google/Gmail account you want to delete, go to:
If you already have more than one Google account (i.e. Gmail address) then you may get a Google window that ask you to choose your Google account. Like the following:
Choose Google Account
If the Gmail address is not in the list shown, then click “Add account”.
You will then be taken to a login screen.
Enter the (Gmail) email and password for that particular Gmail address you want to delete. Sign in.
If you are then shown a “Don’t wait until it’s too late” window (for entering contact info in case you need to recover your account), you can either skip that screen or “Save and continue”. In doesn’t matter as you will be deleting this particular Gmail/Google account anyway.
Google Account Contact Details for Recovery
You will now be in your Account Settings page. Looks something like as per below. Double check the Gmail email address to make sure that this is the Google account you want deleted.
Google Account Settings page
Another prudent check before you delete this Google account is to check any Google products you might have linked to this account. To do this, scroll down the “Account Settings” page till you get to Account tools >> Dashboard
Google Accounts Dashboard
Click through on the Dashboard link. You may be taken to a sign-in window again. If so, just sign in (with the Gmail email address and password you are going to delete).
In the Dashboard window, check your linked Google products, if any. Once you are satisfied that you are happy to have them deleted or if you have no other linked products, just click the “<< Google Account Settings” to go back to the Account Settings page.
Go back to Google Account Settings page
Scroll all the way down the page to Account Management >> Delete Google Account and data
Click the “Delete Google Account and data”
Delete Google Account
When you do that, you will be taken to a deletion-confirmation page. Google will ask show you a summary of all the things that will be deleted. And you will be asked to verify the deletion. Just tick the check boxes and click the “Delete Account” button.
Confirm Deletion of Google Account
As Google waves goodbye to you, it gives you a final safeguard in case you made a mistake.
Google Account deleted
Remember that you have only deleted the Google account that was based on the Gmail address you wanted deleted. If you have other Google accounts (i.e. other Gmail addresses), they are not affected.
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Useful post. Especially the bit about making sure you don’t have other Gmail services connected to the email account. Its easy to miss that! You should also add a section about downloading your data using Google Takeout before one deletes their Gmail account. Always makes sense to have a copy of your own data with you.
Do check out our product GrexIt (http://grexit.com) when you have a coupe of mins. It lets you share Gmail labels which is great for delegating emails as tasks.
Hi Niraj, thank you for your comments on how to delete a gmail address. Yes you are right, definitely download data to save before deletion. I didn’t add it coz I saw the notice Google provides when one goes through the deletion process, so I thought people would be alerted to that anyway. Thank you for highlighting it.
I did a check on Grexit. Thank you for the link. I especially like how you can add notes to be instantly shared with colleagues as well. Pretty cool product!