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Gmail Will Delete Inactive Accounts: Google Announces Deletion of Gmail Accounts and Surprises Users. Learn How Inactive Gmail Accounts Are Characterized and How to Avoid Deletion, if yours is on the list.
Starting this month of December, the giant Google will begin to enforce a new policy of deleting Gmail accounts that have been inactive for more than two years. If you have a little-used account but want to keep it active, you will need to take some steps to avoid deletion. Gmail will delete inactive accounts, and in this article, we will explain everything about this initiative.
Understand the Reason for the Deletion of Inactive Gmail Accounts
According to the company, the rule is not limited to just Gmail accounts. All data linked to the account in Google Workspace, including Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar files, and also photos stored in Google Photos will be permanently deleted. The process of deleting Gmail accounts began in December of last year and is scheduled to resume in the last month of 2024.
According to Google, Gmail will delete inactive accounts, but affected users will be notified in advance. To avoid deletion of Gmail accounts, it is essential to access the account and register an updated recovery email.
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According to Ruth Kricheli, vice president of product management at Google, inactive Gmail accounts are especially vulnerable. She explains that once compromised, they can be easily used for malicious practices such as identity theft, sending spam, or spreading unwanted content.
How to Avoid the Deletion of Inactive Gmail Accounts?
According to the Google Account Help page, an account is considered inactive when there has been no interaction with the company’s products for more than two years. To avoid deletion of Gmail accounts, pay attention to your notifications, as Google sends alerts to both the email account and the recovery email.
It is also recommended to periodically use Google’s services, with simple activities such as sending an email via Gmail, using Google Drive, such as saving or deleting files, installing an app from the Google Play Store, watching videos on YouTube while logged into the account, conducting Google searches with the account connected, accessing a website using your Google account.
These simple practices ensure that your account remains active and protects your data stored in Google’s services.
A Google account can be considered active even without direct interactions for up to two years, as long as one of the following conditions is met:
- Managing secondary accounts, such as in Family Link;
- Gift cards with balance;
- Apps or games with active subscriptions;
- Purchases of products, services, or subscriptions;
- Purchases of digital items, such as books or movies.
How to Recover a Deleted Google Account?
If your account has been deleted, it may not be possible to recover old data, depending on the length of inactivity.
To check the possibility of recovery, the user must access the account recovery page, enter their email or associated phone number, and answer some security questions. If the account is recovered, Google advises creating a new password that has not been previously used for that account.
It is worth mentioning that another point that is leaving many users uneasy is the lack of space in their accounts. Keeping your Google account tidy can also help optimize storage space. Some tips include deleting unnecessary emails, cleaning up Google Drive, optimizing Google Photos, reviewing and deleting apps or games, among others.
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