As one of its earliest services, Gmail remains the cornerstone of Google’s online presence. So when you forget your Gmail password, and I don’t want to overstate things here, it’s basically like you’re an Internet ghost haunting the halls of your former life.
okay, not so bad. but you’ll want to change your password and gain access to your account as quickly as possible.
standard gmail recovery procedure
- Go to the gmail login page and click the “forgot password” link.
- enter the last password you remember. if you can’t remember one, click “try another question”.
- enter the secondary email address you used when you set up your gmail account to receive a password reset email.
gmail has a few different ways to confirm your identity and retrieve (or reset) your password. luckily they are all arranged in a nice little wizard that gmail will walk you through step by step.
Starting the password recovery process is quite easy: just click on the “forgot password” link on the gmail login page. then you will be shown a message asking you to enter the last password you can remember. If you can remember a correct password and have a backup system set up, you will be prompted to continue in several ways. if you can’t remember any of them, click “try another question”.
The following option will send a code to a recovery email, which assumes you have a secondary recovery email (which you set up when you first created your gmail account). using this option will send a six digit code to your secondary email account (which does not need to be gmail) that will allow you to set a new password and regain access to your account.
check your email on this secondary account for the code, then enter it to unlock a new password generator. newer accounts may also have a phone number backup option; see below.
If that doesn’t work, such as if you also don’t have access to the account you originally designated as backup, click “try another question” again. now we’re getting into older, less secure methods of account protection, like security questions like “what’s your mother’s maiden name?” you should be able to answer at least one of them.
At this point, create a new password and confirm it. now you have access to your account again. here is an introduction on how to choose a new password that is strong and easy to remember.
protect your account
after setting a new password, google will ask you to verify the security settings associated with your gmail account (and your big google account in general). We highly recommend adding a current backup phone number and email, if you don’t already have them associated with your account. will allow for easy retrieval via a 6-digit pin sent via email or text message.
Although gmail previously supported security questions, it no longer allows you to add new ones, only remove access to old ones. this is a measure put in place because security questions suck at providing real security. the old one will still work as long as you don’t delete it manually on this page.
related: how to protect your gmail and google account
Once you’re in your gmail account proper, head over to your google account settings page by clicking on your profile picture (it’s just the first letter of your name if you haven’t set one up) on the upper right corner, then “my account”.
related: how to see other devices connected to your google account
On this page, click “sign in to google”. here you can check your recovery email and phone number again, and see which devices last accessed your account and from which locations. If something seems off with the latter, someone may be trying to access your account for nefarious purposes.
There are other options on the login page that you can explore. It is recommended to set up two-factor authentication, and if you use this gmail account on your smartphone, you can get an authentication message there instead of manually typing a password on the web.
Related: How to configure the new two-factor authentication without a google code