google is a true giant that brings you the best free email service, gmail along with a plethora of many other services and features. interestingly, you only need a google account to use all of these free services, including gmail.
By default, Google provides you with 15GB of free space which covers your emails in Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Drive, which means you can save a lot of your data files on it. the problem arises when you lose access to your google account for any possible reason. You really feel heartbroken when you lose all your important emails and other data.
well, let me help you. If you have lost your Gmail account, there are several ways to get it back. In this post, we will tell you how to recover your google account in different cases.
1. you forgot the password
google is very flexible in this regard and you only need to provide basic information to reset your lost password. follow the steps to reset your lost password.
open gmail.com > click “forgot my password”.
enter your last password if you remember it and if it doesn’t work, click try another way
Google will now send a verification email to your alternate account that you entered when you created your gmail account, click submit to continue.
Now, check your alternate email account for the email received from google that has the google verification code. copy this code and paste it into the account recovery console as shown in the following screenshot and click next.
enter the new password twice and click next.
You’re done with that. just check your security info and continue with gmail.
what to do if gmail deleted your account because it was inactive for a long time.
Generally, Gmail does not delete your inactive account, but depending on company policy, they may delete an account if it remains inactive for nine months. If you have faced the same situation, you need to follow Google’s guidelines to recover your account.
tip: to avoid this, best practice is to log in to your gmail account every 6 months and change your password to ensure your account is secure and active.
however, to recover the deleted account, follow the steps
- visit google account recovery and provide all the information requested. once you provide them with all the information, you can recover your account.
- You may be asked for the provided phone number, alternate email address, date of birth, and date created. the account.
your gmail account has been hacked or compromised
If you suspect your gmail account is hacked, there are several possibilities.
- someone has access to your account but hasn’t changed your password yet. In this case, it is recommended to log in to your gmail account and change the account password immediately
- someone has accessed your account and also changed the password. immediately use this account recovery console to reset your password and recover your account.
Tips for a strong password: Use a combination of uppercase, lowercase, digits, and special characters like @$*&. use a long password. do not reuse passwords between accounts. use a password management tool like 1password or lastpass to manage your passwords.
You have forgotten your gmail account username or email address.
In this case, you need to visit the account recovery console and answer several questions. let’s do it step by step.
in the account recovery console, click forgot email?
Enter your recovery email or phone number.
enter your name here and continue. If you have provided all the information correctly, you will recover the forgotten email address or username.
what to do if you’ve lost your gmail account password and don’t have access to your phone, recovery email, or other recovery options.
don’t worry; you still have a chance to recover your account. let’s find out how to do it.
- Go to the google account recovery page. enter your email or username and click next.
- you will be prompted for your last password, click “try another way”.
- here, you will be prompted your phone number, click “I don’t have my phone”.
- On the next page, you will be guided through a few steps on your smartphone to recover your account.
Once you get the security code on your phone and enter it, you can easily recover your account password.
tips to protect your gmail account
- Use a long, strong password that includes uppercase and lowercase characters, special characters, and digits. don’t use common dictionary words as password as it’s easy to hack.
- don’t reuse password across accounts (for example, never use your gmail password to login to facebook or email from yahoo)
- enable two-step verification so you’ll get a message from google if someone tries to access your gmail account. even if they have the password, they will not be able to access your account without the verification code.
- keep changing your password every 3 months.
- do not provide your personal information to anyone, as which can be used to hack your account.
- always keep a recovery option for your gmail account. this can be a recovery email or phone number.
- use a password manager like 1password or lastpass