I wonder if there's a way to get a copy of it from Google? (for "safe keeping")

Nicki

"Always keep the verification number you get when you sign up for Gmail. When you sign up for Gmail, we'll ask you for a secondary email address and then email a verification number to that account. This number is the best way to prove ownership of your account, so be sure to hang on to it."

D'oh! I'm pretty sure I don't have that since the only purpose of getting a Gmail account was to downsize the number of total emails I had. I guess I'd better not get locked out then, because I doubt I'll be able to recover it.

@rrecine: I've been using the same password for about 8 years now, and oddly enough it was one that was auto-generated for me from my old email account. 15 character auto-gen passwords FTW!

Mikebrown

As someone who has irrevocably lost access to a gmail account, I can only say -- yeah *##ing right I had that original email and there was no fricking verification number in it. There was a URL. That URL didn't mean diddly to the support people.

ub

Just do like all the dumba$$ users and write your password on a sticky and then put it on your monitor. What, do you use your email like Palin? :-)

rrecine

I went back and found my Google Mail verification email from Sept 2003 and it doesn't say anything about a "verification number" but there is a URL to click to verify the account which has a long number in it. I suppose (hope) that that number is my "verification number."

AndyFromTucson

Riiiiiiight. Of all the current Gmail account holders, I wonder how many still have that verification email. Not me :(

heavylee-again

I went to google.com/accounts and changed my security question (from nothing to having one). I also changed my "secondary email address" to a current one, not the defunct one I originally had when I signed up for gmail. It does not appear that they re-send the original verification email, though.

sceo

Add me to the "No Verification Number" list in my 2003 sign-up confirmation email. Just a URL, that when clicked now-a-days is bad.

toddkravos

How do we get that number if we've been a Gmail user for years and already tossed that e-mail long ago?

mrbofus

I do not have such a number, I joined during the first testing phase I think. Is there a way to get a number to the same effect now?

AngelShine2

Hopefully I could prove ownership through the accounts I have gmail acting as a POP3 client for. Like the others, I didn't receive a number back during the original beta invite phase.

whitlock

How the heck are you supposed to get the number again if you already deleted the email that had it? Google sucks for never coming up with a decent solution to the potentially catastrophic possibility.

tasselhoff76

I'm also missing that number...

I mean, i dont have the mail... when i signed to gmail, i stopped using hotmail (my "secondary email" account). Well, as you know, hotmail deletes the content of your account if you "forget" to log in at least from time to time.

And since I have not looked back ever since I switched to gmail... i think im royally screwed, eh?

Hopefully I wont ever forget my password...

Thespamhere

Yep, I don't have one either.

costanza007

+1 for not having one. I too signed up during the beta.

Wait, it's still beta.

Well, the beginning, then.

William Hook

When I signed up, they were still tying accounts to cell phone numbers. Seems like that would work fairly well if they still have that info.

ddockery

Secondary email was ditched when I noticed how awesome Gmail is... I really hope they sort something out for this problem :/

Bobly

I have a feeling that this is a new feature that's been implemented recently...

Is there even 1 person who has this number?

mchernysh

yahoo closed my secondary account because i rarely used it. can google resend it?

MuglyTheWorm

Don't have mine either.

I'm waiting for somebody to find it in some Google cache (or suggest archiving it in your GDrive, etc).
/Snicker

Kafka

Hmm. I hadn't heard about this before and just went looking for my verification numbers. I found one for the second account I created, but so far haven't found one for the first account I created. I have the e-mail with a URL to click to verify the account request, and one saying that my user name was changed when I signed up for Gmail, but no verification number. Apparently I signed up for some other Google service first, then added Gmail -- I wonder if that's why things are different for me. Well, from what I've read here, it seems like no one knows how to get that verification number if you don't already have it saved. I hope that someone (maybe Google) figures out a way, and it gets posted here.

Dronak

The google account recovery process is far from ideal. Whilst I eventually got my account back it took 3 months and they didn't inform me it had been returned. It was just when I noticed an auto mail I had sent to it was no longer bouncing that I discovered it had been reinstated.

Gmail is a decent offering but the customer service underpinning it stinks.

labete

My recommendation is:

1. Create a secondary gmail email account
2. FORWARD all incoming gmail messages of your regular account to your secondary account.

This way, in the rare chance that you lose access to your original gmail account, you will a backup of your messages. I don't think this will account for messages already in your inbox, but it will keep a copy of your messages in your hands from this day onward.

dustinubc

Oh, also, from my "secondary email address":
"Your Yahoo! Mail account is 0no longer active.
Why is my account inactive?

Yahoo! Mail deactivated your mail account because:

* You have not logged into your mail account during the past four months; or
* You have requested that Yahoo! Mail deactivate your account.

What does this mean?

* All email messages, folders, attachments and preferences have been deleted and cannot be recovered.
* All messages sent to ***************@yahoo.com are being returned to the sender.
* You can still use your Yahoo! ID to access other registered services on Yahoo!."

Mister Cow Pnoy

@ddockery: same here, however I don't have that text anymore, as I literally DESTROYED that phone.

Mister Cow Pnoy

2. Hotmail/Yahoo or other service types who must login now and again, get ePrompter.

pixelwax

1. People delete email? I have every email sent/received since Summer 1996 except for a two week period in 2003 (don't ask except know that I was extremely upset for 1) working on my only copies, 2) having only one set of copies for all of 2003 when I had killed an important online account. Live and learn.

I now bcc: all sent mail to one account and auto-forward all received email to another. And I never send/receive email with these accounts.

It'd be interesting to learn if anybody could track these accounts down since I use a relay of filters on separate online and personal domain accounts for these emails to reach their final resting backup place.

pixelwax

Pop Peeper is vastly better than ePrompter & handles unlimited accounts.

VayaConQueso

awesome! I DID forget that this was even the process. I just hitup my Yahoo email that I ditched once I got hooked to the Gmail UX, and searched for: gmail verification

bingo! there it was from 3/25/2005

now it is forwarded to places i actually check.

Thanks,
-- robbie

Robbie Coleman

I also couldn't find that verification message. Probably deleted it years ago ;) But in Google Account settings I've just added two additional e-mail addresses. Just to be sure. Losing my gmail address has always been a sort of concern to me. Since gmail is a free service I don't expect them to help me very quickly when something goes wrong ;) I'll backup my messages at regular base using a pop3 client, but there is no 'backup plan' for losing the ability to receive mails at your gmail address....

I don't have set a secret question, because other other people (who know me) can guess the answer. Don't thrust such security methods.

Palomar

Yeah, like others I signed up years ago (I want to say Circa 2002, but I'm not sure). I don't recall getting a verfication number with my email. However, my wife, who just signed up last week (I finally convinced her that her ISP email sucked) and she got one of those numbers.

shockwaver

Google offers these free services because it wants to be the service provider to more people, as more and more people start computing from the cloud. As the big goal seems to be making your Web browser your OS and having all of your apps and data stored in the cloud. Microsoft is moving towards this goal as well.

The thought that one could lose all of that data and not be able to restore it seems a little scary for any user, especially those using it for work or collaboration - like so many of these sites seem to indicate that you could and should. The only thing more frightening are the folks that expect no level of customer support on these accounts because they are "free". They are free with a view towards profits. Google makes money and it does it exceedingly well. However, if a few choice Google accounts were to get hacked and the users be unable to get their accounts restored, I think you'd find Google in a PR nightmare.

tasselhoff76

The big question that its asking it self right now is : how to get the verification code if you lost it or deleted that email message which contains it ?

tartooob

I have the number for all 13 Gmail accounts I have.
What the heck is wrong with people. Paper trail people. Chain of evidence.
Don't you remember how hard it was to get these accounts in the beginning? I hung my verification number on the wall next to my diplomas.

god rest your souls

Dentman

Those security questions: you don't have to supply the correct answer, if you are concerned that others will know or guess the answer. But you need a way to remember what "wrong" answer the system expects!

Barton

@mchernysh: Um ... well... I just looked and I actually have a verification number on my confirmation email... will wonders never cease...

mwainer

Though I certainly don't have any confirmation number (I actually purchased my beta invite), this article gave me a good reason to go into my account settings and see what's there. The secondary email I had listed was ancient and my security questions were easily guessable, IMHO.

Do yourself a favor and update yours.

concordia

@concordia:
I purchased my beta invite as well $10 on eBay forever ago). The good news is it allowed me to get my last name @gmail.com The scary news is if my account is ever compromised, I'm done. I use google for everything.

I'm going to update my 2nd email right now.

ericshmerick

Guess I don't really need to say it...

No number here either. Hahaha.

Myles

Its ironic that a few days after I loose my email to someone with a keylogger that these blogs pop up.

I don't have my verification number. I tried the account recovery but no results.

Can someone suggest any other options?

L0neRanger

I also couldn't find my old email possibly containing my verification number.

Verifying the ownership afterwards is of course very difficult. Google or any other company can't of course just send a new email with the number because a hacker can already have access to your account. One way could have been to give your cell phone number to google right when signing up for gmail. But at least I would not have done it then.

one SUGGESTION TO GOOGLE:

The long process of resending verification number:

1. Send one email:
Here is your PRE-verification number. Save it and delete this mail.

2. The Second mail (after 1-2 months)
Here is your second PRE-verification number. Save it and delete this mail.

3. The Third mail (after 3-4 months)
Here is your third PRE-verification number. Save it and delete this mail.

[maybe some more PRE-verification mails]

4. The final mail
Click this link and enter all the previous PRE-verification numbers.

PROBLEMS
This could work, BUT...
-The hacker could already have access and you wouldn't notice it for one year.
-people losing the PRE-verification numbers.

second SUGGESTION TO GOOGLE

A possibility to send the verification number to an email adress you choose and are sure that it is secure.

PROBLEMS
-It is hard to find an adress you can access and really can be sure of. So maybe your fathers email or something?
-A hacker with access to your account could also do this.

a CONCRETE SUGGESTION TO GOOGLE
Have a warning when someone accessed your account from another country or an area quite far away from the usual IPs.

Online security is hard as hell. My bank has quite solid way: a list of single-use passwords are sent via traditional mail.

avolare

"Verification number" - what on earth are they (Google) talking about? Add me to the list of people who lack that piece of information.

Also, I suspect that they never asked me to do anything about any verification number whatsoever... Could that be possible...?

tietoukka

date: Mon, Jun 21, 2004 at 5:16 PM
subject: Gmail is different. Here's what you need to know.
mailed-by: google.com

6/21/04

First off, welcome. And thanks for agreeing to help us test Gmail. By now you probably know the key ways in which Gmail differs from traditional webmail services. Searching instead of filing. A free gigabyte of storage. Messages displayed in context as conversations.

So what else is new?

Gmail has many other special features that will become apparent as you use your account. You'll find answers to most of your questions in our searchable help section, which includes a Getting Started guide. You'll find information there on such topics as:

How to use address auto-complete
Setting up filters for incoming mail
Using advanced search options
You may also have noticed some text ads or related links to the right of this message. They're placed there in the same way that ads are placed alongside Google search results and, through our AdSense program, on content pages across the web. The matching of ads to content in your Gmail messages is performed entirely by computers; never by people. Because the ads and links are matched to information that is of interest to you, we hope you'll find them relevant and useful.

You're one of the very first people to use Gmail. Your input will help determine how it evolves, so we encourage you to send your feedback, suggestions and questions to us. But mostly, we hope you'll enjoy experimenting with Google's approach to email.

Speedy Delivery,

The Gmail Team

p.s. You can sign in to your account any time by visiting [gmail.google.com]

No Code in my first email....

Xenophod

I found mine from march 2005. I download all my mail to outlook. sure enough the verification code was at the bottom. thanks for the tip.

cleave34

You can reset your secondary email account by going to [www.google.com]
and clicking "Change security question" under "Personal Information"

jlhags

You can change your secondary email by going to [www.google.com]
and click "Change security question" under "Personal Information"

jlhags

Wow. I just went and checked and found that I forwarded the email with the confirmation number in it to my Gmail account from my (now defunct) 'secondary email' back in 2005. I was smarter back then I guess cuz I wouldn't do it today. until I read this post.

WallaceKeppler

If you have a google apps account you will see a Customer PIN number for your account under "Account Information".

I've added this to my Keepass list for safe keeping.

kenq