How to Delete Your Gmail Account (Without Losing Your Data)

It’s valuable to have more than one email address, but it’s also good to know when one needs to go. Deleting a Gmail address is easy to do, but there are a few things you should be aware of and do before you go through with it—especially if you want to hold onto some of your old emails.

Download your data before deleting your Gmail

First, download your data. You never know when you’re going to need an old email or piece of information from your Gmail account, so you should just hold onto it all to be safe. Start by opening your Gmail account, then clicking your profile picture in the top right of the screen. From there, hit “Manage Your Google Account.” On the left of the screen, you’ll see a few options. Hit “Data & privacy,” then scroll to the section called “Data from apps and services you use.” You should see a Gmail button in there. 

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson/Google

Hit it and you’ll see two options: “Download your data” and “Delete a service.” When you select the first one, you’ll be given a list of things you can download, from calendar data to contacts to your drive to, yes, your emails. Check all you want to download, but if your goal is to delete just your Gmail account, not necessarily your whole Google account, focus on the mail. The download will include messages and attachments, plus your user settings. You’ll be prompted to continue to the next step, where you’ll choose how you get the data—whether by email, Drive, or another service. 

How to delete a Gmail address

Once that’s done, you can move on to deleting. From the same place where you originally chose to download your data, hit “Delete a service.” You’ll be prompted to enter your password and enter in an existing, non-Gmail address. That email address will get an email containing a link to delete your account. You’ll be prompted to confirm you want to delete it and then it’s over. 

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson/Google

When you delete your Gmail account, your emails and mail settings will be deleted and you won’t be able to use it to send or receive emails. No one else will be able to use that address in the future, either. According to Google, if you change your mind, you might be able to get it back, but the guidelines are vague: “If it’s been a while since you deleted your account, you may not be able to recover the data in your account.” That’s pretty unclear, so if you’re hesitating at all, consider not deleting it.