Can I change my Gmail email address?

Question

I have a stupidly long email address on Gmail and would like to get it changed, or even just get a new one, but I can't see how. As soon as I log in on Google it knows who I am and signing up for a new email doesn't work.

Is there a way to get my email address changed or get a new one that I can then switch to?

Edit 2 July 2010:

I need to clarify the question because I haven't had an answer to what I want to achieve. I want to change the primary address on my Google account (https://www.google.com/accounts/ManageAccount). When I click the link to edit "Email addresses", the primary email is shown without an option to switch/change it. When I try add a new Gmail email address, it says

"You cannot associate a Gmail address with your Google Account."

I want the primary email address on my Google account to be a shorter Gmail email address so that I can eventually retire the existing email address.

Answer 1

You can logout of your Gmail account, and then sign up for a new account. Once you've created an account, go back to your original account and forward everything to the new account.

Answer 2

Since this problem is 7 years old, for any people looking for the correct answer, please understand that there are some glaring problems with what the original poster has asked here:

As soon as I log in on Google it knows who I am

To create a new Gmail account, you should not be logging into Google. You can just go here and create a new Google account.

I created a new email address, but when I go to my account it won't let me add a gmail email address or change my primary email.

OP has a misunderstanding that once you create a new account, you can sign into your old one and switch everything over. It sucks, but you can't. That's why he's having so much trouble.

I get everything you've said, but it still doesn't explain how I change my primary account to the new email address. I don't want emails routed forever, I'd like to drop that old mailbox one day.

Again, OP doesn't understand that there is no function to change a gmail address. There's some good information on the web, but the best answer (that gives a complete breakdown) I've found is here on how to change gmail addresses.

Basically, you need to create a new gmail account and forward everything over to the new account from the old account. If you want your email, use what's called POP3 forwarding. If you want your entire account, then there are ways to move those apps over yourself:

• How to move Google Drive
• How to move Google Contacts
• How to move Google Calendars

Hope this helps anyone still having this problem in 2017!

Answer 3

You can also configure your current Gmail account to add the new email address. This way you wont lose your contacts etc.

There are two steps to this:

1. Create the new account and forward all email to the old address. In the new account, click the settings button (gear icon in top-right) and go to the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" settings. Click "Add a forwarding address" and add your old email address. Afterwards, choose the "Forward a copy of incoming mail to" and select your old address.

2. Go back to the old account. Click the settings button and go to the "Accounts and Import" tab. In the "Send mail as" section, click "Add another email address you own". Enter your new email address.

You can then continue using your old email account. If you receive any emails at your new address, they will appear in your inbox. If you reply to them, Gmail should automatically respond from your new address - theoretically nobody would know about your old address.

Answer 4

Log out and then create a new address. (Clear cookies if you have to.) If you want to retain all of your existing email (and anything else linked to that account), I'd recommend setting up the new "more professional" address to auto-forward to your existing account. Then you can simply give people the more professional address and receive email in one place. You'll also want to change your Reply-To in the "unwanted" account so that outgoing emails are "more professional" as well: Settings -> Accounts and Import -> Send mail as

Answer 5

Just log out first, then create a new account. After that you can log off again, log in with your old account and in The Settings>Forwarding and Pop/IMAP set it to forward your mail to your new account.

As a side benefit, since they are both gmail accounts, when writing a new mail you can choose what address you want to use. That's what I use for my "formal" account for jobs applications and so. I log in with my "casual" account, send the resumes and stuff with the formal address, and replies will get forward from the formal account to the casual :)

Answer 6

You can't change just the email address. You'd change the whole account or do some other irritating thing like the fixes above. Your email is your login for all of Google.

Now, that said, if you don't use Calendar, Docs, etc, then who cares, change accounts and use the forward on the old one to gradually migrate. In fact, that's better than just changing the email as you will get email sent to the old address. And once you feel that you've gotten enough gleaned from you rold address, turn off the forwarding and let all the adverspam you signed up for rot on the old account.

Answer 7

Here's why you cannot switch your primary account. According to Google:

You can use alternate email addresses to sign in to your Google Account, recover your password, and more. Alternate email addresses can only be associated with one Google Account at a time

So what you are doing by adding more email addresses to your account is, you are adding alternate email addresses. The only way is to logout. Clear your cache/cookies and then create a new Gmail address. Then auto forward your stuff to your new google linked Gmail account. Not sure if this helps. Hope it does.