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I changed my Gmail avatar image using:

Settings → General → My picture → Change picture

But it only changed below compose, next to my green available dot and at the top left of each email I send. My old avatar image is still used if I hover my name at the top of an email or if I hover over my new avatar image next to my green available dot.

Edit: I tried clearing my cache and I tried different browsers but neither works.

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  • Type in google contact on address line and find your own contact info. You'll see upper icon image is different from your new image below. Just change upper icon image and then everything is ok. Google doesn't snyc these two icons. I beleive they've done too much and lost the synchronization.
    – Scott Chu
    May 25, 2020 at 9:43

6 Answers 6

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I had the same problem, I had to go into my gmail contacts and delete all the entries for myself. After I did that, voila all fixed. To get to contacts, select the GMAIL button the on top left and a drop down will appear where you can select Contacts. Make sure and remove the contact entries for yourself under "My Contacts" and "Other Contacts".

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  • 2
    I had the same issue. When anything would "detect" my picture, it was coming from my card in Google contacts. I would suggest searching for the specific e-mail address (not a name), and just changing the picture on the contact page, rather than deleting the contact entirely.
    – iynque
    Nov 4, 2014 at 18:20
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    Doesn't work...
    – user2835
    Jun 20, 2017 at 8:34
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    Deleting the photo works (you don't need to upload a new one)
    – qaisjp
    Dec 5, 2018 at 17:40
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    Had the same issue. For me the very old contact picture (and details) was coming from a card under Other Contacts in my Google Contacts. I found a series of cards with different email addresses I've used throughout the years. Deleted all of them and that fixed it.
    – Bernardo Oliveira
    Mar 27, 2019 at 13:35
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After searching high and low here is what worked for me:

  • Go to youtube.com
  • Click on your avatar in the top right corner
  • Click the photo to the left of your email address
  • Click the change photo link
  • Select a photo from your computer
  • Click set as profile photo
  • Hold down Ctrl and F5 and the same time (this should update the photo to the right of your email address)

You are done. You do not need to click the Upgrade button.

Go back to Gmail. Do a hard refresh (Ctrl+F5) and the correct photo should be displayed.

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  • I found my lingering avatar on blogger.com. That was a tough find since I haven't used that in years.
    – spstanley
    Sep 30, 2015 at 21:25
  • oh my god, this had been plaguing me for years. thank you thank you thank you!
    – Neil Sarkar
    Jun 29, 2016 at 7:01
  • Doesn't work anymore, as youtube accounts are now connected to G+ profiles.
    – user2835
    Jun 20, 2017 at 8:43
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I solved this by doing the following:

  1. Go to your Gmail window. On the left there is a red "Gmail" and a triangle on its right. Click on the triangle and select "Contacts". Then a new window/tab should pop up.
  2. In the new tab, find yourself on the contact list and click.
  3. click on the profile picture icon to set profile photo.
  4. choose the picture you want or upload a new one. Save.
  5. Go back to Gmail and try sending an email. Now your profile picture should be updated

+6. I had to click the "go to old version" on the left hand side. My old contact was not showing in the new gmail inbox contacts. When I went to the old version, I found three old contacts for myself. I deleted these and this resolved the issue.

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  • Lol, this actually worked. Basically under each Gmail account (I have more than one). I had to go to the contact with my email address in it, and then do the "Remove Photo" then it switched to the Google Account image.
    – Wasted_Coder
    Aug 19, 2019 at 17:28
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The only thing that worked for me was to go to https://get.google.com/albumarchive and delete the photos from there.

Once you delete the photos make sure you log out of your account, delete all the google cookies and then log back in. Try another browser if the old profile photo is still there.

You can also try https://aboutme.google.com/ but apparently it does not allow deleting existing profile photos.

Related links:

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Conversely, you can just update your own avatar image from the contact list without deleting your own email address from the contacts list!

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I searched and searched for an answer to this very question. Unfortunately, I always found the same answer, and my avatar never changed. But I finally found a way to change it. How does one do this? After changing the avatar in the Settings, remember to clear the browser cache! It's a step so simple and obvious that no one even bothers to mention it.

You can only guess how silly I felt after doing this... especially since my responsibilities at work place me in the center of the software development team.

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    The OP says he has already cleared the browser cache.
    – Vidar S. Ramdal
    Mar 5, 2014 at 8:33

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