How to change your Gmail address

Would you like to change your email address on Gmail without losing the messages or contacts collected so far? Officially there is no such feature, you cannot change your Gmail address and leave your current inbox intact. However, with a little effort, you can be able to open a brand new Gmail address and import both messages and contacts from the old account into it.

Don’t want to change your Gmail address? Do you just want to change the name that appears in the headers of the messages you send from your account? In this case, things are much simpler, you just have to go into your profile settings and change the name associated with the email address. It takes yes and no two minutes. The same goes for changing Google accounts associated with software such as Chrome and devices such as Android smartphones and tablets: just a few clicks are enough to change the Gmail address associated with the latter.

Now, however, ban the chatter and immediately move on to action. Let’s see how to “move” from one Gmail address to another, how to change the name associated with our Gmail account, and, finally, how to change the Google account associated with Chrome or an Android device. It will all be much easier than you think!

Moving from one Gmail address to another

The operation that comes closest to changing your Gmail address – a practice not yet provided by the well-known Google e-mail service – is to create a new account and transfer the messages and contacts of the old address into it. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: create a new account and import old messages

The first step you need to take is to create the new Gmail address you want to use as your primary email address and import messages from your old account into it.

• Connect to Gmail or Google, click on your photo located at the top right and click on the Add account button in the menu that opens;
• Click on Create an account and open your new Gmail address by filling out the form that is proposed to you;
• When the operation is complete, log in to your previous Gmail account and activate support for the POP system. If you don’t know how to do it, here are all the steps to take.
  • Click on the gear icon located at the top right and select the Settings item from the menu that opens;
  • Select the Forwarding and POP / IMAP tab at the top of the screen, put the checkmark next to Enable POP for all messages (even messages already downloaded) and click on the Save Changes button located at the bottom.
• Now you need to log into your new account and import messages from your old Gmail address (via the POP system). Go to the Gmail Settings menu, select the Accounts and Import tab and click on Add your POP3 mail account from the page that opens;
• In the window that appears, type the address of your old Gmail account and click on the Next step button;
• Enter the username and password of your old Gmail account (in the appropriate text fields) and click on the Add account button;
• Choose whether to activate the option to send emails from your new account using your old Gmail address (if so, choose the name to display) and click on the Next step button. If you choose to activate this function you will also have to type a verification code that you will receive on the old Gmail account;
• Please wait patiently for the message import to complete. It could take several minutes, even hours if there are a lot of emails to transfer.

As the last step, to be sure to promptly receive all messages received on your old Gmail account, you must log in to the latter and import the automatic forwarding of emails to the new address. Here’s how it’s done.

• Log in to your old Gmail account, go to the Settings> Forwarding and POP / IMAP menu and click on the Add a forwarding address button ;
• Type your new Gmail address in the box that appears and click first on the Next button and then on Proceed and OK ;
• Click on the confirmation link you received on your new Gmail address and press the Confirm button on the page that opens;
• Go back to the settings of the old Gmail account, select the Forwarding and POP / IMAP tab, put the checkmark next to forwarding a copy of the inbox to and make sure that your new Gmail address is selected in the adjacent drop-down menu. Also, make sure that the item Keep the Gmail copy in the Inbox is selected in the drop-down menu below and click the Save changes button (at the bottom of the screen) to save the settings.

Note: if you have a Gmail mailbox for which you have purchased a subscription plan to Google One, as the free 15 GB available are not enough, you may find it difficult to transfer all the messages to the new account. To solve this problem, you can activate a Google One plan on the new account (prices starting from € 1.99 / month for 100 GB), or add both Google accounts within a family group, in order to share the subscription. I told you in detail about how to do these operations in my tutorial dedicated to Google One.

Step 2: Transfer Contacts

Now it’s up to the contacts! Find out now how to export the address book from your old Gmail account and import it into the new one.

• Log in to the Google Contacts service with your old Gmail account;
• On the page that opens, select the items  More> Export from the left sidebar;
• Place the checkmark next to the Contacts and Google CSV items and click on the Export button to export the Gmail address book to your PC;
• Now log in to the Google Contacts service with your new Gmail account;
• On the page that opens, select the items  More> Import from the left sidebar;
• Click on the CSV or vCard file button and then on  Select file, choose the CSV file exported from the old Gmail account, press the Import button and you’re done.

Change your Gmail name

Is your intent not to change your Gmail address but just to change the name that appears in the email header? In this case, you have to connect to your mailbox on Gmail, click on the gear icon located at the top right and select the Settings item from the menu that appears.

On the page that opens, select the Account and Import tab, locate your Gmail address in the Send message as field and click on the Edit information link next to it.

At this point, type the name you want to use in the header of the emails in the window that opened, click on the Save changes button and that’s it.

Change Gmail address in Chrome and Android

Finally, let’s see how to change the Gmail address, or rather, the Google account associated with Chrome and devices equipped with the Android operating system.

Chrome

Chrome browser uses Google accounts to sync bookmarks, extensions, history, and other online browsing data. If you want to change the account associated with your copy of Chrome, follow these steps.

• Click on the hamburger icon located at the top right and select the Settings item from the menu that appears;
• In the tab that opens, click on the button Disconnect your Google account;
• Wait a few moments for the account to be logged out and click the Login to Chrome button to set up your new Google account.

One of the coolest features of Google Chrome is multi-user support. This means that if you have more than one Google account or if the browser is used by more than one person, you can set up multiple Gmail accounts at the same time.

To configure a new Google account in Chrome (without deleting the existing one), click on your name located at the top right (in the browser title bar) and select the Change person item from the menu that appears. Then click on the Add person option, click again on the name at the top right and configure the Gmail account in the box that opens.

Android

Smartphones and tablets equipped with the Android operating system also use Google accounts to synchronize online data (contacts, browsing data, messages, documents and more). To change the Google account configured on your device, go to the Android Settings menu (the gear icon located in the screen with the list of all the apps installed on the device) and select the Account item from the screen that opens.

At this point, press the Add account button, select the Google logo and log in to the account you want to use (or create a new one). When the operation is completed, if you feel is appropriate, you may cancel the Gmail account set up before the end going to the menu Settings> Accounts> Google Android, selecting the address to be deleted and selecting Remove account from the menu (…) placed in the top right.

Even Android, starting from version 4.2 on tablets and from version 5.0 on smartphones, supports multi-user configuration. This means that you can configure your device to be used by multiple people by associating a different Gmail account to each of them.

All you have to do is go to the Settings> Android Users menu and press the Add User button first and then OK and Configure now. Subsequently, you can switch from one user to another by calling up the notifications menu and pressing the little man icon located at the top right. Easy, right?