How to deactivate Gmail account

After trying that new email service suggested by one of your most trusted friends and experts in new technologies, you have decided to put aside your Gmail account. If you think this is the best decision to say, you have done well. However, if you are here now, reading this guide, it is clear that by virtue of the choice you have made you would like to understand how to disable a Gmail account. If things are really like this, however, know that you have no reason to worry … I can help you!

In fact, in the following lines, I will go to show you all the steps that you need to take to be able to deactivate your Gmail account in a nutshell. How do you say? Are you a bit worried because you are not a computer and Web enthusiast and are afraid of having to carry out too complicated operations? But no, you don’t have to! Deactivating your Gmail account is in fact a fairly simple operation to carry out, based only on knowing how to move and that’s it.

Without clarity about it, if you are therefore actually interested in finding out how to deactivate your Gmail account, I suggest you take a few minutes of free time and concentrate carefully on reading the instructions I am about to give you. Ready? Yes? Great, then let’s get started.

Backup

Before telling you how to proceed to deactivate your Gmail account, I want to suggest you download a backup copy of all your data connected to it. In fact, making a backup before deleting an account is always good and right in order to prevent any information of some importance from being irretrievably lost.

To download a backup copy of the data related to your Gmail account, start the web browser installed on your computer and that you usually use to surf the net, type www.google.it in the address bar of the same and press the Enter button on the keyboard. On the page that will open at this point, press the Login button located at the top right, type your Gmail email address and click Next, then type the password for your account and then click Login. Now presses on the photo of your profile located in the upper right part of the page that is shown to you and then click on the blue button  Personal account attached to the box now displayed.

In the new web page that is now shown to you, locate the Account Preferences item and then click on the Delete your account or your services link that is attached to the following. Now press the  Delete Google account and data item, if requested, type the password for your Gmail account again and then click on the download your data link at the top of the web page.

At this point scroll down the page that is shown to you, locate the Gmail item and make sure that the checkmark is present next to it. Then presses the down arrow next to it to choose which Gmail messages to include in the backup. By default, the All messages item is selected but if you prefer you can select the Select labels option and then choose which emails to deceive in the backup indicated the labels of your interest.

Of course, if you wish, you can also include other Google services in the backup and/or remove the checkmark next to those you intend to exclude.

Then click first on the Next button and then on  Create archive. Once this is done you will receive the link to download your data by e-mail. Keep in mind that depending on the amount of data to be processed it may take hours or several days before the backup is generated and made available for download.

Deactivate Account

Now that you have obtained a backup copy of your data you can finally tell yourself ready to start the procedure by which to deactivate your Gmail account. Before showing you how to do it, however, it is good that you understand something very important. Currently, it is possible to implement two distinct procedures to deactivate Gmail accounts: one is the one that provides for the deactivation of the Google account and all the services related to it (including Gmail), the other is the one that provides for the only deactivation of the ‘Gmail account. Clearly, the choice of the procedure to be carried out is up to you alone, based on your needs and preferences. Then identify the procedure you think might be right for you and follow the relative indications.

Google account and related services

If you intend to deactivate both the Google and Gmail accounts, the first things you need to do are type www.google.it in the address bar of the web browser, press on your profile photo located at the top right and select the Account item staff from the menu that appears. On the page that opens, go to the Account preferences section and click on the Delete Google account and data option.

At this point, click on  Delete Google account and data, log in to your account again, put the checkmark next to the items  Yes, I acknowledge that I am still responsible for all charges arising from any pending financial transactions and I understand that under certain circumstances my income will not be paid.  and  Yes, I want to permanently delete my Google account and all related data.  placed at the bottom of the page and presses the blue Delete account button to complete the procedure.

In the event that you are in possession of a smartphone or an Android tablet after having deactivated both the Google account and the Gmail account, also remember to remove them from the device by going to the Settings screen, pressing the Google logo and/or on that of Gmail, then on the name of your account and selecting the item  Remove account from the menu (the icon with the three dots) located in the upper right part of the screen that is shown to you. For more details, you can check out my guide on how to delete Google Android account.

Gmail account

If your intentions are to deactivate only and exclusively the Gmail account while continuing to keep the Google account active, proceed as follows. Type  www.google.it in the address bar of the web browser, presses on the photo of your profile located at the top right and select the item  Personal account from the menu that appears. On the page that opens, go to the Account Preferences section and click on the Delete products option.

He then clicks on the icon depicting a basket placed in correspondence with the Gmail entry and the icon of the Google e-mail service.

In the new page that will be shown to you at this point, put a checkmark on the box next to the item Yes, I want to permanently delete my address @ gmail.com and remove it from my Google account. (instead of my @ gmail.com address you will find your Gmail e-mail address) then fill in the field below the item New main email address by typing the alternative email address by which, starting from the moment of removing the account, you intend to use other Google services. Finally, type the password currently in use for your Google account in the field below the Current Password item and then presses the red button  Remove Gmail to give definitive confirmation of your desire to deactivate your Gmail account.

Keep in mind that after completing the procedure for deactivating your Gmail account, you will lose access to the email address within two working days.

In case you are in possession of an Android smartphone or tablet after having deactivated the Gmail account, also remember to delete the latter from the device by going to the Settings screen, pressing the Gmail and/or Google logo, then on the name of your account and selecting the item  Remove account from the menu (the icon with the three dots) located in the upper right part of the screen that is shown to you. For more details you can consult my guide that I suggested in the previous lines, when I explained how to disable the Google account and the Gmail account.