You're going to want to act now if you want to keep an old Google account.
Starting Friday, the company will start deleting inactive accounts. That includes all their contents, like emails, photos, YouTube videos and Google Drive files.
It may be an account you set up to receive newsletters or things you didn't want to use your primary email for. If you want to hold on to that account, you better find your password.
Back in August, Google announced it was going to start purging accounts that haven't been used or signed into for at least two years, citing the potential for accounts to be compromised.
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Here are some easy steps you can take to secure your Google account:
- Read or send an email
- Use your Google Drive
- Watch a YouTube video
- Download an app on the Google Play store
- Use "sign-in with Google" to sign in to a third-party app or service
You can even do a simple Google search , as long as you are signed into that account.
If you use Google Photos, you will need to sign into Google Photos specifically every two years to be considered active to make sure your files won't be deleted. Users can view their backed-up gallery, share a photo or video, create an album or backup a photo or video to keep their account.
If you forget your password, you may be able to recover it using Google's password recovery tool. If you forgot your email address, you may use their account recovery tool. You'll need a phone number or the recovery email address for the account.
