Can I change my Gmail address?

You can’t change your Gmail address. 

The address you chose when creating your Gmail account is permanent.

If you want a new address, you’ll need to create a new account.

But—

There are some workarounds that may work just as well as changing the email address—and perhaps even better.

Here’s a quick overview of your options with a step-by-step guide.

Let’s dive in.

How do I change my Gmail account?

In short, there are five workarounds for changing your Gmail address:

• Option 1: Create a new Gmail address and set it as your proxy email.
• Option 2: Use the Gmail + addressing feature to create aliases.
• Option 3: Customize your address by adding dots.
• Option 4: Change your Gmail display name.

Now—

Some options may be more suitable for you than others.

Begin by establishing your motivations.

Answer these two questions:

1. Why do you want to change your Gmail address?
2. What results do you hope to achieve?

The answers will determine which options to pursue.

Still figuring out? Look at these case scenarios; perhaps something will resonate with your situation.

Creating a new email address	Modifying your existing email address
Proxy email	Gmail + addressing	Gmail dot trick	Gmail name change
You want a new email address, but: • You want to keep the data from your old inbox. • You don’t want to update your online accounts. • You want to still use the old inbox.	You don’t need a new email address, but: • You want to organize communication more effectively. • You want a purpose-specific address.	You don’t need a new email address, but: • You want to separate parts of your email address, e.g., name from surname.	You don’t need a new email address, but: • You want to change how your name is displayed in other people’s inboxes.

Have an idea of what you need? Navigate to the appropriate section to see a step-by-step guide with more explanation.

How to change your Gmail address and keep the data

Your best shot is to create a sort of proxy email address—that is, Option 1.

Let us explain.

Since Google doesn’t allow you to change your address, you need a workaround.

What you do is set up a proxy email that’ll act as a gateway between your primary email and the recipient.

Start by creating a new Google account with the brand-new Gmail address you prefer.

Now, you have two accounts—your old one and your new one.

Decide which email you want to be your primary email (the one you’ll use daily) and which will serve as your proxy email (the one recipients will interact with).

Google doesn’t directly support setting a proxy email address, but there’s a simple way to do it:

• First, you automate forwarding messages from the proxy email to your primary email (for messages to come in).
• Then, you set the “send as” option to send messages from your proxy email through your primary inbox (for messages to go out).

All your communication will now be routed through that email account. For the people corresponding with you, it will appear as though they’re communicating with the proxy address.

Flow of communication: sender → proxy email → primary email → proxy email → recipient

So, if you want to change your Gmail address while keeping your data, this is the best course of action.

Read on to see how to implement it.

Option 1: Create a new Gmail account and set it as your proxy email 

Step 0: Create a new Gmail account with the desired address.

Here’s a quick guide from Google if you don’t remember how to open a new account.

This will be your new email address, so make sure you come up with a name that you like or find suitable.

First, set the “redirect” option

Here’s how it works:

• Step 1: Once you’ve set up a new Gmail address, decide which inbox you want to use: your old Gmail account or the new one.

This decision will affect which address you’ll redirect incoming mail to.

• Step 2: Open the inbox from which you want to forward messages (the proxy).

• Step 3: Go to “settings” > “see all settings” > “forwarding and POP/IMAP.”

• Step 4: In the “forwarding” section, click on “add a forwarding address,” enter the email address to which you want messages forwarded (your primary address), and confirm your choice.

• Step 5: Log in to the account to which messages will be forwarded (primary) and open the confirmation email from the Gmail Team.

• Step 6: Click the verification link and accept the changes.

• Step 7: Return to the account from which you want messages to be forwarded (proxy) and refresh the “forwarding and POP/IMAP” page.

• Step 8: Toggle on the “forward a copy of incoming mail to [email address]”—by default, this option is disabled.

Now—

Once you complete this process, all incoming messages will be forwarded to the other address.

If you want only emails from specific domains to be forwarded, you’ll have to create some filters.

Forwarding only specific domains

Here’s how to do it:

• Step 1: In your proxy inbox, click the “show search options” icon (located at the very right of the “search mail” bar).

• Step 2: In the “from” field, type in the domains from which you want messages to be forwarded (you can type multiple addresses separated by commas), and click “create filter.”

• Step 3: Toggle the “forward it” option and select the email address you added in the previous process.

• Step 4: Confirm your choice by clicking “create filter.”

Then, set the “send as” option

Receiving messages through your proxy email is only one part of it. The second part involves sending messages out.

Here’s how to do it:

• Step 1: Open the inbox you want to send messages from (primary) and go to “settings” > “see all settings” > “accounts and import.”

• Step 2: In the “send mail as” section, click “add another email address.”

• Step 3: Enter the email address which you want to send messages as (proxy), then click “next step” followed by “send verification.”

• Step 4: Log in to your other email account (the proxy), open the verification email from the Gmail Team, and click on the confirmation link provided.

Once you complete these steps, you can pretty much forget about managing the proxy email.

How to modify your old Gmail address

If setting up a proxy email is too much for you, consider one of the options below to customize your existing address.

• Use the Gmail + addressing feature.
• Customize your address by placing dots.
• Change your Gmail username.

Option 2: Use the Gmail + addressing feature to create aliases

The + addressing option is an easy way to create case-specific addresses.

It allows you to organize your inbox and filter messages according to the modifier. If you run a business, it also makes your address look more professional.

What’s more, it doesn’t require creating a second Gmail account or changing any settings.

Here’s how it works:

• Step 1: Take your current email address; let’s say it’s johndoe@gmail.com.

• Step 2: Add a “+” followed by any word, like johndoe+word@gmail.com.

• Step 3: Share this new variant of your email with senders as needed.

That’s it. 

All emails (regardless of the modifier) will land in your main inbox. Your messages will be in one place, but they’ll be much easier to sort and manage.

You can create countless aliases and organize your inbox accordingly.

For example, you can create a dedicated alias for all your Amazon purchases, johndoe+amazon@gmail.com, and use it when ordering new products.

Other ideas include:

• Personal: johndoe+personal@gmail.com
• College: johndoe+college@gmail.com
• Work: johndoe+work@gmail.com
• Banking: johndoe+bank@gmail.com 

Alternatively, if you run a business:

• Client-unique: johnbusiness+clientname@gmail.com
• Department-specific: johnbusiness+hr@gmail.com
• Task-specific: johnbusiness+editing@gmail.com

…and so on.

You don’t have to update any settings, register the new alias anywhere, or request any changes.

Simply come up with whatever modifier you want and share it with the people or organizations you choose.

Important: Some platforms may not recognize your alias email as a valid one. In such cases, you’ll need to use your regular email address (johndoe@gmail.com).

Option 3: Customize your address by adding dots to it

For Google, dots are not considered “real” characters.

You can add them to your—or someone else’s—email address without affecting where the message will be delivered.

That means johndoe@gmail.com and john.doe@gmail.com are considered the same address.

If your address is cluttered with words, you can separate them by placing a dot wherever you please.

• Step 1: Take your email address, for example, johndoe@gmail.com.
• Step 2: Add dots wherever you prefer, such as john.doe@gmail.com, jo.hndoe@gmail.com, or johndo.e@gmail.com, and share it with others. The placement of the dots does not affect delivery.

Or, if you’ve placed a dot and don’t like it, you can remove it.

You can also combine it with the + addressing feature, like this: john.doe+college@gmail.com.

But that’s not all—

You can use different variations for different purposes.

For example:

• For official occasions, you can use john.doe@gmail.com
• And for friends and family, you can use johndoe@gmail.com

Now, you can quickly sort messages by the dot—filtering out all the official or private messages.

Option 4: Edit your Gmail name 

Your email address and your email name are two different things.

The first one is unique to you and cannot be changed or used by anyone else.

The latter affects only how your address is displayed to other users in their inboxes—and you can change it.

However, bear in mind that it won’t change your actual Gmail email address.

Here’s how to change your name in Gmail:

• Step 1: Open your Gmail inbox.
• Step 2: Go to “settings” > “see all settings” > “accounts and import.”

• Step 3: In the “send mail as” section, click “edit info” next to your email address.

• Step 4: In the “name” section, click the empty field and type in your new name.

• Step 5: Confirm by clicking “save changes.”

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Can I change my Google account email address: FAQ