As Google starts deleting Gmail and Photo accounts, here’s how you can save your accounts.
Google has already confirmed that the purge of accounts that meet its inactive criteria will run in 2024. As reported by Forbes last year, the purge of inactive accounts and the deletion of Gmail messages with Google Photos images began on December 1, 2024. But what an inactive account as defined by Google and how can you ensure that your precious messages and photo memories are not lost forever?
Which Google Accounts are at risk of imminent deletion?
To be fair to Google, it has given plenty of notice of the ongoing account purge that will accelerate in 2024. If you’re one of the 1.8 billion Gmail users or 2 billion Google Photos account holders, you’re likely to be affected by the policy decision , you should have already been notified. I have received emails from Google dating back to July 2023 warning that some of my accounts are at risk of deletion and advising on steps to take to prevent this from happening.
The inactive account deletion policy only applies to personal Google Account holders, with business and education accounts not affected. Among this number, only accounts that have not been linked for at least two years will remain unaffected by the policy. If, however, you have accounts that have been dormant for at least two years as of December 2023, then they could very well be in line for deletion. However, it is relatively easy, even at this late stage, to save the email and photo data from these accounts.
I contacted Google for a statement on which inactive accounts are next in line for deletion, starting with those created but never used again.
How to protect Gmail messages and Google Photos from deletion
First and foremost, search your memory for any Google accounts you may have that you no longer use. For those you can remember that may contain content you value, such as emails, photos, documents stored in Google Drive, etc., log in to them now. As long as you do this at least once every 24 months, your accounts and data will be safe until there is a further change to Google’s inactive account policy.
If, on the other hand, you can’t remember your account details, then there are still ways to save your data. The main method is to use the official Google account recovery process, which uses known email addresses and phone numbers. Even if you can’t recall account information, entering a current or previous email address or phone number will help bring it up. You will be sent a verification code either via email or SMS, so access to one of these is required and then you will be prompted to enter your password. If you don’t use a password manager and can’t remember, enter any old item and you’ll be offered a password reset opportunity that includes another verification code that will be delivered.
After accessing these inactive accounts, take some time to back up any critical data, whether it’s Gmail messages and attachments, documents, or photos. Since Google has stated it the inactive account policy is established for security reasons, since older accounts are much more likely to be hacked, it would also be a priority for you to add two-factor authentication protection to your accounts as well as ensure that your login password is unique and strong. Gmail accounts, in particular, are highly sought after by criminals because they can be seen as a gateway to further valuable resources through password reset information, for example.
