Troubleshoot issues after you change your Google Account email address

You may encounter some issues right after you change your Google Account email. Some are based on previous activity which may show your old account email, some are temporary and will go away, and some will need an action on your part to resolve the issue.

Tip: Many of these issues will go away a few hours after the change. But if problems persist and you can’t fix them with the tips below, you may need to change back to your previous Google Account email. You can still send and receive emails with your new Google Account email since it will appear as an alias, but your old Google Account will appear when you do things like share Drive files, send Calendar invites, or use Sign in with Google.

General issues

For specific issues, here are some additional troubleshootings steps:

My Chromebook home directory is empty

If you use a Chromebook we recommend that you backup your local data before you change your Google Account email to a new email address. After you change your Google Account email, you should remove your account and then add it to the Chromebook again with your new email address.

This is necessary so that your Chromebook will update to use your new Google Account email. Otherwise after you log in your home directory will sometimes appear empty. If so, logging out and logging back in may fix the issue temporarily. To fully resolve this issue you’ll follow the steps above to remove your account and re-add it to your Chromebook.

Tip: If you decide to change your Google Account email, you’ll also receive these instructions as part of that process

Issues with Sign in with Google

If you use Sign in with Google, some third-party apps and sites may not recognize your new email or may not recognize that you are using the same account. View where you use Sign in with Google to sign in to third-party accounts..

If a third-party app doesn’t recognize your new email

Since some third-party apps identify users by email address, we continue to provide the old username to apps after you change your Google Account email to a new email address.

If you want to start using the new email address also for the third-party app, we suggest the following steps:

Visit the settings, account, or profile menu of the third-party app.
Where appropriate, change your email address to your new email address.
Important: If there is no such setting, we recommend that you don’t proceed.
Try Sign-in-with-Google to access the 3P service.
1. If it works, you should be able to continue to log in normally.
2. If it does not work, open https://myaccount.google.com/connections and remove the connection to the 3P service.
3. Use Sign-in-with-Google to log into the 3P service. You may have to re-authorize permissions.

If a third-party app does not recognize that you are using the same account

This may happen right after changing your email address or at a later time, especially if you remove the access of the third-party app or service.

To fix the issue:

Use “forgot password” recovery with the non-Google site. Typically, this will send you a verification email to your old email address.
1. If this does not work, you can temporarily revert to your old Google Account email.
You can use Google Password Manager to store the new passkey or password after you recovered access.
Go to the settings of the third-party app and change your email address there.
1. If there is no such option, you will need to continue using the password or passkey from Step 2.

If you are unable to sign in at all

Some third-party apps or services may directly record that you use Google to sign in and may not let you use password recovery. In these cases the fix is to:

Switch back to your old email address.
Use the Sign in with Google button again on the third-party service or app.
In the settings for the third-party apps or service, try to do the following, if the option exists:
1. Add a password
2. Remove Google from the third-party settings
3. Update your email address to your new email address
Switch back to your new username
Visit https://myaccount.google.com/connections. Select “Sign in with Google” and remove your connection to the third-party app or service.
Use the Sign in with Google button again and accept the permissions. This should allow you to access the third-party apps or service with your new email address.

Chrome Remote Desktop connections no longer work

If you use Chrome Remote Desktop and change your primary email address, follow these steps to fix your remote connections:

On the remote host machine, go to Chrome Remote Desktop.
To disable any connections, under “This device,” click or tap Disable remote connections .
After you disable all connections, under “This device,” click or tap Turn on.
Follow the steps to reconnect with your new email address.

Google Apps and Services are associated with another Google Account you own

If you have multiple Google Accounts on your device, when you change your Google Account email, Google apps and services may now show another account you have. In each app or product, click on your profile picture or initial and switch to the correct account.

All of my Contact info has disappeared

You may see that phone numbers in your Contacts appear without the person’s name. This is a temporary issue and should resolve within a few hours after your Contacts data is synced to your mobile device with your new email address.

My payment methods have been removed from my account

In some cases, changing your email address may unlink your payment methods from Google Pay. This happens as a security measure to protect your payment information. If this happens, you’ll need to re-add your payment methods to Google Pay.

My settings for Google apps and/or my Google Account have disappeared or been reset

Some settings for Google apps you use and/or settings within your Google Account may have been reset after changing your Google Account email. For example, the Gmail background you chose or the chat tab may not appear.

If you have this issue with Gmail, Photos backup, YouTube music download, Calendar sync or other Google apps, you may need to select Settings for those apps and recreate your previous settings.

Contactless payments with Google Wallet don’t work from your home screen

Open the Google Wallet app and try your NFC payment from there. After that, you should be able to make contactless payments again.

My Google Home routines won’t run

Follow the steps to edit a routine, but don’t make any changes, and save it as is. This should fix the issue. Learn how to manage Google Home routines.

Calendar events have disappeared

If events don’t show up for you, stop the Calendar app and restart it. You may need to do this more than once.

If events you shared with someone else no longer show up for them, you can either reshare the event or they can try to re-sync with your calendar. Learn how to fix sync problems with the Google Calendar app.

The Play store asks if I want to delete apps

When you changed your Google Account email, the Play Store may assume that you deleted your account from your Android device. You can dismiss these notifications. Your apps and purchases won’t be affected.

All my Google contacts are duplicated for Contacts on iOS

This can occur if you add your new Google Account email address to Contacts on iOS. To fix this, remove the account with the old email address from your iPhone or iPad and that should remove the duplicate contacts.

Can’t link my Fitbit account

If your Fitbit account uses your old username, but isn’t linked to your Google Account, you’ll need to select the Fitbit account with the old username using the “use existing account” option. Learn how to move a Fitbit Account to a Google Account.

If you accidentally created a new Fitbit service for your renamed account, use the following steps:

Remove the Fitbit service from your Google Account (bottom of the page).
- Scroll to the bottom of this page to remove Fitbit
Wait 30 days for your Fitbit account data to be fully removed.
Link the old Fitbit account to the your Google Account (with the “use existing account” option)

Issues with Gmail

I can’t send emails with my new address

If you receive an error message when you try to send emails with your new address, open Gmail in a new browser window and try again. This should solve the issue.

I am being asked to sign in again to view my inbox

This may happen the first time you use Gmail on a mobile device after you change your email. Once you sign in with your new email this shouldn’t happen again.

I received a message to re-add my old email address on my phone or tablet

If this occurs, you should delete the Gmail widget from your home screen and then re-add it. That should fix the issue. Learn how to remove and re-add the Gmail widget.

My Gmail responses not marked as important

Email conversations that started with your old Gmail address may not be marked as important. You can create a custom email filter for these types of emails. You may also want to check your spam folder.

My chat in Gmail is missing

If you previously had Chat in Gmail and it isn’t available after you create a new email address, you can add Chat again. Learn how to turn Chat on or off in Gmail.

My Gmail or notification settings have been reset

If this happens after you change your Gmail address, you’ll need to correct the settings. Learn how to change your Gmail settings.

Some of my email subscriptions aren’t appearing

After you change your Gmail address some email subscriptions may be disrupted. If you notice this, the easiest fix is to resubscribe with your new email address.

My email drafts weren’t saved

This may occur if you were working on them offline. Drafts that were only saved on your device can disappear after you change your email address. The only fix is to recreate them.

My uploaded attachments on my drafts disappeared

This may occur if you have drafted emails and then change your Gmail address. You’ll need to re-upload the attachments with your new email address before you send them.

Links to attachments don’t work anymore

Stored links / bookmarks to attachments will not work anymore after the username change. You’ll need to find the email again to which the documents were attached and bookmark / store the new links.

Issues with Google Calendar

My Calendar doesn’t load or I’ve been logged out of Google Calendar

If this occurs, wait a few minutes and reload the page or click the reload button in the dialog window that says you’ve been logged out. This should fix the issue.

My existing appointment schedules don’t work

You’ll need to recreate the appointment schedules

Events and Tasks aren’t shown anymore

You’ll need to restart the Calendar app.

Issues with Google Meet

My contacts can’t find my account when they search my the old username

Inform all your contacts of the new username. Searching by the new username works.

I can’t directly join meetings

You’ll need to ask the meeting owner to add your account with the new email address.

Issues with Google Drive or Docs

My contacts can’t find my docs in Drive or Google Docs

Your contacts might not find docs and files that you have created under your old email address if they search by your new email address.

Your contacts can try searching by your name instead of email address. This should show results for both your old Google Account email and your new one.

Another option is that your contacts can use the owner tag. This will work with your new and old email address to find files created by you. For example: owner:[email protected]

My homescreen shortcuts to Drive files on Android break

You’ll need to recreate the shortcuts on the homescreen for files on Drive like Docs or Sheets.