If you haven’t signed into your accounts in the last two years, Google will permanently delete your account. To save storage space, Google used to have a policy of deleting data from accounts that were no longer active. However, the business will completely erase such accounts in accordance with the new dormant accounts policy.
A Google Account will be deleted along with its contents. According to the digital company, if it hasn’t been used or signed into for at least two years. The email address, Gmail messages, Calendar events, Drive, Docs. wll be deleted. Also other Workspace files, YouTube, and Google Photos won’t be accessible to users. Notably, the company has made it clear that accounts for organisations, schools, or enterprises are unaffected. And that this policy only applies to personal accounts.
The digital company is taking this action because it thinks that if a user’s account has not been used for more than two years, there is a strong likelihood that it may be hacked. These accounts are frequently exposed. And once compromised, they can be used for everything from theft of information to the distribution of undesirable or even harmful content. For example spam, according to Google.
Beginning in December 2023, Google will start erasing these accounts. According to a statement, “Before removing a user account, we will send several emails over the span of time leading up to deletion, to both the account user’s email and the recovery email (if one has been provided).” The corporation will begin the deletion procedure with accounts that were initially created but were never utilised.
How to maintain the activity of your Google account
You must sign in to your account at least once every 24 months to keep it active. The statement from Google reads, “If you have been logged into your account or any of the services we offer recently, the account you have remains valid and will not be removed.”
Additionally, you may keep your account active by using Sign in with Google to log into a third-party app or service, reading or sending emails, using Google Drive for storage, enjoying YouTube videos, downloading applications from the Play Store, and using Google Search as your search engine.
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