My pc is already automatically logged into my gmail account, but I don’t remember my password, so I need to find out what it is for future reference. Repeat: I’m already IN my account, but for future reference I need to know what my password is that I selected but can’t remember every character of (close is never close enough with passwords).
Where in my gmail account can I click on to see my password posted? Or is there no way?
Repeat: I already am in my gmail account, looking at emails and what not, but I need to know my password in case I ever get logged out.
There is no way. Your gmail password is not stored in plaintext anywhere on google’s systems, so there is no way for you to view it. This is by design.
It’s maybe possible that you can change it to a known new password, but I’m betting that you can’t do that either without knowing the current password. This is also by design, to keep someone from locking you out of your account if you step away for a moment from a logged in device.
Make sure, in your Google account settings, that you’ve set up an alternate way for them to get in touch with you (a different email address, or a cell phone for a text). Once you’ve confirmed that, then log out, and hit “I forgot my password” (or something similar) to reset it to something you’ll remember.
If you have saved your password with your browser, there will be a way. But we’d need to know which web browser you use.
On Chrome, you can click the little icon on the far right, to the left of the three dot menu, then click the key icon in the resulting popup. That will give you a list of all your saved passwords. Type google in the search bar (not your address bar) and it should narrow it down to the logins and passwords you use for Google.
If you never chose to save your password, then you are indeed out of luck. Your best bet would be to change your password.
Open up Google or Gmail in a browser, and there should be an icon or picture in the upper right hand corner – when you hover your mouse over it, it should say “Your Account,” with your Google account name. Click on that, to access your account settings, then click on “Manage Your Google Account.”
In that new page, you should see a “Security” tab on the left side – select that, and then “Ways we can verify it’s you.”
Edit: but, first, see if your browser can show you your password, as several have noted above.
Not through Google, but it may be through your OS or browser if you told your computer to remember the password. In Chrome, this could be found in chrome://settings/passwords, for instance. On Mac OS, it also could be under Keychain.
No they shouldn’t, security questions are a terrible idea, at least in the way they are usually implemented.
The best answer is to hope you have some kind of autofill of your password somewhere and then locate it. Using Google Chrome, I go to the settings, autofill, and there are a list of my passwords represented as asterisks. If I click on the eye icon next to one, I’m asked for my computer’s admin password, then I can view the password.
Edit: @pulykamell has the correct link to the passwords in Chrome. “Auto-fill” is the section in settings if you are navigating there manually, but if you paste @pulykamell’s link in the address bar it will take you straight there.
Most thought-out systems (including Google) require you to enter your current password before changing it, otherwise, well, you can imagine what that could lead to if you forget to sign out on a public computer or any other computer accessible to others, for instance.
They can be, I suppose, but I don’t much like them either the way they are set up. They usually have very easy questions that – if you answer honestly – somebody who knows you reasonably well can figure out. One way around it is to just have fake answers that you remember to them. Another is allowing you to create your own security questions that you know reasonably well you’re the only person who knows the answer to them. (I know from experience, about 20 years ago, when I was able to change a password into my then-girlfriend’s account because I was able to answer her security questions. What I feared I might find I did find. No, I’m not proud of it and I wouldn’t do it today, but it made exploiting her account easy.)
Yeah, let me put it this way: security questions are what I would call the “The Only People Who Could Answer Them Is Either You Or Someone Really, Really Close To You” Security Procedure.
Think about it: car keys keep your car relatively safe from strangers, but someone close to you could take your keys off your counter and steal your car; that’s what I call “Good Enough” Security .
I have a password security company as a client, and from what I’ve read on the topic, security questions are, on the whole, a pretty poor solution:
People will, with surprising frequency, forget their answers to their security questions, especially if there are a limited number offered
As @pulykamell notes, they’re often very easy for a determined hacker to figure out, or even just someone who knows you well, or can see your posts on Facebook
Related to the above, a very common Facebook meme is to ask people to share things like the make of their first car, the name of their first pet, their favorite movie, etc. – many of which happen to also be common security questions
Generally speaking, a lot of companies are moving towards two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) – those usually entail sending a code number to your cell phone or email, which you then use to “prove it’s you.” And, some are also now using biometrics (thumbprint, facial recognition, etc.)
Either that, or the answers really aren’t that easy to remember, or might change in the future. My favorite movie might be one thing today, but five years from now when I need to reset my password I might have a new favorite movie. And then I have to try to remember how long ago I set up that account, and what I might have said my favorite movie was at the time.
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