# Is there a way to effectively change my gmail address?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 23, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337 "2014-09-23T12:36:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/1 "2014-09-23T12:36:15Z")
I’ve got some stuff in my google drive that I sometimes share. But I want a completely different gmail address–the one that currently shows up contains a minor embarrassing feature in it. Is there a way to effectively change the email address that shows up on shared documents using aliases or something? Or do I just have to create a new one and migrate everything over?
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### Author:  [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/2 "2014-09-23T14:17:34Z")
I don’t know if it will help in this specific instance, but a neat trick with Gmail addresses is that you can add dots “.” anywhere in your address you like and they are invisible to Gmail.
For example, if your email address is “[Frylockmustache@gmail.com](mailto:Frylockmustache@gmail.com)”, you can tell people that it’s “[frylock.must.ache@gmail.com](mailto:frylock.must.ache@gmail.com)” and any mail sent to that address just goes into your normal inbox.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/3 "2014-09-23T15:59:38Z")
You don’t have to migrate everything over. I do believe you can maintain multiple addresses and have them linked. So if your primary, embarrassing address is the one you log in as the most, you can make a new one and put those public documents under that new address, then share with the embarrassing address so that you can still access the documents on your regular login.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/4 "2014-09-23T16:08:11Z")
And that, kids, is why you choose your primary email address carefully, so that employers don’t have to contact you at TequilaChugger243@… 🙂
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/5 "2014-09-23T18:16:29Z")
'Thread drift to way over there follows:
Had a middle management guy that just loved to call and give me impossible jobs when it was already too late.
So I made my answering machine greeting the full length it would allow and always waited until it answered before I would.
Middle management guy could not make himself stay on the line that long listening to my choice of music. ( Billy J’s “Ring of Fire” ) \
Got rid of a lot of spam calls too.
You had to really want to talk to me… Bawahahahaha
I have two separate Gmail accounts cause I be special. ( prolly can’t do that now but since I am old, I got it early. ) 😃
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/6 "2014-09-23T20:23:48Z")
With Gmail open, Click your personal picture icon in the upper right, Click [Add account], it looks like you can add an additional account name, but I haven’t tried it.
My wife and I have separate Gmail accounts, which we can open from the same computer, so it must be possible. So you don’t have to keep logging in and out, have one of them bookmarked in a different browser.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/7 "2014-09-23T20:29:36Z")
Google and GMail as the login ID for it have gotten so pervasive that I suspect trying to manage two accounts would quickly turn into a nightmare.
AFAIK, the “add account” is to integrate a third-party email account into your Google one. ETA: As I thought, you can only have aliases with a paid Google account.
The real solution is to have your own domain and email subsystem.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/8 "2014-09-24T00:47:45Z")
> [@August\_West](#):
>
> I don’t know if it will help in this specific instance, but a neat trick with Gmail addresses is that you can add dots “.” anywhere in your address you like and they are invisible to Gmail.
>
> For example, if your email address is “[Frylockmustache@gmail.com](mailto:Frylockmustache@gmail.com)”, you can tell people that it’s “[frylock.must.ache@gmail.com](mailto:frylock.must.ache@gmail.com)” and any mail sent to that address just goes into your normal inbox.
Can’t you also append whatever you want using +?
Like in your example you could make it “[Frylockmustache+you.a.question@gmail.com](mailto:Frylockmustache+you.a.question@gmail.com)”
Though back when I was trying to use that sort of thing (to keep track of who was spreading my address to who) it seemed hit or miss whether forms asking for email addresses would accept them with the + in there.
If I’m off on the details, I apologize, it’s been years since I messed with this stuff.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/9 "2014-09-24T05:44:56Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> ::: snip :::
>
> AFAIK, the “add account” is to integrate a third-party email account into your Google one. ETA: As I thought, you can only have aliases with a paid Google account.
>
> ::: snip ::::.
What did you do to make them charge you?
I have 2 Gmail accounts with different names.
I have 2 Picasa accounts, with those 2 email accounts.
They have never asked me for money. 😕
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### Author:  [@HelenTroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenTroy)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2014, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/10 "2014-09-24T11:25:32Z")
I can’t believe I am de-lurking for this, but here we are! I currently have 10 gmail accounts, all for free. I believe gmail has started to limit the number you may use that are connected to a single phone number or have the same primary email.
Click your profile picture.
Click add account.
Click create new account.
Create the new account and then you may forward emails between accounts and share documents from your google drive. It is that simple.
You can also have multiple free yahoo accounts. Go nuts!
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/11 "2014-09-24T14:39:25Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> And that, kids, is why you choose your primary email address carefully, so that employers don’t have to contact you at TequilaChugger243@… 🙂
Good advice. How motivated can you be if you let so many others get there first?
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/12 "2014-09-24T15:18:15Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#):
>
> What did you do to make them charge you?
>
> I have 2 Gmail accounts with different names.
> I have 2 Picasa accounts, with those 2 email accounts.
>
> They have never asked me for money. 😕
Not the same thing, although you can link them and make it much the same. You can only have aliases - inbound user names linked to the same email account - with a commercial/paid “Google for Work” account.
Most of my (own-domain) email accounts have a half-dozen aliases. Generic ones like sales@ or info@ or webmaster@, or throwaway/disposable ones like sendspamhere@, or even variations of my basic name for selective use. Each set goes to one (1) actual account, making it trivial to manage.
I don’t think I could go back to the limitations of free-account or third-party email. I like having 100% control of the accounts, usernames, management, etc.
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### Author:  [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/13 "2014-09-25T02:54:39Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> Not the same thing, although you can link them and make it much the same. You can only have aliases - inbound user names linked to the same email account - with a commercial/paid “Google for Work” account.
>
> Most of my (own-domain) email accounts have a half-dozen aliases. Generic ones like sales@ or info@ or webmaster@, or throwaway/disposable ones like sendspamhere@, or even variations of my basic name for selective use. Each set goes to one (1) actual account, making it trivial to manage.
>
> I don’t think I could go back to the limitations of free-account or third-party email. I like having 100% control of the accounts, usernames, management, etc.
Well, you can have aliases with a free Google Apps for Education account. But you have to actually be a school to get one. And I think you have to be an administrator of the account to create them.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/14 "2014-09-25T03:59:42Z")
Right, but like academic-license software, Google school accounts are basically payware.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-effectively-change-my-gmail-address/699337/15 "2014-10-04T22:40:58Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> Not the same thing, although you can link them and make it much the same. You can only have aliases - inbound user names linked to the same email account - with a commercial/paid “Google for Work” account.
I didn’t have any problem getting a second Gmail account for my mom and linking it to her work account (which is commercial). At home, she uses only her home account to check everything.
Granted, many businesses might have policy against forwarding your email to another Gmail address, but mom’s doesn’t. And it was nice not having to worry about changing her saved password all the time.