One of the biggest mistakes that most people make on the internet occurs when choosing your username, especially as for some services this happens at an age earlier than you would have liked.
While you can always start a new email with a more professional moniker, there's a good chance you're still holding onto your original account for many things purely for the convenience of not needing to switch everything over.
Certain companies have shown how important and consequential a simple name change can be, and it could be the thing that allows you to progress through to a job interview to secure that all-important pitch in the future.
There's no doubt that you've cringed on the rare occasion that you've had to share the account name with another person though, reassuring them with haste that they probably shouldn't ask and that it's something you've been stuck with since you were perhaps not even into double digits.
Advert
That pain could soon be over, however, as a game-changing new feature has been added by Google to Gmail accounts in a certain region that allows people to change their email addresses for the first time ever.
What is the new Gmail update?
As reported by WIRED, this new update allows you to change the 'account username' associated with your Google and Gmail account, which is effectively your email address but with a clever feature that avoids any confusion down the line.
You can only change it to something that hasn't already been taken, so you still might not be able to secure the exact username that you've been using on other platforms, but it lets you escape any embarrassing choices you made when you were younger which is certainly greatly appreciated.
What's more, Google has managed to make it so that any emails that would be sent to your old address are now rerouted into your new username, as its effectively the same account only with more than one name now.
This avoids the need to manually change the address on any websites you're logged into, making the process completely seamless with functionally zero downsides.
How to change your Gmail account username
Here are the exact steps you need to take in order to change your email address on Gmail:
- Open the Gmail account you want to change the username for
- Click your profile picture icon and select 'Manage your Google Account'
- Navigate to the 'Personal Info' tab, and then the 'Email' section
- Under 'Google Account email' you'll be able to start the switchover process
The process is instant so there's no waiting around for it to change, yet you do – for the time being, at least – only get the ability to change this account username once per year, so make sure you're happy with your choice before you go ahead and make another mistake.
Additionally, the feature is currently only available to Gmail account holders in the United States so anyone in the rest of the world will have to put up with their username for moment.
It wouldn't be surprising for this to expand worldwide after it has been tested for a period of time though, so hopefully there won't be too much longer before everyone else gets access.