How can i access an old email account

What do you think: How many online accounts do you have? Well, there is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, of course, Medium, MyFitnessPal, GitHub, Slack for work, oh and a couple of apps on your phone, maybe some accounts with some online shops…? But that‘s…

Many email providers allow you to recover old email accounts if you've forgotten the password. Often, you can do this either by answering security questions or by using a linked phone number or other email address to receive a reset code. If you need to find an old email address, this process is more challenging but not impossible if you or your friends and colleagues have copies of your old email.

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Recovering Old Email Accounts

If you've forgotten the password to an email account you haven't used in a while, don't despair. Most email providers have a way for you to recover access to your account.

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Many email providers support a way to send a recovery link to a predesignated email address or phone number. When you click this link, you can select a new password and log back into your account. Some providers may allow you to call technical support for assistance, but others only let you work through the automated process. For example, you can't restore a Google account over the phone.

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Search your provider's documentation for how to do this. It's a good idea to use a computer you've used before to access the old email address so that the provider is more inclined to believe that you are you.

If you're trying to recover a work-related or school-related account, talk to the IT department for assistance. You may not be able to recover it on your own.

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Using Recovery Questions

In some cases, you may be prompted to give the answers to recovery questions to restore access to your email account.

These might be questions that you set up at some point in the account's history, like your mother's maiden name or your favorite childhood pet, or they could be questions about the account itself, such as what phone numbers are associated with it or roughly when you opened it. You may also be asked questions about yourself, like your full name used on the account or your date of birth.

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Make sure to keep this information private, since it can be used to hijack your accounts. If anyone is assisting you with trying to get your accounts back, make sure it's a friend, relative or colleague you trust.

Find Old Email Accounts

In some cases, you may have forgotten the exact email address you used with a given provider.

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If that's the case, you might be able to find an old email address in your records. Perhaps you printed an email from that account or forwarded it to another address and can find the address in a file cabinet or online. If you know you used the address to email a specific person, you can see if that person has a copy of an email from you or remembers your address.

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Otherwise, some providers will still work with you to try to restore your account. You need whatever information you signed up with, including your full name, security question answers and any backup email address or phone number you provided. Check your provider's documentation for details.

Have you ever wondered if you could access your old email accounts? You might want to look for some old files, or maybe need information about an old contact. Whatever the reason, there is good and bad news when it comes to accessing old email accounts.

The best thing that you can do is to use the provider to find the old email account or old messages. All of the major providers, including Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, and AOL, have recovery tools available. If the email address is from a lesser player in the email game, again, you might be out of luck.

First, Know the Protocol

Frankly, the next 3 paragraphs might be confusing. If they don’t make sense to you jump to Do You Remember the Service or Email Address?

The first thing you have to do is know the protocol your provider uses. There are two different protocols to consider when trying to access old messages: POP3 or IMAP.

POP3 protocols essentially download messages from a server to a device. IMAP just syncs your messages between your device and the server. Most email services default to an IMAP protocol, but it’s very possible that an older email account would have been set up to use POP3. If this is the case, and the provider deletes the messages off the servers when downloaded via POP3, this is not good news…those messages are gone. Even if you eventually get access to these accounts, if you have downloaded the messages to a computer or smartphone, they are gone from the server.

There is better news if you used IMAP…though, again, this is assuming nothing has been deleted. Some providers will delete accounts that are inactive for a certain amount of time. If the account is deleted, those messages are gone. Check the account deletion policy of the email provider to see if your account might still be active, and ultimately, accessible.

Do You Remember the Service or Email Address?

If you remember the email address and not the password, try the password reset link and if, and only if, you set up a backup email for recovery, then you’re on Golden Pond.

Now, what happens if you can’t remember what service you used or even the email address you used? There is still hope.

First, search for your name in the email account you use now. You might have sent something to yourself from an old account. Another option is this: if you remember the old provider, you can also search for that. You also might want to search your computer to see if there are old documents with your old email in there. You also might have set up a recovery email address or phone number that you can use to access the account.

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