It Continues: Google Moves Forward with Deleting Inactive Accounts
This week, I received a notification from Google letting me know that one of my old test accounts is on the chopping block. According to the alert, the account hasn’t been used in over two years and is now scheduled for deletion under Google’s Inactive Account Policy. The account and all associated data will be permanently deleted, they warn, if I don’t act by October 15, 2025, just over six months from the day I write this post.
The Account Deletion Warning
It might seem a little redundant to quote most of the email copy here, but I figure that's good for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes -- maybe it will help folks find this page when googling about this warning.
The warning says:
Your Google Account (address)@gmail.com is being deleted because it hasn’t been used within a 2-year period.
Your Google Account may still be recoverable. To see if you can restore access to this account, visit our account recovery page immediately.
If you don’t want to keep this account
You don’t need to do anything. Your Google Account will be deleted if you do not recover this account before October 15, 2025. Once your Google Account is deleted, your account and its activity and data cannot be recovered.
It Started in 2023
This isn’t exactly breaking news. I first wrote about Google’s updated inactivity policy back in July 2023. At the time, Google updated their terms to specify that any account not used for two years could be deleted. That means emails, Drive files, YouTube activity -- everything tied to that account -- could be wiped out if there’s no sign of life.
Then, in December 2023, I shared that the policy was starting to kick in. Google had begun sending warning emails to users of accounts marked for deletion. The first wave was hitting accounts with no activity, no recovery options set, and no interaction in Google products.
Now, here we are in April 2025, and I’m personally seeing the enforcement roll out further. Even test accounts like this one -- used in the past for seed list testing or deliverability monitoring -- will end up deleted, if abandoned.
Why this matters for email folks
If you’re in the email space and you manage seed lists, test Gmail inboxes, or monitoring setups, it’s worth taking a moment to check which accounts you still rely on. If any of them haven’t been logged into since 2023, they’re at risk of vanishing.
Once an account is deleted, it’s gone for good—and that could create gaps in your inbox placement monitoring or make your seed list reports a little less reliable. Google provides a recovery window, but it’s short and not guaranteed if the account has no recovery info set.
And of course, email senders need to remember that dormant Google accounts being deleted means dormant Gmail email accounts being deleted. Be sure to process bounces properly and suppress mail to addresses where delivery attempts are rejected due to account deletion. Continuing to hammer at those addresses increases your bounce rates and that's likely noticeable by receivers and could contribute to deliverability issues.
Preventing Account Deletion
If you received a warning like this but you still want to keep the account:
Or, just log into Gmail or YouTube with the account, and that’s usually enough to reset the activity clock.
If you don't care about keeping this Google account (or you're like me and have created a zillion of these accounts over the years but have forgotten the password to approximately half of them):
You don’t have to do anything. Google will quietly delete the account on schedule.
And if you're unsure what’s still out there tied to old Gmail addresses, this might be a good time for some inbox spring cleaning.
This week, I received a notification from Google letting me know that one of my old test accounts is on the chopping block. According to the alert, the account hasn’t been used in over two years and is now scheduled for deletion under Google’s Inactive Account Policy. The account and all associated data will be permanently deleted, they warn, if I don’t act by October 15, 2025, just over six months from the day I write this post.
The Account Deletion Warning
It might seem a little redundant to quote most of the email copy here, but I figure that's good for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes -- maybe it will help folks find this page when googling about this warning.The warning says:
It Started in 2023
Then, in December 2023, I shared that the policy was starting to kick in. Google had begun sending warning emails to users of accounts marked for deletion. The first wave was hitting accounts with no activity, no recovery options set, and no interaction in Google products.
Now, here we are in April 2025, and I’m personally seeing the enforcement roll out further. Even test accounts like this one -- used in the past for seed list testing or deliverability monitoring -- will end up deleted, if abandoned.
Why this matters for email folks
If you’re in the email space and you manage seed lists, test Gmail inboxes, or monitoring setups, it’s worth taking a moment to check which accounts you still rely on. If any of them haven’t been logged into since 2023, they’re at risk of vanishing.Once an account is deleted, it’s gone for good—and that could create gaps in your inbox placement monitoring or make your seed list reports a little less reliable. Google provides a recovery window, but it’s short and not guaranteed if the account has no recovery info set.
Preventing Account Deletion
- Visit the Google Account Recovery page to log in and reactivate it.
- Or, just log into Gmail or YouTube with the account, and that’s usually enough to reset the activity clock.
If you don't care about keeping this Google account (or you're like me and have created a zillion of these accounts over the years but have forgotten the password to approximately half of them):Learn More
Google’s official Inactive Account Policy can be found here.Comments
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