Transitioning Email Addresses
Much like our phone numbers, we have a lot tied into our email address. Bank accounts, credit cards, streaming video accounts, and nearly everything else is tied into an email address to either register with or use as a username.
But what if you used a work email address for those accounts and now you’re losing access? Or you may have used a provider like Hotmail or AOL a long time ago and now wish to upgrade—and remove spam you’ve accumulated along the way.
If so, don’t fret—it’s not as big of an ordeal as you might think. Centers Health Care has a look at four steps to successfully transition to a new email address.
- Create Two New Accounts
Before you start the transition, get your new accounts created. Yes—accounts. Experts recommend opening one for trusted sources like family, friends, and banking and another account for retail accounts and anything else where you may end up on a mailing list and get spam. Popular email programs you may want to use include Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook.
- Changing Your Contact Info
This is where you will have to contact family and friends to give them your new email—this can be done in one large, bulk email, so that’s not a problem. The longer task will be to update your contact information with companies you do business with. Comb through your bank and credit card statements and try to catch every place you may have your email address registered to. You can also comb through a few months of emails to see if there’s anything you’re missing.
- Prepare Your Old Account for the Change
Once you have your new addresses up and running, set up an \"out of office\" reply on your old email. This will automatically reply to an email sent to the old account, and you can write the reply to include your new contact information.
In addition, go through old emails and forward any important ones to your new address.
- Delete, Delete, Delete
As you are combing through old emails and deciding what to keep, be sure to delete everything else. And after you’ve done that, go into the trash bin of that email address and delete that as well. This helps prevent against cyberattacks and hackers. Once you’ve purged, follow through and delete the old account—don’t let it just sit dormant.
