Gmail account is not only an email, but it is an address linked to many other platforms like YouTube, Google Photos and Drive, etc. It can cause panic to the user when he/she could not access their Gmail account due to a forgotten password. To recover the Google account, you need to recover your password if forgotten. Google asks for few verification steps after entering the email address and phone number, depending upon the recovery information, security history entered during sign-in. It is convenient to recover the Gmail account securely in such cases.

1. Account recovery

Open the official website of the Google account recovery page and enter the Gmail address. First simple step is to enter the password carefully to avoid any typing errors or spelling mistake or the user may forget to check the caps lock key before entering the password.

2. Enter the password

Google will ask for the previous passwords to verify the account, it helps in checking the authenticity of owner of the account. But if you do not remember any of the last passwords, then you can select “try another way” option or click “forgot password”.

3. Recovery email

You can use another email address as recovery email, or you can use the phone number to recover email address for one-time verification. Google sends the one-time code via SMS or email for authentication. If the account is still not recovered, you can select the “I don’t have access” option.

4. Security Question

Google asked to select the security questions while creating the Gmail account. Try to select the questions which are easier for you to remember. Answer them as accurately as possible while recovering the account.

5. Verification

The device recognition to recover the account is essential. Try logging in from the device that you use frequently. This enhances the chances of account recovery because google can recognise these devices and consider them trusted.  

6. Reset the password and login

After the identity is verified, Google sends the link to create a new password. Hence, the password can be reset after successful verification. It is suggested to choose a strong and unique password that you can remember and try to avoid easily predictable passwords to avoid hacking into your account.  

Add advanced protection to your account by choosing 2FA (two-factor authorization), which grants access to your account only after verifying the password as well as one-time verification code, thereby the double layered protection is given to your account.

Check any other unauthorised login into your account by going through the login history and it is advised to also change the password to other services also if any suspicious activities are detected in the login history.

In case of repeated failure of two-step authentication, you can temporarily disable 2FA until the problem is fixed. Simply go to Google account > settings > security and then “turn off” 2-step verification. You can re-enable the 2FA after successful login to another device.

If the account recovery fails, then it is strongly advised to wait for 24-48 hours before trying the procedure of recovery again because google temporarily reviews the account for any unauthorised log in which is important for safety purposes. A follow-up email with further instructions can be received from google for securely recovering the account. In case none of the above methods work, you can contact Google Support. Google support helps in account recovery, where you need to provide details like recovery email, phone number, etc. It is wise to create a new Gmail account if multiple unsuccessful attempts have been made for recovering the account.