That way, either account can be used to recover the other should you have problems later on. Set the first as the alternate for the second. Set the second account as the alternate for the first, as we did above.The process is similar.īut you don’t need to get a third email account. In our example, one Gmail account has another, a Hotmail account, set as it’s alternate.įor security’s sake, that Hotmail account should have an alternate email configured as well. Reciprocating alternatesĪt this point, you have two email accounts. Generally, it then allows you to specify a new password. Your ability to receive this code at that email address proves you are who you say you are because when you set up the alternate email address, you effectively told the service, “This is me, too.”Įnter the code you received, and the service knows it’s you. In my case, if I were having problems signing into my Gmail account, I would go to and sign in to my account to find the message with the recovery code in my inbox there. To receive the code, you sign in to that alternate email address. One way the service does this is by sending a code to your alternate email address, much like they did above when you set it up. (Screenshot: )įor most services, this begins a process to confirm you are the rightful account holder and should be allowed to set a new password and regain access to the account. Then you use the “forgot password” link to begin the account recovery process. Perhaps you don’t remember it, perhaps a hacker or someone else changed it, but regardless of the reason, you can’t log in. Your password isn’t accepted for whatever reason. Ok, great, you’ve got an alternate or recovery email address set up with your account. The Gmail servers can now reach me at my address as well, because I’ve set it up and said, “Yep, that’s me too.” Using the alternate In my case, I’ve now set up as my alternate or recovery email address for my account. You’ve now told the primary service (Gmail) that this other account (on ) is also yours. (Screenshot: )Įnter this number received on the second, alternate account, into the box that was presented by the first, primary account, and click Verify. Sure enough, there’s a message in that account’s inbox with a code. In my case, that means I open for my account. Now, go visit the inbox for that other account. This is to make sure you didn’t mistakenly enter an invalid account or an email address belonging to someone else, and you can actually access that recovery account. The primary account - my account - has sent an email with a security code to the recovery account I’ve specified. You’ll be asked to enter a verification code. (Screenshot: )Įnter your other email address: the second account that you intend to use as the recovery account. This varies depending on which service you’re using, but for Gmail, visit /security, look for the section “Ways we can verify it’s you”, and then click on Recovery email. I sign into to access one and for the other. I can send and receive messages using either. So far, they are completely independent of one another. A second account - the account I’ll use as the alternate email address for the original one.The original account - the one for which I want to specify an alternate email address.In my case, that’ll be now have two separate email accounts: You start by creating (or using) a second email account.įor example, I have a Gmail account, If I want to set up an alternate email address for that account, I’ll create a new email account somewhere else. It also applies to any non-email service that takes an email account as a recovery or alternate email (like social media accounts, for example). My example will set up a recovery email address for your Gmail account, but this concept applies to any email account anywhere. Make certain to keep your recovery account up-to-date and access it periodically to ensure it’ll be there when you need it. Your ability to receive a recovery code on your recovery account proves you are you and should be allowed back into your primary account should you ever be denied access. Recovery email accounts are separate email accounts you configure to give your primary accounts another way to contact you.
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