I. Hate. Transitioning. Email Accounts.
So much so, I decided to write a guide that made it so easy I never had to waste another brain calorie 🧠 thinking about it.
As I write this, I’m on my fifth (and hopefully final) email transition – a process where email messages, contact details, and more, are transferred from one email account to another email account.
To explain, as an entrepreneur who is constantly cooking up new ideas, I have changed the core concept of my business and, in turn, the name of my company five times.
Some were minor changes, like adding the word “Consulting” or removing it. Some were complete overhauls.
Regardless, any change means I have to change my domain name and, consequently, email address.
Other than the painful expense of re-branding (and I’ll write about this process soon – I have a process for this too!), the main thing that I dread when changing my company is transitioning emails. 😩
Where is my email account used?
My email account is used for everything.
Software logins, client communications, vendors, government use, and general communication (with family and friends) to name just a few.
Your email address is strewn about the internet in so many ways, you would probably never be able to remember everywhere it was listed until it was too late.
In Gmail, there is a great “mail forwarding” feature, but if you don’t take the RIGHT actions, you’ll end up in a perpetual migration that never ends, leaving your clients confused.
The goal here is to FULLY MIGRATE from one address to another, in as painless a way as possible.
Fortunately, Google has done an incredible job of giving us a list of exactly where you have your email used as a login.
Here’s how to find it:
Step #0 – Begin by creating an “EMAIL MIGRATION” sheet in Google or Excel.
Step #1 – Go to ADMIN in your Google suite.
Step #2: Go to USERS
Step #3 – Select the USER whose email you would like to migrate
Step #4 – Select “Connected Applications”
Step #5 – You now have a list of every single login associated with your Gmail address.
Step #6 – Put all these in your Migration Google Spreadsheet
Alright… Where else has my email been stored?
That takes up much of the software and apps you have used your email address to log into – but we’re not quite out of the woods yet.
Here are some other categories that may not show up on that list:
BANKS – One category that, for some reason, don’t show up on my list.
PAYROLL PROVIDERS – Sometimes these won’t show up either.
INSURANCE COMPANIES – If you’re seeing a trend, you’re not alone. My guess is that this is a cyber security step for some of the best protected companies out there.
Finally, if you have a password protector like 1password.com or lastpass.com, use it to cross-reference. Check to see anywhere your email has been used in your list of passwords through the app.
That’s all I’ve stumbled on so far (of course, if I missed something, please help me upgrade this and leave a comment!)
How do I ensure I don’t leave any of my contacts behind?
Time for more screenshots!
Google also has a “Contacts” list, that keeps track of a lot of your correspondence.
Step #1 – Find your “Contacts”
Step #2 – Review your “Frequently Contacted” list, to ensure those people get top priority!
Step #3 – Click “Export”
Step #4 – Export a Google CSV
Step #5 – Upload these contacts into your NEW account.
We’re almost there.
Other places to be aware of are any government-related logins like IRS.com or state government websites. In Florida, we have sunbiz.org for annual reports.
Once you have these down, you should be good to set up an autoresponder on your only email, asking people to adjust their contacts.
You can also find countless mail-forwarding videos on YouTube, showing you exactly how to do this.
Finally, if I missed anything, please do leave a comment below so I can update this page. Together, we can help countless avoid struggling with this task!
