How to back up and delete your Google account

If you want to close your Google account privacy concerns or you are trying to reduce the number of internet accounts you have, the process takes some time and effort, but it can be done without much fuss.

The secret is to download a copy of all your data and check that none of your online accounts use the Gmail address you are about to close. It would be a shame if you lost access to your bank account because you forgot to change your email address in advance.

Below, I’ll walk you through the process of backing up your Google account data and then point you in the right direction to close your Google account.

Back up all your data before closing your account

Google’s Takeout service makes it easy to download all data linked to your Google account with just a few clicks. Start by visiting the Google Takeout website and signing in to the account you want to close.

Scroll through the list of various services and applications that are linked to your Google account and uncheck the box next to everything you don’t want to be backed up. I suggest leaving them all checked. It is better to have the data and not need it than to need the data and not have it. Take the time to browse through section options like Google Photos and make sure that all of your photo albums are included.

Click Next step at the end of the list. The next section will ask how you want your data to be delivered. You can have Google automatically place files on another cloud storage service (current options are Dropbox, OneDrive and Box, in addition to Google Drive) or ask Google by email with a link to download the data like this that are ready.

Then, select your export preferences. Since you are closing your account, just keep the default selection or Export once. Select the type and size of the files you want to receive.

Finally, click Create export and then wait. It may take a few hours, or even days, according to Google, for all of your information to be collected and ready for download. You will receive an email when Google finishes preparing the files.

Closing your Google account

With a copy of your data safely stored, it’s time to delete your account. Go to the Google Account website, log in to the account you’re closing and select the Data and customization option on the left side of the screen.

Find the labeled section Download or delete your data and click Delete a service or your account. Then click Delete your account. You will need to sign in to your account again.

Google will give you the option to back up all of your data and show you a list of all the services that you will no longer have access to, including the amount of data stored in each one. For example, if I delete my account, I would lose all 602 contacts I saved to Google Contacts.

After checking again that all your data is available, scroll to the bottom of the page and check both boxes to confirm that you want to delete your account and click the button Delete account button.

If you prefer to delete your entire Google account, but are more concerned with how much data the company stores about you, you can delete only the data. We also have guides that guide you in excluding your Facebook account, Amazon Account and Instagram account.