• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

Email marketers face a potential new headache heading into 2026: Google is allowing Gmail users to change their email addresses without losing data.

People can now dump embarrassing addresses that they might have created as teenagers or when changing their names. 

Google has long allowed Gmail users to change addresses, but not to retain the messages and data stored with them.  

That's the big change coming with this rollout. Now, Gmail members can keep the old messages, allowing them to change their addresses without losing anything. 

The option to change is available for email addresses that end in @gmail.com. The new addresses need to end the same way.

The old addresses will be automatically be continued as aliases, and will be used as recovery emails. 

The rollout has not taken place worldwide—this announcement reportedly is based on a translation to English of a Hindi-language support page. But it is coming, according to multiple reports. 

The challenge for email marketers is to link the new addresses with the old. Incoming messages will go to both accounts, but this risks annoying customers with repetitive messages. Some might complain of spam. 

Moreover, consumers might respond from either account. 

It’s a problem that can be solved--other email services already allow it. But commercial email senders need to know about it in advance.