Changing your sign-in email
Updated
Before you start
Your sign-in email is the address you type when you sign in. It is not the same as a contact address a practice holds for you, and changing one does not change the other.
Only you can change your own sign-in email. Support can look at the state of a request but cannot make the change for you.
Start the change
- Go to Settings > Account.
- Choose Change Email and enter the new address.
- Confirm it is you when asked.
We send a message to the new address, and a notice to the current one so it is never changed quietly behind your back.
Finish the change
The message gives you two ways through. Either is fine.
- Open the link. It takes you to a page showing the address you are moving from and the address you are moving to. Choose Confirm new sign-in email.
- Paste the code. Copy the code from the message into the Verification code box on Settings > Account and choose Verify.
Nothing changes until you confirm. Opening the link on its own does not complete anything.
How long you have
The link and the code both work for 24 hours from when the message was sent. The request itself stays open for 7 days, and you can send yourself a fresh message at any point inside that week, up to five times.
So a code that has gone stale is not a lost request. The pending card on Settings > Account will say the code no longer works and offer Resend. Use it, and a new message replaces the old one.
After seven days the request closes. Cancel it and start again.
What happens next
Confirming signs you out everywhere, on purpose: your sign-in details changed, so every session that was opened with the old ones ends. Sign in again with the new address and the same password.
If it was not you
The confirmation page has a This wasn't me control. Choosing it cancels the change and tells the address that currently signs in. Do that if a message arrives you did not ask for, then change your password.