Gmail may finally be giving users the chance to change their primary email address

• The option to switch to another @gmail.com is rolling out
• It appears to be limited by region right now
• You'll still be able to hang on to your existing email address

For as long as Gmail has been around – now more than 20 years – the primary email address that you grab when you first open the account has been the one you've had to stick with. Now, it looks as though that's changing.

As spotted by the Google Pixel Hub group on Telegram (via 9to5Google), there's been a change to the relevant support page in the official help documentation for Google Accounts, saying that it is possible to set a new @gmail.com email address.

There are some caveats here though: first, the updated help instructions are only showing up in Hindi at the moment. Second, the page says the new feature is "gradually rolling out to all users, so this option may not be available to you right now".

With both of those caveats in mind, and no other official comment yet, it seems Google might not currently be fully committed to this move. However, it does appear that there's a strong chance you'll soon be able to get yourself a new Gmail address without having to set up an entirely new Google account at the same time.

The small print

As per the support document, if you change one @gmail.com address for another, the old email address will remain as an alias. You'll still be able to send and receive emails from the old address, and you'll still be able to sign into related apps and sites (such as Google Maps or YouTube) with your old or new address.

You can even switch back to having your old address as the primary one for your account, if you want. However, once a new @gmail.com address is set as the main address, you won't be able to attach another new one for 12 months.

The primary @gmail.com for each Google account can be changed for a total of three times overall – that would leave you with four @gmail.com addresses and aliases in total – so it's worth putting some time and thought into any new addresses you set.

If you do set a new email address, the old one can't be used by anyone else, and will still appear in some places (like old Google Calendar events). Your email address can be changed via your Google Account page – but it's not showing up for me yet.

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