Can't change email address

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  casualrambles · Member · Oct 20, 2021 at 2:01 pm

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  Hello,

  I am unable to change the email address linked to my account, it says that the email address is already being used, but that account associated with it has been deleted.

  Best regards.

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  musicdoc1 · Member · Oct 20, 2021 at 7:56 pm

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  Hi,

  Whether you’ll be able to use that email address at this time depends upon when the account was deleted. See the Re-using an Email Address section of the Close My Account support page.

  If you closed the account in order to reuse the email address on another account, then that isn’t the correct way to do it on WordPress.com. The correct way is to change the email address on account A to something else. This immediately releases the previous email address so that it may be used as the account email address for account B.

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  musicdoc1 · Member · Oct 20, 2021 at 8:01 pm

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  If the closed account was closed within the last 30 days, then it can be restored as described in the Account Restoration section of the Close My Account support page. Restoring the account would allow you to change its account email address to something else, freeing the email address for use on the other account.

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  staff-blorbo · Staff · Oct 20, 2021 at 9:03 pm

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  What is the email address you’re trying to use?

  If you write it here like a normal email address, it will only be visible to staff.

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  casualrambles · Member · Oct 20, 2021 at 10:53 pm

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  Hi macmans,

  The email address I would like to change to is (email visible only to moderators and staff). Am I correct to say that if I wait 30 days from deleting the account it was associated with then I will be able to use it again?

  Many thanks.

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  staff-blorbo · Staff · Oct 20, 2021 at 10:55 pm

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  Yes, that email address did indeed belong to a deleted account here.

  It will be fully released 30 days after deletion, or you can recover that account and email address by replying to the deletion confirmation email within those 30 days.

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  casualrambles · Member · Oct 20, 2021 at 10:58 pm

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  Thanks, I’ll just wait for it to be released as I have no other reason to recover the other account and can wait to change emails.

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  supernovia · Staff · Oct 20, 2021 at 11:11 pm

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  @casualrambles as a workaround, you could change the address to [redacted] (with a dot). Your email provider considers that the same address, but our system will see it as a separate address. Hoping that helps!