Changing Account Email Address Conundrum

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  resurrectedtoday · Member · May 22, 2019 at 4:37 pm

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  1. I created a separate WordPress account this morning using a new email address before I understood that I could change the email associated with my active account.

  2. When I figured out that I could change the email address in my active account, I deleted the account I created this morning.

  3. I then tried to change the email address of my active account to the new email address but it says the email is already associated with an account, which happens to be the account that I created and then deleted this morning.

  4. Do I have to wait the full 30 days to pass after deleting the account I created this morning so everything associated with that deleted account is gone before I can change the email address in my active account to that new email address?

  Yes I’m fully aware that I created this problem myself by not digging far enough into the settings of my active account to figure out that I could change the email address, but is there a faster solution?

  Thanks

  P.S. Where did the live chat go that’s referenced in the following page. https://wordpress.com/help/contact

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  staff-blorbo · Staff · May 22, 2019 at 11:10 pm

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  Email addresses under deleted accounts cannot be re-used for a set period of time, but have you thought about using a gmail alias? Instead of using this:

  yourrealemail (at) gmail (dot) com

  Use this:

  yourrealemail+otheraccount (at) gmail (dot) com

  You can make that +1, +whatever, +doesnotmatter … whatever letters or numbers make the most sense to you. Gmail will ignore the plus sign and anything after it. But we won’t, so it’s in effect a second email account that delivers to the same address.

  Want to give that a try?

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  musicdoc1 · Member · May 22, 2019 at 11:23 pm

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  staff-blorbo,

  What about restoring the deleted account, as described in the Account Restoration support page, and then changing that account email address. Wouldn’t these two steps make the desired email address immediately (or quickly) available for another account?

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  supernovia · Staff · May 22, 2019 at 11:25 pm

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  @musicdoc1 that would work, too, but the other method is probably faster.

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  musicdoc1 · Member · May 28, 2019 at 4:43 am

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  @supernovia, staff-blorbo,

  Is information on this plus sign trick available in a WordPress.com support document?

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  fstat · Staff · May 28, 2019 at 7:26 am

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  Hi @musicdoc1,

  No, it’s not. It’s a well-known trick like the dot (.). You can read more about it here:

  https://gmail.googleblog.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways-to-get-more-from-your.html

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  musicdoc1 · Member · May 28, 2019 at 8:58 am

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  Hi @fstat,

  Thanks pal. : -)

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  stevewitherspoon · Member · May 28, 2019 at 11:39 am

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  The problem has been solved. I chose to create a new gmail account.

  Thanks for the help.

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  resurrectedtoday · Member · May 28, 2019 at 11:47 am

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  I took advice from others and created a new email account.