A decade ago, Google introduced its Inactive Account Manager which, as the title might imply, allowed users to set a time interval specifying when their account would be labeled as inactive. Now, Google is taking matters into its own hands as it will start deleting accounts that have gone unused for a lengthy period of time later this year.

Google will begin locking down accounts after two years of inactivity and will start with accounts that were created and then never used again after that. The announcement doesn't necessarily guarantee dormant Gmail accounts will be deleted, but in the event that one is, all content tied to that account will also be deleted, including emails, documents in Workspace, and photos.

Google also laid out an explanation showing how users can download a backup of the content from their accounts.

The company later additionally clarified that this automated deletion policy doesn't apply to accounts with uploaded YouTube videos, even if it's only one. If a popular video was uploaded years ago by a now-inactive account, it won't get lost in the purge — at least for now.

Thankfully, accounts won't be deleted on a whim. Google will send out several notifications to the owners of inactive accounts as well as the account's recovery email months before it actually deletes the account.

To avoid their account getting deleted, users can perform a myriad of actions, such as simply signing in to their account, sending or receiving an email, or downloading an app on the Google Play Store to show that they are still active. Alternatively, subscriptions will automatically keep accounts active.

Though the new policy begins today, Google will only start purging old accounts as of December 2023, giving you enough time to log back in and download all your data before you sign out for good.

Google's Inactive Account Manager is still functional and can help you set up an action plan for how your account will be managed in the event that you can no longer operate it yourself. This feature is entirely optional, and while it is an effective way of preparing your account in case of death, it'll be interesting to see how Google handles the potential deletion of accounts of users that passed away suddenly without setting up their Inactive Account Manager.

UPDATE: 2023/05/19 05:18 EST BY MANUEL VONAU

No plans to delete accounts with YouTube videos at this time

Google updated its announcement to clarify that it doesn't plan on deleting accounts with uploaded YouTube videos at this time. We've reflected this change in the article.