How to Recover Deleted Gmail Account – A Complete Guide

Losing Google account data can be harmful to an SMB for a multitude of reasons. It might lead to downtime, revenue loss, and legal fines. Learn how to recover deleted Gmail account from our comprehensive guide.

This article covers several options for Google account recovery with native and third-party tools:

1. The data in the Google account has been wiped.
2. The user forgot the credentials
3. Admin needs to recover a deleted account
4. Recover a permanently deleted Google Account
5. Recover an archived Gmail account
6. Recover data with SpinOne

How to recover data deleted from Google Services

Google Services may lose critical data due to cyber accidents. These accidents include ransomware attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, or accidental deletions. Recovering the data without a third-party backup tool will be a tedious procedure.

If you look for data recovery of an existing Google account, please read the following articles:

• Gmail Recovery Best Practices for IT Admins
• How to Recover Deleted Files from Google Drive
• How to Recover Google Team Drives
• Google Contacts Recovery
• Google Calendar Backup and Recovery

Learn more about Cloud Data Recovery Strategies for SMBs.

How to Restore Deleted Gmail Account Data Using Google Takeout?

Some SMBs choose Google Takeout to back up their data. To recover deleted Google Services data with Takeout, take the files you downloaded, unzip them, and upload them to the respective Services. This method has multiple drawbacks.

First, you can’t automate the process. Second, you will get a zip file that you will have to unzip before restoring the data deleted from your account. Third, you can’t guarantee the frequency, and thus your Recovery Point Actual might be substantially bigger than your Recovery Point Objective.

If you are seeking to recover an individual account, please read this article.

How to recover a Google account if the user forgot the credentials

The case of lost credentials is probably the most frequent problem that Google Admins face. Luckily, it’s super easy to recover them. Here’s what Admins need to do:

Step 1.

Go to Users in the Directory section on your Google Admin Console. On the right side of the screen, you’ll see all the users of your organization. Find the one that needs Google account recovery.

Step 2.

When you point the cursor over the User, ‘Reset Password‘ will appear. Click on it. Alternatively, click on the account to open their tab and click Reset Password in the left menu.

Step 3.

In both cases, a pop-up window will appear, offering you two options:

• You can generate a new password on your own
• The system will do it for you

Remember to copy that password to a document or email. The system might also require that you confirm your identity (your email and password).

Step 4.

Give the generated password to the user. Google will require them to create their unique password when they sign in.

Tip: Require the employee to use Multifactor Authentication using their phone number.

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How to Recover A Deleted Google Workspace Account from Google Admin Console?

If an Admin has deleted a Gmail account by mistake, they can still recover it in Google Admin Console. Please, keep in mind that this action has limitations (see at the end of this section).

Step 1.

Go to the Users section and click More Options. In the drop-down menu, pick the Recently deleted users. You will be forwarded to the respective page.

Step 2.

Point the cursor over the recently deleted User you want to undelete. This will make the ‘Recover‘ option appear. Click on it.

Step 3.

In the pop-up window, confirm your action with ‘Continue.’ Then assign the Google account you recover to the organizational unit. Confirm again.

The limitations of deleted Google account recovery

Please keep in mind that this account recovery option has several limitations:

1. Admin deleted Gmail account more than 20 days ago. For example, you deleted it on February 1 and want to recover it on February 21.
2. You ran out of Google licenses. For example, you have ten licenses. You had ten users, deleted one account, and then created a new one. Now, you need to recover the deleted account.
3. Your domain is terminated.
4. Your domain has been transferred to another Google Workspace account.

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How to recover a permanently deleted Gmail account with backup

Unfortunately, if you haven’t archived or backed up an account, their data will be lost forever. However, if you have this data backed up and you have enough licenses, you can create a new account for the user and upload their data there. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1.

Go to the Users section of Google Admin Console and click Add new User.

Step 2.

In the pop-up window, fill out the account’s data (name, telephone, photo, etc.) and click Add User.

Step 3.

You will be redirected to the new page where you need to copy the automatically generated password. You can also send the sign-in instructions to the user’s private email. The instructions contain a sign-in link that will expire in 48 hours. After that, the user will still be able to sign in using the password you’ve copied.

Step 4.

Give the user the backed-up data to upload to their Drive, Calendar, Gmail, and Contacts. Or help them upload this data if they can’t do it.

If you use SpinOne, you can transfer the data to the Google account in several clicks.

Go to the Users section and pick User Status Deleted. Find the Google account you want to recover. Click on Google Service (e.g., Gmail) in the drop-down menu.

You will be redirected to the respective section (e.g., Gmail). Then click Restore and pick the email of the user’s new account. Restore the data from other Google Workspace services in a similar way.

How to prevent data loss in case of Google account deletion

Keeping a Google account of an employee that has left the company can be quite expensive. That’s why the usual practice is to delete their account. However, the data stored there can be valuable for your organization. Furthermore, it might be subject to data retention rules and regulations.

There are several ways to ensure that you can recover a deleted account and/or its data in the future.

Archive Account

Google Workspace has an option for archiving an account. Some third-party tools provide archiving for Users. Here’s what you need to know about an archived Google account:

• It costs less than a regular license.
• You can unarchive users at any point.
• User can’t access their Google account.
• Other users can access the archived user’s data.

Transfer account data

Ensure you’ve migrated the data from Google services. You can transfer the data of Drive and Calendar while completing the deletion of a Google account. However, when it comes to Gmail and Calendar, you need to complete migration with a separate tool. If you don’t do it, Gmail deleted email recovery will not be possible in the future.

Learn how to transfer Google account data.

Backup

Data backup is essential for any Google account. Keep in mind that Google doesn’t have tools for backup. We highly recommend purchasing a third-party tool to secure the data of your users.

Rename account

One of the least popular options is to rename the existing account and give it to a new employee. It is the easiest way. However, a new employee might have negative emotions about such a decision. Learn more about secure employee exit.

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Recover an Archived Google account

Sometimes, an Admin needs to recover an archived Google Account. Here’s the procedure to follow:

Step 1.

Go to the Users Section of Google Admin Console. Find the necessary account.

Step 2.

Point your cursor over the Google account you want to recover and click More. In the drop-down menu, choose Unarchive. Confirm your action.

Note the limitations for unarchiving a Google Account. If your organization doesn’t have a free license for a Google Account, recovery will not be possible. Learn more about Google Archive.

How to Recover a Permanently Deleted Google Account Data with SpinOne?

SpinOne offers SMBs backup functionality that can recover a deleted Google Account or Google Services data in a couple of clicks.

How to recover a deleted Google Account and Google data with SpinOne

SpinOne enables companies to recover deleted data from Google Services or an individual account. Deleting a user doesn’t impact SpinOne, and their data stays in your storage permanently. To recover a permanently deleted account, simply create a new account and utilize the Restore function in SpinOne. This will transfer all Google Services data to the new account.

Why secure your account with SpinOne

Here are the main reasons to entrust the backup, recovery, and data security of your Google account to SpinOne:

1. SpinOne provides a daily backup of all the data of an account.
2. This process is fully automated, a safeguard from human error.
3. The data is stored on GCP, AWS, Azure, or any other cloud storage of your choice.
4. You can restore data from a certain point in time.
5. SpinOne stores file versions.
6. It is easy to find necessary account data in SpinOne.
7. SpinOne has the option to archive users at a lower cost than Google.