You never know what can happen to us at a random moment, and that is a reality with which we have to live. Therefore, it is essential that we consider what will happen to our personal information if something happens to us.
And yes, it is understandable that thinking about death is not a pleasant thing, but it is important to keep in mind the importance of protecting our information online and decide what we want to happen to her in case we are no longer here.
That being said, Gmail, Google’s popular email service, has a specific feature that allows users to set your preferences regarding the management of your account after your death. The Dormant Account Manager feature provides users a way to plan the fate of their information and make the process easier for loved ones.
How this interesting and useful Gmail tool works
So how exactly does this feature work? Well, Gmail has some options that allow users to proceed as they see fit, and these can be completely deleting the Gmail account without notifying anyone, or on the contrary, share some sections of the account with the people you wantIt is something that is up to each person.
Now, the first thing to define is the time in which you want the Gmail account to be considered as an inactive account. Here people can choose periods ranging from 3, 6, 12 or 18 months. Of course, more than that will not be possible, since Google has already communicated that each and every one of the accounts that have not had any type of activity in two years will be eliminated.
Already when there is a month left for the established time to expire, and if the user has not carried out any type of activity with his account in all the past time, Google will seek to communicate with this via email or SMS to give you a warning of the matter.
Once the point just mentioned has been clarified, it is time to define what we also discussed at the beginning: designate trusted contacts or permanently delete the account. Regarding this, trusted people (can be up to 10 users) may access certain information and content, according to user preferences.
For example, you can grant access to emails, information from YouTube, Google Maps or to certain documents stored in Google Drive. This option can be especially valuable in situations where you need to access important information, such as financial data or employment contacts, to close accounts or notify key people.
On the other hand, if the user prefers all their information to be permanently deleted once their account becomes inactive, they can also set this option. This guarantees no traces of your online presence and protects your privacy and security.
To configure inactive account management in Gmail, all you have to do is click here to access the Google inactive account manager. From there, you can choose trusted contacts and set preferences for access or deletion of information. Naturally, the page will tell you what to do depending on what you want.
