Erasing Your Digital Footprint: A Comprehensive Guide to Deleting Your Yahoo Mail Account

What to Know

• First, cancel premium services you’re subscribed to through Yahoo and quit using this email as your recovery address.
• Log in to theYahoo Privacy Dashboard and selectContinue delete my account >Yes, delete this account .
• You have 30 days to reactivate your Yahoo account if you change your mind. Just log back in to use it again.

This article explains how to delete a Yahoo account from a web browser.

How to Delete a Yahoo Mail Account

You can shut down your entire Yahoo account and revoke access to your email address, remove all your emails, and prevent people from messaging you. This is possible through the Privacy Dashboard:

It’s easy tomigrate your Yahoo Mail data to Gmail if you plan to switch to Google’s email service. Alternatively, maybe you just want toexport your Yahoo Mail contacts so you can import them into adifferent email service . You must do these things_before_ you cancel.

1. Open Yahoo Mail and log in if asked.
   You canrecover your forgotten Yahoo password if you’re not sure what it is.
2. Hover over your name at the top right of the page and selectManage your account from the menu.
   
   If you’re paying for any Yahoo subscription services, cancel those now to avoid unexpected payments;open My Subscriptions to see if you have any active subscriptions.
3. ClickPrivacy controls at the top.
   
4. Scroll to the very bottom of the Yahoo Privacy Dashboard page and selectDelete My Account .
   
5. Read the text on the page titled “Before continuing, please consider the following information.” It details what you will lose when you delete your Yahoo Mail account. PressContinue delete my account .
   
6. Enter your email address once more into the field provided.
7. Select Yes, delete this account .
   

In some cases,Yahoo won’t remove everything for up to 180 days , but that depends largely on the country you signed up from. Data connected to paid Fantasy Sports products might be kept even longer.

If you got your Yahoo Mail account withBT Group , you can’t cancel your account using the Yahoo website. Instead,contact BT directly to have your Yahoo Mail Premium account deleted.

Deleting Yahoo Mail is only possible if you delete the whole Yahoo account. This means, of course, that your emails will get removed, but you’ll also lose access to your My Yahoo settings, calendars, Yahoo Fantasy teams, Yahoo Finance portfolios, and any other data stored in Yahoo’s services.

Although it used to be the case, you will not delete your Flickr account if you delete your Yahoo account. This is true, however, only if you’ve upgraded to the latest login system. If you haven’t, or you’re not sure,contact Flickr to ask about this .

Here are some important things to be aware of when it comes to deleting your Yahoo account:

• What will happen to my Yahoo Mail email address? Your username and email address will be available for others to use in the future, so they might receive messages meant for you if senders still use your old email address.
• Can I reactivate a closed Yahoo Mail account? Yes, you can reactivate your account even after you’ve marked it for deletion. To reopen a deleted Yahoo account, log in within 30 days of deleting it. You can do this through the regularYahoo Mail web page. Once you’ve reactivated the account, you can start getting emails but you will not see messages that were sent to the account while it was closed.
• What happens to emails sent to my address after I close my Yahoo Mail account? In the meantime (starting as soon as you close your account), senders trying to message your deleted Yahoo Mail account’s address will receive a delivery failure message.

Once you close your Yahoo Mail account, anyone who tries to send a message to your email address will immediately receive a delivery failure message. Also, any online accounts that are using your Yahoo email as the recovery address will no longer be able to send you recovery information.

To avoid confusion and concern, tell your contacts you are about to close your Yahoo account — both from the email address you plan to use in the future (so they can easily reply to reach you) and from your Yahoo Mail account (to ensure delivery).

FAQ

• How do you change your Yahoo Mail password?
  Tochange your password , log in to Yahoo Mail and select your profile image at the top right. Go toManage your account >Security >Change password .
• How do you block unwanted senders in Yahoo Mail?
  Toblock mail from unwanted senders , log in to Yahoo Mail and go toSettings >More Settings . In theSecurity & privacy section, selectAdd underBlocked addresses . Type the sender’s address in the box and pressSave .
• How do you add a contact in Yahoo Mail?
  To automaticallyadd someone as a contact when they email you, log in to Yahoo Mail and openSettings >More Settings . SelectContacts >Enable .

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