There will come a time when you would want or need to delete your Yahoo email account for whatever reason. Most of the time, it’s because juggling one too many email accounts can come as a hassle. While deactivating your Yahoo email account can easily be done, deleting it completely and permanently is a whole other job. It’s not as simple as deleting messages or emails.
Here is how to delete a Yahoo account for good.
How to Delete a Yahoo Email Account
Yahoo has certainly failed to keep up with its competitors in the past decade or so. There was a time when Yahoo reigned supreme, both in the email world and the search engine domain. It was the first provider that came to most minds when creating an email account or searching for information. The digital platform is ever-evolving, though, and the once-ubiquitous web service provider has now become an afterthought for many. In fact, members of the youngest generation probably don’t even know about Yahoo mail.
If you find that keeping up your Yahoo email account is more of a chore now — especially with your more useful Gmail account — then you might want to delete it. Keep in mind that deleting is a permanent action, which means you have no way of reversing it once it takes effect for good. And it’s because of this very fact that there is no simple “Delete Yahoo account” button. Yahoo understandably doesn’t want its users to accidentally delete their accounts. Legally, though, Yahoo can’t block you from permanently deleting your email account, so they do provide you with a way of doing so.
Steps to Delete Account in Yahoo
Deleting your email account for good will require you to enter your Yahoo mail log-in. So, if you don’t remember your email and password, you must retrieve them first before proceeding. Once you have your credentials ready, follow these instructions on how to delete your Yahoo account:
- Open your web browser of choice and go to login.yahoo.com/account/delete-user
- Enter your Yahoo email and then click on “Next.”
- Enter your password and then click on “Next.”
- Read the account termination information and then click on “Continue.”
- Click on “Yes, delete this account” to confirm deletion. (Note: Yahoo may ask you to enter your password again as an extra security measure)
- Yahoo will then inform you that your email account will be deleted.
- Click on “I understood” to confirm once more.
Deleting your Yahoo email account is a permanent action, so you must think about it for a good amount of time before coming to a final decision. After going through the deletion process, you can expect Yahoo to deactivate and then delete your account, though it will take some time. In most cases, you will need to wait 40 days for the deletion to take effect on a permanent basis.
In some countries, though, it will take longer. For instance, in Australia, New Zealand, and India, the waiting period is 90 days. In Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Brazil, the waiting period is 180 days. Make sure to read the terms of the termination before you proceed so that you know fully what to expect.
What to Expect When You Delete a Yahoo Mail Account?
You really don’t need to do anything else beyond following the instructions on how to delete your Yahoo account. For the waiting period of 40 days, you must make sure not to log back into your Yahoo email, or else the deletion process will fail. In other words, if you log into your Yahoo mail during the 40-day waiting period, your account will once again be reactivated. So, provided you refrain from logging in during those 40 days, your Yahoo email account will permanently close down.
When this happens, all of the emails sent to your Yahoo address will bounce. They will be returned to the sender along with a delivery failure notice. Because you might miss some important emails, it’s wise to first observe your Yahoo account for about a month before actually deleting it. This way, you can see whether or not your Yahoo mail receives any significant emails. If you do, you can change the associated email address with those services or inform contacts that you will be switching to a different email address permanently.
Apart from that, you must keep in mind that your Yahoo email address will become available to other people after deletion. So, if your Yahoo email address is johndoe@yahoo.com, another person who wishes to create their Yahoo email using the same address (johndoe@yahoo.com) will be able to do so in the future. Don’t be alarmed, though. That person will only be using the email address and will have no access to your personal information or existing emails.
What Will Happen to the Emails After Deleting Your Yahoo Account?
As previously stated, deletion is permanent, so you must approach it with caution. After you go through the step-by-step process of deleting your Yahoo account and the 40-day waiting period, you will no longer have access to your emails. In other words, your emails will forever remain out of your reach. They will be deleted, along with other personal information associated with your Yahoo mail. This includes email folders, calendars, active subscriptions, paid services, Flickr photos, your Yahoo Finance portfolio, and your Yahoo Fantasy teams.
Can You Still Retrieve the Emails After You Deleted the Yahoo Account?
The short answer to this question is, yes. You can still retrieve your emails after deleting your Yahoo account, but it does come with a catch. You must reactivate your Yahoo account within the 40-day waiting period after deletion. To do so, all you need to do is sign back into your Yahoo account. This will reactivate it immediately. From there, you can read through all your past emails again or look for the one you specifically have in mind.
You must remember that signing into your Yahoo email account means it will now be active again. That means you will start receiving emails in your Yahoo mail once more. If you wish to delete your Yahoo account for a second time, you will need to go through the same instructions listed above. Keep in mind that you will need to do this over and over again if you keep reactivating your Yahoo account within the 40-day period.
How to Download Your Yahoo Account Data?
Most people are wary of deleting their Yahoo account permanently because of all the lost data and content. Luckily, there is a way you can download all your data before you go through with the deletion process. To do so, follow the steps below:
- Go to yahoo.mydashboard.oath.com
- Sign into your Yahoo account.
- Scroll down to “Download a Summary of Your Data”
- Click on “Request a Download”
- Select the product data you wish to download
- Click on “Next”
- Enter the email address where you want Yahoo to send the notification of your download
- Click on “Request Download”
Requesting to download all your data is easy, but it will require patience. It can take up to 30 days for Yahoo to finish processing your request. Once your download is ready, you will receive a notification from Yahoo in the email address you entered. Keep in mind that you can’t make another download request until the first one is complete. If you run into problems, it’s best to email Yahoo for help.
Once you receive a notification from Yahoo, follow the steps below:
- Go to yahoo.mydashboard.oath.com
- Sign into your Yahoo account
- Scroll down to “Download a Summary of Your Data”
- Click on “Your Download Requests”
- Click on “Download” beside a download request
- This is also where you can cancel your download request if you wish to do so
Understanding Your Downloaded Data
After you download your data, the next step is to interpret it. In general, you will receive your downloaded data in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format. You can view this data in its raw form by opening the file using a plain text editor. On the other hand, if you want to view the information in a more understandable format, you need to search for a JSON parser. To do so, simply type “JSON parser” in the search engine of your choice. Find a third-party website or application that works for you and is safe to use. From there, all you need to do is refine the code using the program.
Can You Reactivate a Closed Yahoo Mail?
If you have closed your Yahoo account permanently — i.e., waited the full length of 40 days — then there is no way to reverse the deletion. You can’t reactivate your Yahoo account anymore. On the other hand, if the 40 days are not yet up, you can still reactivate your Yahoo account and resume use as normal. All you need to do is sign back into your Yahoo account to reactivate it. From there, you need to verify your recovery information and create a new password.
How to Redirect Yahoo Emails?
You may not want to delete your Yahoo account on a permanent basis because you still receive a lot of messages. The good news is, there is a way you can redirect or automatically forward incoming emails from your Yahoo account to another email account. This way, you can keep your Yahoo mail active without needing to log onto the account itself all the time.
Using Yahoo’s automatic forwarding feature, a copy of all your incoming emails will be sent to a separate email address of your choice. Unfortunately, though, Yahoo doesn’t allow you to use your recovery email address as your forwarding address. To redirect your incoming emails from your Yahoo account to another email account, follow the steps below:
- Sign into your Yahoo email account
- Click on “Settings” (located at the upper-right portion of the page, below “Home”)
- Click on “More Settings”
- On the left-hand side panel, click on “Mailboxes”
- Select the Yahoo email address you wish to turn on automatic forwarding for
- On the right-hand side panel, scroll down to “Forwarding”
- Enter the forwarding email address and click on “Verify”
- Sign into your forwarding address, look for the email from Yahoo, and follow the instructions provided
Yahoo Security Risks
There are plenty of possible reasons to disassociate with Yahoo, but perhaps the most popular one is the provider’s poor security features. Yahoo has a terrible track record when it comes to protecting the personal information of its users. In 2017, Yahoo released a warning of a data security issue. Forged browser cookies had apparently affected a total of 32 million Yahoo email addresses. Before that, Yahoo experienced another security issue. From 2013 to 2014, one billion Yahoo accounts were compromised. The user data of those accounts had been breached.
Sometimes, users fail to notice that their account has been compromised. If you want to confirm your suspicions, here are the common signs of a hacked email account:
- You’re not receiving any more emails
- Your email account is sending spam to your contacts
- Mail settings and account information have been altered without your knowledge
- On your recent activity page, you find unfamiliar actions or logins from suspicious locations
A Decision You Must Think About
Yahoo has certainly experienced its fair share of security breaches and privacy issues. As such, it comes as no surprise that many users want to jump ship or switch to a more secure email provider. No matter your reason, account deletion can be the obvious answer.
Before you delete your Yahoo account, though, make sure you know the expected outcomes. After the 40-day waiting period, you will no longer have access to your emails and data, including paid services and other information. Your email address will also become available for use to other people, though without the associated data or content. Once you accept the effects of account termination, you can go ahead and proceed with deleting your Yahoo account.
