"My password's not working/has been changed."

***Before going any further, make sure you're entering your username and password exactly as you registered them. Any dots in your username need to be there, and make sure not to put any spaces. NOTE: If the error message you get when signing in says your account is disabled, click the [?] in the message to find your troubleshooter.***

If you've forgotten your password or username, or if you see the message 'Username and password don't match' when you try to sign in to Gmail, use these troubleshooting tips to recover your sign in information.

This Help Center page has absolutely every link and suggestion we can provide to get you back into your account. Make sure to follow the troubleshooter all the way through. Some options might take you to a different article or form, but if the suggested action doesn't work, you should return to the troubleshooter to answer any follow-up questions. You'll then get to see more options.

If you're certain that your account has been compromised, and you can't recover it with your secondary address (either because you don't have one, or you've lost access to it) or your security question, you can skip straight to this form.

Make sure to fill out the form with as much detail as possible. Because we don't ask you for a lot of information when you sign up for Gmail, we need the details specified on the form to verify that the real account owner is making the request for access. Sorry, but we don't provide phone support, and we're not able to make exceptions on an individual basis.
 

"I can get into my account, but I need you to help me figure out who took it over."

If you're looking for information about a previously compromised account, you might be able to find some details in the Last account activity link at the bottom of your Gmail inbox. For any additional information, you'll need to go through legal channels.

"I read this page out of curiosity and now you have me scared. Can I do anything to protect my account?"

The best ways to protect your account are creating strong security measures and keeping your recovery info up to date.

We also recommend using the HTTPS setting in Gmail, which protects your account when you sign in from a non-secure Internet connection, like a public wireless network at a coffee shop. You can make this a default setting in Gmail by following these steps.

"But what about..."

Q: I can't access my account, and my secondary address is out of date so I'm not receiving the password-assistance email. But I can't answer my security question either. Can Google change my secondary address so I can reset my password?
A: No, Google can't change the secondary address on your behalf. In this situation, you'll need to use this form to regain access to your account. We don't have any other way to prove that you're the owner.

Q: I don't remember the answers to the questions on your form, but I have a ton of other information about my account. Can I give you that?
A: To protect your privacy, our policies prevent us from looking up more information about your account than the items listed on the recovery form. Make your best guess on dates if you're not sure about them and try to include as much information as you can.

Q: Someone broke into my account and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it back with the form. Can you disable the account for me?
A: Even if you don't think you have enough information to get your account back, submit the form anyway. When we receive your report, we'll look for any suspicious activity that may have occurred in the account. If we find any, we'll disable the account to prevent further damange from an unauthorized user. Please note: Disabling isn't permanent. You can still get your account back later if you can provide more details to verify account ownership through our form.

Q: I have more questions about Google's account recovery process.

A: You can learn more about the reasoning behind our process and policies in the Accounts Help Center.

Here are some articles written by other Gmail users about regaining access to your account:

     How to reset your forgotten password

     How to use the account recovery form