How Do I Delete My Yahoo Account Forever?

Over 10 years ago, Yahoo was the most prominent email service in the world. Since then other email services like Gmail have replaced Yahoo as the people's email platform of choice.

Trying out a new email service is the primary reason why most Yahoo users want to permanently delete their accounts. The other reason is that is to keep email data secure so that it can never be accessed.

Yahoo has fallen victim to cyber attacks more often than other mailing services. Therefore, protecting your data from malevolent sources is a truly worthwhile reason to delete your account.

Things to do before deleting your account

There are a few things you should do before you start deleting your Yahoo account. Doing these things will ensure that you can completely delete your account with little effect to your life as possible.

The first thing you need to do is to backup all your Yahoo mail and attachments. You do not want to lose any important information when you delete your account. You should save all the important attachments and emails in your computer. Another alternative is to forward them to your secondary email address.

The second thing you should do is export your Yahoo contacts. Valuable contacts should be maintained as it can be devastating if they are lost. To export your contacts, open your email and go to the 'Contacts' option. Click 'Action' and then 'Export' to a secondary location.

If you permanently close your Yahoo account, you lose access to all Yahoo products such as Yahoo ID , Mail, Address Book data, Small Business data, GeoCities data, Briefcase data, My Yahoo data, HotJobs data and your Flickr account. Change the primary email address through which you can access the above data before deleting your account.

You should also cancel any paid Yahoo subscription services like the Flickr Pro Membership so as to avoid unwarranted charges on your account.

The last thing you should do before deleting your Yahoo account is to remove all third party access to the account. Third party access allows instant access to your Yahoo account. Removing third party access also includes removing any child accounts linked to you account. Replace all third party access with a secondary email.

Once you have done the above, you can get started on deleting your account.

Deleting your Yahoo account

You can delete your Yahoo account through the following process:

1. Go to the Yahoo Account Delete Page
2. You will be prompted to sign in. input your Yahoo ID and password. If you have an account key set up, Yahoo will text you the mobile number. You will also probably be asked to fill in a CAPTCHA for security reasons
3. On the next page you will see a page titled, 'Before continuing, please consider the following information.' Scroll to the bottom of the page and click 'continue delete my account'
4. Reenter your email address in the empty field provided.
5. A confirmation page will appear with two options: Terminate This Account or Return to Account Information. Click 'Terminate This Account.'
6. Confirm the deletion by locating the message 'Your account has been deactivated and scheduled for deletion.'

Help Desk

Another option is to contact the Yahoo customer service department through their online help desk and ask them to delete your account. You can get the link to the help desk through GetHuman.

The deletion process takes about 90 days to complete. If you log in to your account during that period, you can retrieve the account and the stored information.

It is crucial to note that Yahoo states that some information may remain in their records even after you delete the account. Visit Yahoo's Data Storage and Anonymization support page for more information.