Google could delete your account — wiping Gmail and docs — if you haven't used it in 2 years. Here's what to know, and how to protect your data.

• Google said it might delete inactive accounts later this year, including Gmail, photos, and docs.
• Google said the move is a safety measure to prevent unused accounts from being hacked.

Google is moving to erase unused personal accounts that users haven't logged into for two years or longer — that means potentially losing everything in the account, including your Gmail, photos and Google Docs.

The rationale behind the move is safety, according to the company, which said in a blog post on Tuesday that old passwords and unattended account security alerts could lead to unused accounts getting hacked. Such accounts also lacked gatekeeping measures like two-step verification, which add extra barriers against suspicious logins, according to the company.

"Meaning, these accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam," Ruth Kricheli, vice president of product management at Google, wrote in the post.

On the one hand, good riddance to the embarrassing Gchat conversation histories from the 2010s, which might otherwise be lurking in the ether for posterity.

But losing an account also means giving up a lot associated with it, beyond old junk emails and unsent drafts lost to the sands of time. It means you might lose your old Blogger posts from 2004, or your YouTube account, and everything in your Google Workspace, a loss that could vanish some of the only records of a time in your life.

And many Gmail users have records still of value, even if they may not log in to access them regularly.

For instance, Gmail users may have multiple accounts — they might have run out of storage space on an old primary account, and had to create a new one in order to avoid paying for more storage. And as some have pointed out on Twitter, inactive accounts can contain vital information for those unable to access them in the short-term for a variety of reasons.

But Google will spare accounts that auto-forward messages, a representative confirmed to Insider.

How to keep your Google account active

For those of us worried about the fate of our old documents, photos, and other records, there's still time to preserve our data. Google says it's planning to start the housekeeping process in December, and says it "may delete the account and its contents" then if it hasn't been used in two years.

Google also posted a number of simple tips to keep the account active — the equivalent of moving a mouse around periodically to keep your computer screen on. The company suggested measures like sending emails or going on YouTube while signed in, or accessing its Workspace tools like Google Docs, according to its post.

To preserve old data, Google also suggested measures like moving the account's contents using its "Takeout" feature, or emailing out valuable information and data to other active accounts.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk said that unused Twitter accounts could be erased (though he also added they'd be archived). The move prompted criticism, including from those who'd hoped to preserve the Twitter accounts of deceased loved ones.