Can I change primary email address in LinkedIn?

Having the right primary email address set up on your LinkedIn profile is important for managing your account and optimizing your experience on the platform. Your primary email is used for receiving notifications from LinkedIn, resetting your password, and more. So what if you want to change your primary email address on LinkedIn because you no longer have access to the email account or for other reasons? Fortunately, LinkedIn allows you to change your primary email, although there are some limitations.

Why Would You Want to Change Your Primary Email?

There are a few common reasons why you may want to update your primary email address on LinkedIn:

• You no longer have access to your old email account – If the email you used to create your LinkedIn account is an old work or school email you no longer have access to, you’ll want to update to a current personal email address.
• You want to use a more professional email – If you initially signed up with an informal email address, changing it to something like [email protected] can give your profile a more polished look.
• You’re consolidating email accounts – If you’re trying to manage fewer inboxes, you may want to change your LinkedIn primary email to match your new consolidated account.
• You’ve changed your name – If you’ve legally changed your name due to marriage, divorce, etc., you may wish to update your email address to match your new name.

Having an email address you can reliably access is crucial for staying on top of important messages from LinkedIn and being able to reset your password if needed. So if your current primary email is outdated or not professional enough, changing it can ensure your account remains secure and functional.

Can You Change Your Primary Email Address in LinkedIn?

The short answer is yes, you can change your primary email address on LinkedIn. However, there are limitations depending on whether the account is tied to a personal or company email address.

Personal Emails

For LinkedIn accounts using a personal email address like Gmail or Outlook, you can change your primary email through your account settings. Just follow these steps:

1. Login to your LinkedIn account and click on your profile picture in the top right corner.
2. In the dropdown menu, select Settings & Privacy.
3. On the Account page, find the Change Email Address section and click Change Email Address.
4. Enter your new desired primary email address.
5. Confirm the new email address.
6. Check for a confirmation email from LinkedIn sent to your new email and click the link inside to verify the change.

Once you complete those steps, your primary email address on LinkedIn will be officially changed. All notifications and alerts from LinkedIn will now go to your updated email inbox.

Company/Work Emails

For LinkedIn profiles using a company or work email, you cannot change the primary email directly on your account. This is because the work email is tied to your company’s LinkedIn page and account administration.

If you need to change your work email, you have a couple options:

• Contact your company’s LinkedIn administrator and ask them to update your work email listed on the company page.
• Create a new LinkedIn profile using a personal email address. You can then add your work history and connections from the old profile.

Keep in mind when switching from a work email to personal email, you will lose access to any company pages you helped manage and insights from being tied to the company account.

Step-by-Step Guide to Changing Primary Email on LinkedIn

For personal LinkedIn accounts, here is a step-by-step walkthrough for changing your primary email address:

1. Access Account Settings

First, log into your LinkedIn account and click on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen. This will open up a dropdown menu.

In the dropdown, select Settings & Privacy to access your account settings.

2. Navigate to Change Email Section

On your account Settings page, scroll down and find the section called Change Email Address. Click on the blue Change Email Address button within this section.

3. Enter New Email

A pop-up window will appear prompting you to enter your new desired primary email address. Type your new email into the first field.

4. Confirm New Email

Double check that you’ve entered your new email correctly and re-type it into the second field to confirm the change.

5. Verify Via Email Link

After entering your new email address twice, click the blue Change Email button at the bottom. LinkedIn will then send a verification email to your new email address.

Open up the confirmation email and click on the verification link inside. This will confirm and complete the email change in your LinkedIn account settings.

6. Confirm Email Updated

Once you’ve clicked the verification link, you can log back into LinkedIn to confirm your primary email has been officially changed. You can check it under your profile settings.

And that’s it! Those six steps allow you to successfully change your primary email address on LinkedIn to an updated personal email. Going forward, all LinkedIn alerts and notifications will be sent to your new email inbox.

What Happens When You Change Your Email?

When you change your primary email address on LinkedIn, here are some key things that will happen:

• Your login/username will remain the same – You login using your LinkedIn username, which doesn’t change when you update your email.
• Connections stay intact – Updating your email doesn’t affect your network or connections.
• Email switches for notifications – LinkedIn will begin sending notifications and alerts to your new email instead of the old one.
• Access email required for login – You need access to the updated email in order to login and receive password reset emails going forward.
• Profile URL remains the same – Your public profile URL does not change when you change your email.

So in summary, only your primary email on file changes – everything else including connections, notifications, public profile, etc. will remain the same after updating your email address.

Limitations to Changing Email Address

While you can change your primary email address on LinkedIn, there are some limitations to be aware of:

• Can only change email once every 60 days – LinkedIn limits how frequently you can change your email to prevent abuse.
• Work emails often can’t be changed – If your LinkedIn account uses a work/company email, you likely can’t change it yourself.
• Need access to new email – You’ll need to be able to access the new email address to login and reset passwords going forward.

Additionally, your inbox may continue receiving some notifications at the old email address up to 10 days after the change. But overall, the process is relatively straightforward for personal accounts.

Pro Tips for Changing Email

Follow these tips and best practices when preparing to change your primary email on LinkedIn:

• Double check new email – Carefully confirm the accuracy of the new email you enter to avoid issues. Typos can cause problems down the line.
• Verify after change – Be sure to promptly click the verification link after requesting the change to complete the process.
• Update other accounts – If you’re changing emails across platforms, update your other accounts like Facebook and Twitter too.
• Check folders for verification – The confirmation email may get filtered to Spam or other folders, so check thoroughly.
• Review settings – Take the chance to review and update any other account settings like your profile visibility.

Taking these steps helps ensure your email change goes through smoothly without any hiccups in the process.

Can I Change My Email Back?

If for some reason you change your LinkedIn email address and later want to switch it back, you can do so. But you’ll have to wait 60 days before being able to change your email again per LinkedIn’s limit.

Here are the steps to change back to a previous primary email address:

1. Wait 60 days from the initial email change (LinkedIn restriction)
2. Go to account Settings and Change Email Address section
3. Enter your old/previous email and confirm
4. Check for a new verification email and click the link to confirm

After clicking the new verification link, your primary email will be changed back to the original email address on your LinkedIn account.

Never Change Primary Email?

While the ability to change your primary email address is useful, there are some cases where you may want to stick with your existing email rather than changing it. Here are some reasons you may opt to never change your primary email on LinkedIn:

• You still have access to the email – If your current email still works fine, no need to fix what’s not broken.
• Established professional identity – Keeping a consistent email can maintain your personal brand you’ve built up.
• Pain of updating contacts – Having to update your email for all connections and contacts can be a hassle.
• Loss of company insights – Your access to company statistics may change when switching from work to personal email.
• Hassle of changing logins – You’ll need to update any apps or services that utilize your LinkedIn login email.

For these reasons, some professionals choose to simply keep their original LinkedIn email address intact even if they have newer personal emails available. The continuity of identity and contacts may outweigh the benefits of updating.

Conclusion

Being able to update your primary email address on LinkedIn can be important to keeping full access and control of your account. For most personal accounts, you can change your email one time every 60 days by going through a quick verification process.

However, there are cases where changing your LinkedIn email may be impossible or inadvisable. Company email accounts usually can’t be altered, and those with longstanding identities may prefer consistency. Overall, assess your own specific situation to determine if changing your primary email makes sense for optimizing your LinkedIn experience.

So in summary:

• Yes, you can change your primary email on LinkedIn for personal accounts
• Change is limited to once per 60 days
• Company emails often cannot be changed
• Pros and cons to weigh when considering an email change

With the right expectations and workflow, you can successfully update your primary email on LinkedIn when needed. Just follow the step-by-step process outlined above.