Many people have a need for a free Google Account. However, they don’t want or need a Gmail address. This includes longtime users of a personal email service from Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, Comcast and others.
Just a few of the reasons you may want to create a Google Account (without Gmail) are:
- You were invited to join a Google Meet that was created from a Gmail account (as opposed to from a Google WorkSpace account)
- You were sent an email inviting you to edit a Google Doc, Sheet, Presentation or other app
- You want 15GB of free cloud storage for backups and for sharing large files
- You need a Google Pay account
- You want to create a free website using Google Sites
- You want a personal YouTube channel
- You purchased one or more Nest products from the Google Store and need a Google account to set them up
Here are the steps for creating your Google account and skipping over the Gmail address option:
1. If you are already logged into a business Google account, open a private or incognito browser window.
2. Go to https://accounts.google.com
3. Click the Create account link and select For myself from the dropdown.
4. Below the field that prompts for a Username @gmail.com field, click Use my current email address instead.
5. Enter your first name, last name, your current email address, and a password.
Optional but recommended: enter a strong password or passphrase that you have never used before. A randomly generated, four word passphrase takes on the order millions of centuries to brute force crack.
6. Click the Next button.
7. Confirm your new account via the existing email address that you provided.
8. Provide your phone number when prompted. You will be texted or called with a code for verification purposes.
Note: You will be asked for your date of birth. This will not be displayed anywhere. Your DOB is requested because some Google services have age requirements.
Optional but recommended: Set up two step verification. This can be done in the Security section of My Account.
Once your Google account is set up, you’ll find other options that are not listed at the beginning of this article. For example, you can upload certain photos to https://photos.google.com.
You can get 100 GB of Google Drive storage for $1.99 per month. Then, you can back up any or all files from your computer’s local drive to the cloud using a free app called Back Up and Sync.