Google rolls out new Account management page

If you have opened the My Account management page on Google today you may have noticed that it has been redesigned completely by the company.

The easiest way to access the page is to either open it directly using the https://myaccount.google.com/?pli=1 link, or by visiting any Google property, clicking on your profile icon at the top and selecting account from there instead. If you are not signed in to your account you need to do that first before the option becomes available.

The new management page divides account related settings and information in the three main groups Sign-in & security, Personal info & privacy, and Account preferences.

Several links are listed under each group that link to a central management page that lists all available options in a left sidebar and the currently selected option in the main area.

Sign-In & Security

The group displays sign-in related information and preferences. You may use it to run a security checkup of the account to review security settings and activities, or manage sign-in related settings on Google.

The information are displayed on a single page that offers information about certain features and links to edit settings directly.

Signing in to Google for instance lists when the password was last changed, if 2-step verification is in use and if it is since when, and whether app passwords are configured. It lists recovery options in addition to that, for instance the main recovery email and phone number but also the secret question.

If you scroll further down on the page, device activity & notifications are displayed automatically on it. There you may find listed recent security events of note, which devices were used recently to connect to the account, and a link to manage security alert settings.

Last but not least, you find connected apps & sites listed on the same page. Basically, all apps and services that you have authorized using your Google account.

Personal info & Privacy

The page uses the same setup as sign-in & security which means that all of its five different subgroups are displayed on a single page in the browser.

Personal info displays your primary email address and phone number, and options to manage the Google+ profile, search settings and shared endorsements.

You may turn off the account history on the page which you may find useful if you are using services like Google Now. Another option provided is to manage the activity with a click on toggles on the page. You may pause the recording of "searches and your browsing activity", of "places you go", "information from your devices", "voice searches and commands", "videos you search for on YouTube" and "videos you watch on YouTube".

Other options listed on the page are to manage ad settings (ad interests), to open the account's Google Dashboard which provides you with an overview of activities, and links to download data from Google and to assign an account trustee.

Account preferences

Preferences are provided to manage accessibility settings, default language & input tools, an overview of used storage on Google Drive, and options to delete accounts or services.

Closing Words

The new Google account management page improves the usability of the page significantly as it lists all relevant options on three pages instead of many smaller pages.

You may find a couple of new options there as well that you may not have had access to before. The toggles to allow or block the recording of history information for instance need to be mentioned in this regard as you had to visit different pages on various Google properties to manage these settings previously.

Now You: What's your take on the new account page? (via Caschy)

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