Article 207

CHCS customers generally have Google Apps Standard accounts. Google Apps does not offer the ability to rename accounts. You may, however, do one of the following.

1. Delete the existing account (see Caution, below), and create a new account with the desired name.
2. Change the "real name" of the existing account without changing the actual email address. Example: "Jane Doe" can be changed to  "Sam Smith"
3. Create a "nickname" or "alias" so that email to the desired address will automatically forward to the existing account. If you wish outgoing emails to display as being from the nickname, you may set this up by going to the web interface for your account and clicking Settings, Accounts, Send Mail As.

Caution! If a user account is deleted, there is NO WAY to retrieve messages, contacts or any other information stored on the server. Make sure that you have backed up everything you need before deleting an account. Once an account has been deleted, a new account with the same name cannot be created for 5 days.

Google is now offering Premier and Education users the ability to rename accounts using their API functions. If you have administrative accdess to your Premier or Education account, you may try using the API; however, CHCS does not provide this service, nor do we provide support for any issues related to API use.