If you use Gmail or any other Google service, you may have seen a prompt at some point to set up Inactive Account manager. This feature is designed to give someone else access to your Google account if you die or become incapacitated.
The service basically lets you set up a timer and notification so that if you don't use your Google account for a period amount of time, Google will notify whoever you name and give them access to selected parts of your Google account. It's one of the many ways you can arrange to pass on your digital life after you pass away.
The question is: Should you use it?
Time Is On Your Side... Then Again, Maybe Not
First, the minimum amount of time you can set up for the Inactive Account Manager is three months. That is, if you become incapacitated or die, Google won't hand over your account to your trusted person or people (up to 10) until three months after you last logged in or showed some other activity. The other options are in three-month increments up to 18 months.
Now imagine some crazy scenario in which you just don't use Google for months—Google will warn you one month before the three months is up. This alert is connected to a phone number, although I don't know if you'll get an automated robo-call or a text message (Google doesn't say). So, you do have an opportunity to avoid mistakes.
You have to provide a phone number for each of your trusted contacts, as Google says it uses the phone number to help verify their identity. Consequently, you might have to be update those phone numbers every so often.
Wait, What Does "Inactive" Mean, Exactly?
Google determines whether you've been "active" not only by sign-in dates for your Gmail account, but by other Google activity, too, including your Web history and Android check-ins.
This could throw a wrench into your plan. Let's say you share a computer with your family members, and you typically don't sign out of the Chrome Web browser. Then something unforeseen happens, and you're in a coma. Meanwhile, your significant other continues to surfs the Web at home from the shared computer. Her activity looks to Google like you've been "active" in your Google accounts (because you never signed out of Chrome). Three months go by, and the inactive account manager never enables because Google thinks you're still alive and well and shopping online for new sheets.
Google Services to Include or Exclude
One neat feature of Google's Inactive Account manager is it lets you choose which Google services or apps your chosen person will be able to access after you have not logged into your account for some time. The services include:
- +1s (i.e., a Google "like")
- Blogger
- Contacts
- Google Drive
- Google+ Circles
- Google+ Pages
- Google+ Photos
- Google+ Stream
- Hangouts
- Location History
- Orkut
- Picasa Web Albums
- Profile
- Google Voice
- YouTube
You can specify which areas of Google each of your trusted people can access. For example, you can hand over your Blogger account to your business associate but give the keys to Gmail to your significant other.
One worry I have is that the segmentation of these services could change over time, and what I assign to different people now could later merge with other Google services. For example, what if at some point in the future Google decides to merge Google Voice and Gmail? I might want to give my Gmail access to someone, but not my Google Voice number and history. But if Google rolls Voice into Gmail, and I don't remember to update my Inactive Account Manager settings after that change takes effect, then my designee would have access to both.
How to Tell Your Trusted People
The last step in the Google Inactive Account manager setup asks you to customize a message that Google will send to your trusted people so they are clear about what's happening.
That's a great place to list any additional details about what you want them to do (or not do) with your accounts. For example, if a lot of other online accounts are connected to Google or a Gmail address, you might want your trusted person to know he can do password retrievals or resets to unlock those other accounts, and if that's what you want him to do, you can say so in the message. This might also be the place to add a few caveats, such as, "If for some reason everything is fine and I just haven't logged into Google for a while, please let me know before you go into my accounts."
Other Reasons to Use Google Inactive Account Manager
Finally, there's one more option that you might want to in Google's Inactive Account Manager: the "delete account" option.
Let's say you don't want to pass on anything in your Google account to another person, that'd you prefer it to be wiped off the map. In this case is turn on the delete option, but not add any trusted contacts. Google will delete your account once you meet the time-out period specified in Inactive Account. You can also turn on the "delete" switch with trusted contacts also set up, but Google doesn't specify how those events will be handled simultaneously. It's unclear if the trusted contacts get a set period of time to download or migrate the data.
Even if you don't decide to use Google's Inactive Account manager, you probably should think through what you want to happen to your online accounts after you pass away, particularly email and social media accounts. I personally want my loved ones to have a sense of closure regarding my online life after my physical life has ended, and if I can help them achieve that, I certainly will.
Get Organized is a weekly series of articles on PCMag.com to help you keep your digital files and online life organized. Check back every Monday for new tips and tricks. For more from Jill Duffy, follow her on Twitter @jilleduffy.