Also, for the record, I currently hate Google

[layla]

Come to find out, once you have a primary Gmail account (which, basically, happens automatically the first time you create a gmail account; I don't recall being given a choice about it) ... you can't change it. At all. Ever. So my new gmail email, which is the one that I want to use for G+ and everything else ... NOPE, SORRY, CAN'T DO THAT. And you can't associate a second Google email with a G+ account. This is in spite of the fact that I didn't even HAVE a gmail until I created one for chatting about a month ago; I was using a third-party email address just fine.

AAARGH.

Comments

[sara]

A thing to try: pipe one of your domains' email through Google Apps for Business (so your address would be layla@mydomain.com, or whatever). Proceed with re-signing-up from there.

(I have gmail on both the household domain and one of the nonprofit domains; whichever one has precedence on other google services depends on which I logged into first that day.)

[layla]

I appreciate the help and I feel terribly dense, but I don't know quite what you mean by "domain" in this instance. I don't host websites with Google; I'm using a Gmail email to access services like G+ and gdrive. Do you mean that I should do this with one of my Gmail emails? Or with a non-gmail email and then sign up again?

[sara]

No, if you have your own web domain -- like "laylalawlor.com" -- you can run its email through Google Apps for Business.

*pokes internet* Looks like they now charge for new for-profit accounts, but still might be something to think about -- it's a nice interface and it gives you a lot of control. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Apps

[layla]

But ... I'm still having trouble seeing how this would help. My problem is, basically, that all of the Google services I've been using and my customizations to them (all of my circles in G+, all of my documents in Google Drive, etc) have become associated with the "wrong" gmail account. If I'm logged in with my preferred gmail account, I don't have access to any of my stuff. I have to log out and log back in with the other account to, say, get to my gdocs documents or read my G+ page. What I'd like to do is switch my existing account to a new email, but you can't seem to do that. Prior to a month or so ago, I was using my main, non-gmail email to do all of this, but as soon as I created my first (test) gmail email account, it automatically switched everything to use that email, and I can't find a way to unswitch it.

[sara]

Oh -- well, no, that you can't do. You could copy over the docs to the preferred email, but I think they are very set on keeping the same email associated with G+ (which is part of why I won't touch that with a ten-foot pole, and fortunately my social network doesn't use it).

[layla]

It's probably me! Looking back at my post, it's a very garbled, incomplete explanation. I appreciate you offering help, however!

What's really bizarre about it is that Google is so stupidly focused on their "everything under one name!" philosophy ... and yet, what they're FORCING me to do in this case is to create an entire second profile and identity because they won't let me merge them. I guess it's nice to learn that it's possible to do that. One could totally have two separate Google identities, a fannish one and a non-fannish one (or whatever). The irony is that that's exactly what I DON'T want to do in this case ...