Restore a suspended Gmail account

This page is for people who manage email accounts for a company, school, or other group. To restore your gmail.com account, read about disabled accounts.

If Google suspends a user's Gmail account for violating Google mail policies, you might be able to restore their email service in the Google Admin console.

While the user's account is suspended, they can't send or receive mail. But they can keep using Drive, Calendar, and other Google services.

Why can't I restore a Gmail account?

If you can't restore a Gmail account, it might be due to one of the following reasons:

• The same user's account has already been suspended 5 times during the same calendar year.
• In extreme cases, Google requires waiting 24 hours before restoring an account.
• The user's account was automatically suspended by Google for abuse.
• You're using the legacy free edition of G Suite.

Restore a suspended Gmail account 

Here's how to restore a Gmail account that's been suspended by Google. To restore an account suspended by an administrator, go to Restore a suspended user.​

Restore a suspended Gmail account

To complete these steps, you need the appropriate User management privilege. Without this privilege, you won't see all the controls needed to complete these steps.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryUsers.
3. In the Users list, find the user. For details, go to Find a user account.
4. Click the user’s name to open their account page.

   At the top left, a message indicates why the user's Gmail account is suspended. 

5. (Optional) To find out how the user can avoid exceeding bandwidth limits in the future, go to Gmail bandwidth limits.

6. At the top right, click Reactivate.
   Note: Within the Users list, you can also click MoreReactivate within a users column.

   If the Reactivate option isn't available, you must wait up to 24 hours before the limits are reset automatically. During this time, the user can still use other Google services.

7. Click Reactivate to confirm.

   The user's Gmail account will be enabled within 15 minutes, after which they can sign in and access their email.

Limit on restoring a Gmail account

You can only restore the same Gmail account 5 times each calendar year. If an account gets suspended more often than that, no one can reset it, including Google Support. You must wait 24 hours for the account to be automatically re-enabled.

To help a user avoid getting their account suspended, show them Google mail policies.