Change your primary domain for Google Workspace

This page is for administrators.

If you get a new domain or rebrand your company, you might want to change the domain for your Google Workspace account. Then you can use the new domain for your email addresses, Drive sharing, Google Meet, and other services.

Switching your primary domain is an involved process. You might consider adding another domain to your account instead. Learn about Alternatives to changing your primary domain.

Requirements

You cannot change your primary domain if: 

• You purchased your domain when you signed up for Google Workspace.
• You are still in the free trial period. If you signed up with the wrong domain, cancel your Google Workspace account.
• Your domain is unverified. You can verify your domain or cancel your Google Workspace account.
• You are a Google Workspace or Google Cloud reseller. (Note: If you are the customer of a reseller, be sure to notify your reseller after you change your domain.)
• You have G Suite legacy free edition.
• You have Google Meet Hardwaredevices.
• You have the Chrome Enterprise Upgrade.
• You have the Chrome Education Upgrade.
• You have the Kiosk and Signage Upgrade.
• You are using Chrome Management.

Contact support for assistance with these services:

• Support for Google Meet hardware 
• Support for Google Workspace for Nonprofits 
• Support for a standalone offline Chrome Enterprise Upgrade, a standalone Chrome Education Upgrade, a Chrome Enterprise trial, and for a Chrome Browser Cloud Management subscription

Change your primary domain

To change your name for an address that ends in @gmail.com, follow these steps.

Signed up the wrong domain? You can cancel your Google Workspace account in the trial period.

You add the new domain to the Google Admin console and set up email. Then you update the email addresses of your users and groups (for example, [e-mail]) to use your new primary domain.

You can keep your old domain as a domain alias so you get email at both your new and old email addresses.  

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Step 1: Prepare for the switch

1. Be sure you can sign in to the domain host (for example, GoDaddy or Enom) of your new primary domain. You need to update domain settings, and your domain host can help you.

2. If you purchased your account from a reseller, notify your reseller before switching. They can help with the switch.

3. If you have any classic Google Sites, switch them to the new Google Sites. When you remove your old primary domain, classic Google Sites are deleted.
4. Notify your users about the switch and the steps they need to take. On this page is a sample notification.

Step 2: Add your new domain and set up email

Adding a new domain won't affect or change your current email.

Before you begin: If you already added your new domain as an alias, go to Remove a domain. You can come back and add that domain as a secondary domain and then change it to your primary domain. You might need to wait up to 24 hours for verification before you can change the domain to your primary domain.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AccountDomainsManage domains.
3. Click Add a domain. For Domain name, enter the name of your new domain. You must own the domain name, and it can't be used with any other Google Account. If you get an error, check these troubleshooting tips.
4. For Select a domain type, select Secondary domain and click Add domain & start verification. 
5. Follow the verification instructions.
   Tip: Verification isn't difficult, but there's a lot of technical jargon. Contact your domain host or the company where you purchased your domain. Their Support team can help you verify your domain and set up email.
6. Click Continue and verify domain ownership.
7. Set up Gmail by updating the new domain's MX records. The setup won't affect or change your current email. For the steps, go to Activate Gmail for Google Workspace.
8. Click I have completed these steps.
9. (Optional) To prevent spoofing (spammers sending messages that appear to be from you), set up SPF and DKIM. Setup takes a few minutes, but really helps your email from being blocked as spam. For the steps, go to Help prevent spoofing and spam with SPF and DKIM.

Step 3: Switch to new primary domain

Tip: Try the Home page quick link. On your Admin console Home page, click Change your primary domaingo to step 3.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AccountDomainsManage domains.
3. Click Change primary domain. If you don't have this option:
   • You have a domain alias. To continue, go to Step 2 on this page and follow the Before you begin information to remove the domain and add it back as a secondary domain. 
   • Your account doesn’t support switching primary domains. To verify, on this page, go to and review Requirements.
4. In the Change primary domain box, click Continue.
5. In the search box, enter your new primary domain or select it from the list.
6. Click Change Primary Domain.
   Important: It can take up to 48 hours for your new primary domain to take effect.

Step 4: Switch users and groups to your new domain

Update users with your new domain

You’ll change each user’s email address to use the new domain name. Before you start, review the information in Impact on Google apps when changing a user's email address.

Important: When you update your own admin account, you’ll be signed out. You then sign in with your new username.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryUsers.
3. Click a user to open their account page.
4. Click Update User.
5. Under Primary email, click the Down arrow and select your new primary domain.
   
   
6. Click Update User.

Tip: If you have many users, you can use a spreadsheet to update usernames. For more information, go to Rename user addresses in bulk after changing your primary domain.

Rename mailing groups with your new domain

Update your group addresses to use your new primary domain name. For example, change the address [e-mail] to [e-mail].

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryGroups.
3. Click a group you want to rename to open the group's page.
4. At the top of the group's page, click Edit .
5. Click the Down arrow and select your new primary domain.
6. Click Save Group Info.

Step 5: Use or remove the old primary domain

Choose how to use your old domain with Google Workspace:

• Get email at your old domain and new domain
  Use your old domain as a domain alias. Then you can send and receive email at your new primary domain and old domain at no additional cost.
   

You'll remove your old domain and then add it as a domain alias. Learn how

• Keep your old domain as a secondary domain (default) 
  You can add a separate set of users to the secondary domain. Users have their own email address at the secondary domain, and you pay for each account.
• Remove the old domain
  If you don’t want to use the original primary domain, remove the domain.

Step 6: Update your Google Workspace settings

Update settings for:

• Billing
• Domain aliases
• Marketplace apps
• Logos and custom URLs
   

1. Make sure important billing notifications are sent to the correct email address, and check your business contact information.
2. If you had any domain aliases, remove and then add them back to your account.

   Note: The domain aliases are linked to the old primary domain. After you remove the domain alias, it can take 24 hours before you can add it back.

3. If you installed apps from Marketplace, check with the app developer about whether you need to reinstall the app. If an app saves data based on the domain name or a user's email address, some data might be lost.

4. (Optional) To edit sites on the old domain (which are visible using the old URL) have users enter the new domain name in the URL. For example, instead of sites.google.com/a/old_domain.com, go to sites.google.com/a/new_domain.com.
5. (Optional) Update custom logos and custom URLs that show up in your users' Google Workspace account.

If you have a Google Cloud account, there's no impact to your projects or resources. The Google Cloud organization resource display name might take several days to update.

(Optional) Share instructions with your users

Let your users know about the change and steps to take. Here’s a sample notification you can customize. For additional steps or tips to include, check the impact of changing a username.

Sample notification – Use your new domain

We changed our email from <old-domain.com> to <new-domain.com>. Here's how to use your new email address:

New name—Your new address will be <[e-mail]>. You’ll use this address to sign in to your Google Workspace account (your password is unchanged).

Our mailing groups, such as info@ and sales@, have switched to our new name.

Recommended steps

1. Update your email signature with our new name.
2. If you’re using <any Marketplace or custom apps>, sign out, and then sign in with your new address.

Sample notification – Use your new and old domain email

We changed our email from <old-domain.com> to <new-domain.com>. Here's how to use your new email address:

New name—Your new address will be <[e-mail]>. You’ll use this address to sign in to your Google Workspace account (no change to your password).

Email—Any mail sent to your old address will arrive in your inbox as usual. Your old address is an alias (additional address) to your new address.

Our mailing groups, such as info@ and sales@, have switched to our new name. But you’ll still get email sent to our old group names.

Recommended steps

1. Update your email signature with our new name.
2. Set up Gmail to send messages from your old address.

   In the Email Address field, enter your old email address.

3. If you’re using any Google Workspace Marketplace or custom apps, sign out, and then sign in with your new address.

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