Writing and staying in touch
Create an email address
What you will be able to do In 6 minutes, you'll know how to create your own email address, with a name that sounds like you and a password that holds up.
An email address is a digital mailbox. It has a name, often your first and last name, followed by the at sign (@) and the name of the service that hosts it. To get one, you just fill in a form once, for free, with an email provider. You'll be asked for a username, a password, and sometimes a phone number to help you get your account back if you ever forget it. We're going to fill in this form together, on a screen we designed. Nothing here is real: no account will actually be created, you can try, get it wrong, start again.
Simulated screen
I practice
This screen was drawn by us. Nothing is sent, nothing is installed, and no real brand is shown.
The situationYour granddaughter wants to send you the christening photos by email, but you don't have an address yet.
The interactive exercise needs JavaScript. The written step by step, just below, says exactly the same thing.
The written step by step
The same steps, in words, to read or print. This sheet works even without the exercise.
Find where to start
Your turn On the email service's welcome screen, tap what lets you get a brand new address.
The "Create an account" button is the one that opens the sign-up form. That's our starting point.
Choose your address
Your turn In the form, tap the field where you invent the name that will go right before the at sign.
The "Choose your address" field is where you type the name that will appear before the at sign, for example manon.durand.
When the name is already taken
Your turn The site rejects your first choice: someone already has this address. Tap the right way to move on.
We add a detail that belongs only to you: a number, a year, a middle name. manon.durand1978 is already much rarer than manon.durand.
Check the password
Your turn Tap the field where you type the same password again, to check there was no typing mistake.
The second field, often called "Confirm your password", must contain exactly the same characters as the first one.
The number that saves the day
Your turn You're offered the chance to leave a phone number. Tap the box that will truly help you if you ever forget your password.
The "Phone number" field only helps you recover your account later. Filling it in now avoids a lot of trouble.
The sheet to keep
- An email address is obtained for free by filling in a single form, with an email provider.
- The address has two parts: the name you choose, then the at sign, then the name of the service.
- If the name you wanted is already taken, a number or a word is enough to make it your own.
- The password is typed twice: the second box checks that there's no typing mistake.
- The phone number requested is only used to recover your account, never for anything else.
- Write down your address and your password somewhere safe, on paper or somewhere only you know.
The reflexes in this skill
One account, one door: every door has its own key
A password reused everywhere turns one leak into a break in everywhere. A long passphrase for each important account, written down somewhere safe, holds up better than a complicated password used again and again.
I go through the official door
The address typed in by hand, the app installed from the official store, the phone number printed on the back of your card. Never the link someone hands you, even when it looks right.
I make a copy of what matters
Photos, documents, contacts: anything that exists in only one place can disappear along with the device. A copy somewhere else turns a breakdown into a minor inconvenience.
Two questions to check
Nothing is graded, and nothing is saved anywhere except in your own browser.
The site rejects the name you chose for your address, saying it's already taken. What do you do?
See the answer
I add a number or a word to make it a different name
A common name has been taken thousands of times, it's never a dead end: a number, a year, or a second word is almost always enough to make it an available address.
What is the phone number that the form asks for generally used for?
See the answer
To recover your account if you lose your password
This number only serves to help you regain access to your account, through a code sent the day you need it. Nothing else normally uses it.
I've done it
Check this box once you can do this skill on your own.
Your progress stays in your own browser.