The big G recently made a controversial change to Gmail, making it possible for users to send email messages to anyone from their Google+ profiles. The integration means that if you use both Gmail and Google+ services, anyone on Google+ can now email you without knowing your email address. The change has become a lightning rod for controversy, particularly among privacy advocates who do not want their Gmail account being shared among their Google+ circles. What even struck more is the fact that the new feature is opt-out rather than opt-in, meaning it’s enabled by default, and those who don’t want it must disable it manually. Fortunately, it’s fairly easily to disable this feature and in what follows, we’ll guide you through the step-by-step process of doing that.
If you’re using a Google Apps account, you may not have this feature yet enabled. Users having generic Gmail accounts, however, can follow this guide to switch it off. First of all, log into your Gmail account.
When you’re in your inbox, click the small Gear button at the top-right corner of the screen, followed by clicking ‘Settings’ from the drop-down menu.
Make sure you stay on the ‘General’ tab and scroll down to locate the ‘Email via Google+’ option. This new features contains four type options in the drop-down menu: Anyone on Google+, Extended circles, Circles and No one. You can also click ‘Learn more’ to read more details about what each option does, although all of them should be pretty much self-explanatory. To disable this feature altogether, all you have to do is select ‘No one’. Though if you still want those in your Google+ circles to be able to send you emails without knowing your Gmail address, you should go for the ‘Circles’ option.
After you have made the appropriate changes, scroll all the way down and click ‘Save Changes’ to let the new settings come into effect.
That’s it; the new feature will no longer bother you by letting people send you emails without knowing your email address. Some people are also reporting that their setting was set to ‘Circles’ by default (mine was ‘Anyone on Google+’). Nevertheless, setting it to ‘No one’ should help you keep Gmail and Google+ separate in this regard.
I hope the above guide would help you. If you have something to add or any feedback regarding the process, don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments section below.
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