Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Need help changing primary e-mail address on Mozilla support forum

  • 9 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by dg1727

more options

I set about updating my e-mail address on this forum. I followed a hyperlink which had been e-mailed to me automatically in the past by the forum, and which pointed to support.mozilla.org

The first screen (whose URL I don't want to try to get right now because doing so might sign me out of my Support.Mozilla.org account) offered only an option for creating a new account, not signing into an existing account. It turns out that this is a very significant wording mistake that needs to be corrected.

Since I thought my existing account didn't exist anymore, I made a new account with my new e-mail address.

Then I found that the short username assigned to my new account had a "1" suffixed - which meant that my existing account did exist after all. So I deleted the new account. I also managed to sign into my existing account by using the misleadingly named "Create a new account" method.

The next problem was how to change my primary e-mail address. There is no evident way to do this. I eventually found article https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/change-primary-email-address-firefox-accounts which confirmed my suspicion that the recommended workaround is to add the new address as a "secondary address," then delete the primary address. This is another significant issue that needs to be corrected. I'm registered on possibly dozens of Web forums etc. & all of them (except Mozilla) simply let me change my e-mail address when I need to.

Anyway, now apparently the support forum doesn't let me add my current e-mail address as a secondary e-mail address, because there is still a record of this address on the defunct account that I just now created. Also, the error message here is worded incorrectly (it claims that my new e-mail address is the same as my old e-mail address).

Can I please have assistance from a forum admin in getting my e-mail address updated, without change to my short username.

I also wish there were a more obvious way to ask for help (or raise defect reports) regarding the forum itself.

Thanks for your help.

I set about updating my e-mail address on this forum. I followed a hyperlink which had been e-mailed to me automatically in the past by the forum, and which pointed to support.mozilla.org The first screen (whose URL I don't want to try to get right now because doing so might sign me out of my Support.Mozilla.org account) offered only an option for creating a new account, not signing into an existing account. It turns out that this is a very significant wording mistake that needs to be corrected. Since I thought my existing account didn't exist anymore, I made a new account with my new e-mail address. Then I found that the short username assigned to my new account had a "1" suffixed - which meant that my existing account did exist after all. So I deleted the new account. I also managed to sign into my existing account by using the misleadingly named "Create a new account" method. The next problem was how to change my primary e-mail address. There is no evident way to do this. I eventually found article https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/change-primary-email-address-firefox-accounts which confirmed my suspicion that the recommended workaround is to add the new address as a "secondary address," then delete the primary address. This is another significant issue that needs to be corrected. I'm registered on possibly dozens of Web forums etc. & all of them (except Mozilla) simply let me change my e-mail address when I need to. Anyway, now apparently the support forum doesn't let me add my current e-mail address as a secondary e-mail address, because there is still a record of this address on the defunct account that I just now created. Also, the error message here is worded incorrectly (it claims that my new e-mail address is the same as my old e-mail address). Can I please have assistance from a forum admin in getting my e-mail address updated, without change to my short username. I also wish there were a more obvious way to ask for help (or raise defect reports) regarding the forum itself. Thanks for your help.

Chosen solution

The issue with changing the e-mail address of my support.mozilla.org account seems to be sorted now.

That is, I've successfully deleted the new account (dg17271) that I unwittingly made; I've specified that account's e-mail address as the secondary address for my original Firefox account; and then I've swapped that address into primary status for my original account.

Thanks to all who replied to this thread.

The code for deleting an account appears to have been updated since mid-May when we were last discussing this (for example, there are now tickboxes to acknowledge that deleting the account will delete extensions & themes that were published to addons.mozilla.org, and so forth). Probably some of these code updates included fixes to the similar-accounts problem of mid-May (in which my new account wasn't really deleted even though I was shown a confirmation that claimed the account had been deleted).

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (9)

more options

when it comes to Mozilla accounts, they are all over the place.

ok. so to make a long story short: you are unable to delete the initial account ?

can you log in to any or both accounts via your ff browser?

more options

Thanks for responding to me.

I wanted to delete the new account, and I've done so.

I can log into the old account via Firefox; that's how I'm writing this reply.

I don't want to try to log into the new account, because I don't want to use the new account at all.

I want to add my new e-mail address to the old account as a secondary e-mail address, but the last time I tried that, the Web app didn't let me do that.

I'll be glad for further assistance.

more options

ok. i did this the other day, whereas i delected my initial account, created a secondary account and then added my initial email address as the secondary. so i think you are trying to do the same.

firstly, if you try to log into the FF account with the initial email address, it should not work because you should have deleted the account. if its not deleted, then the account is still active. simply being logged out of it, is not adequate.

nextly, log into the FF account with your subsequent email address. And once the account is opened up, you will find a place to add a secondary email address:

https://accounts.firefox.com/signin

more options

I've tried to continue with this in response to your latest posting:

For the 2nd time now, I've gotten a confirmation page on what I seem to remember is the Mozilla Accounts website (I'm not sure of the exact URL) telling me that my 2nd account has been deleted or "closed." Not just "logged out," but deleted.

I also, just now & for the first time, used Firefox's Edit > Preferences to delete my support.mozilla.org cookies, in case those were holding a record of my 2nd account.

But it seems that my 2nd SMO account still exists. I need this account to be deleted so I can move its e-mail address to my 1st account.

Thanks in advance for help from users or from the SMO admin team.

By the way, a couple more bug reports for the admins:

On https://support.mozilla.org/[locale]/users/edit it says:

> To change your email or avatar, visit the Firefox Accounts page

This should say something like:

> To change your email or avatar, click the Manage Firefox Account button below

Also, when I clicked the Preview Reply button for a previous version of this text, I got "There was an error generating the preview." Moreover, when I clicked Post Reply, I got an "Access Denied" page. Perhaps the problem was that I used curly braces. Users should be able to use curly braces in these postings, and error messages about forbidden text characters should specify the cause of the error so that the user can tell how to correct the problem.

Many thanks again.

more options

thanks for the additional information.

but as i cited, i had accomplished the same task without any difficulty.

deleting the cookies was a good idea.

i wonder if using the same email server may be your issue?

I mean, in my case the 2 email addresses were differring servers, ie hotmail.com & gmail.com

so let us digest what you have cited above and see if we can come up with workarounds for you.

incidentally, when you deleted the initial account, did you also delete the data? there is a little check box on the provide during the confirmation to delete the account.

more options

I don't know whether it's possible to re-use an email address used for a deleted Firefox Account on a new Firefox Account. Before deleting your main account, you'll want to find that out, or you may end up with nothing and need to open a new email account.

more options

Thanks for following up with me.

I have no intention to delete my main account; I just want to change its e-mail address.

To use dbben's wording, I've never tried to delete my "initial account," only the 2nd account I made.

Also responding to dbben: The 2 e-mail accounts involved *are* from 2 different servers.

In trying to find the checkbox that dbben mentioned (which I don't recall ever seeing), I signed in as the 2nd account, then browsed around a little (without logging out) and suddenly was shown the e-mail address & short username that are registered for my 1st account. This seems to be clearly a bug.

I would like admin attention to these issues, please.

more options

If this is your other account then it is still active.

You can login to the Firefox Account via this website to see if that allows to delete the account via the settings page (scroll to the bottom).

more options

Chosen Solution

The issue with changing the e-mail address of my support.mozilla.org account seems to be sorted now.

That is, I've successfully deleted the new account (dg17271) that I unwittingly made; I've specified that account's e-mail address as the secondary address for my original Firefox account; and then I've swapped that address into primary status for my original account.

Thanks to all who replied to this thread.

The code for deleting an account appears to have been updated since mid-May when we were last discussing this (for example, there are now tickboxes to acknowledge that deleting the account will delete extensions & themes that were published to addons.mozilla.org, and so forth). Probably some of these code updates included fixes to the similar-accounts problem of mid-May (in which my new account wasn't really deleted even though I was shown a confirmation that claimed the account had been deleted).