How to Create a New Email ID Step-by-Step

Having an email address has become essential in today's highly connected world. Email addresses are required to create most accounts that you use online as well as to communicate with friends and family. You have several different options for creating a new email ID to use online.

Gmail is a free email offering by Google that has gained in popularity over the years. After you create a Gmail account, you can use it for email and for Google's other services such as Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets and more. To create an email ID on Gmail, go to accounts.google.com and click the "Create Account" button. Type in your first and last names for the account. Type in a username for your Gmail account. If the username is already taken, Google tells you this and offers alternative suggestions. Select one of these or try typing in another ID. Type in a password and type it in again to confirm it. Google requires that you use a password with eight or more characters with a mix of letters, numbers and symbols, so you won't be able to sign up unless your password meets this requirement. Click the "Next" button and follow Google's remaining steps to complete the setup process.

Yahoo Mail is another free email service, and it provides a large storage limit of 1TB for all users. The Yahoo account you create can be used across the entire Yahoo.com site including on services such as Fantasy Sports. Create a Yahoo email ID by going to login.yahoo.com and clicking the "Sign up" link next to "Don't have an account?" Type in your first and last names before putting in your desired email ID in the "Email Address" field. Yahoo tells you if this ID has already been taken by someone else, and if it has, you are shown alternative options. Click on one of these alternative options or type in a different username. Type in your password. Make sure the password that you select is at least eight characters long with a mix of letters, symbols and numbers. Complete the email sign-up process by typing in your phone number and birthdate and then click "Continue" to sign up.

Microsoft allows you to sign up for a free @outlook.com email address. Your Outlook email address ties in to Microsoft's Outlook email and calendar program. It can also be used online with the Office 365 suite if you purchase a subscription to it. You can sign up for a free Outlook.com email account by going to outlook.com and clicking the "Create free account" button. Type in the email ID that you want to use and click the "Next" button. You need to type in a different ID if you get a "Someone already has this email address" error message. Type in your password for the Outlook account. Note that the password must be at least eight characters long with a mix of letters, numbers and symbols. Click "Next" to create the account and begin using Outlook.com for email.

ProtonMail is a popular alternative option to the big three email providers. ProtonMail is known for offering free encrypted email accounts that are said to be more secure than other email service providers. You can sign up for your free ProtonMail account by going to protonmail.com and clicking the "Get Your Encrypted Email Account" button. Click "Select Free Plan," which has a 500MB storage and 150 messages per day limit. Type in your desired username for the account and then type in your password. This password must be at least eight characters and a mix of letters and numbers. Enter your password again to confirm it. Type in an optional "Recovery email" address if you have another email address that you want on file in case you lose your ProtonMail password. Click "Create Account" to create the ProtonMail account. Note that you will not be able to recover a lost password unless you have a recovery email address associated with your account.