How to Recover a Forgotten Yahoo! Mail Password

There might be a really important message waiting for you in your Yahoo! Mail account... but you will never know if you have forgotten your password.

If you have not also forgotten the answers to your secret questions or have a secondary email address added to your Yahoo! Mail account, help is available.

Recover a Forgotten Yahoo! Mail Password

To reset your Yahoo! Mail password if you have forgotten the phrase or cannot access your account:

1. Open the Yahoo! Sign-in Helper page.
2. Type your Yahoo! Mail email address over Email address or phone number.
   
   Tip: It's enough to enter your Yahoo! Mail user name (what comes before "@yahoo.com", for example, in your Yahoo! Mail email address).
3. Click Continue.

Now, Yahoo! Mail's sign-in helper will walk you through the options.

If you have a mobile number associated with the account and can access text messages received there:

1. Click Yes, text me an Account Key under Do you have access to this phone?.
   
   If you do not have access to the phone, make sure you choose I don't have access to this phone so you get other options for recovering your forgotten Yahoo! Mail password.
2. Enter the account key received by text under Verify that you have this phone.
3. Click Verify.

If you have a secondary email address associated with your Yahoo! Mail account:

1. Click Yes, send me an Account Key under Do you have access to this email?.
   
   If you suspect somebody may be reading your email or cannot receive messages at the address any more, make sure you click I don't have access to this email instead.

1. Type the account key you got by email (from #) under Verify that you have access to this email.
2. Click Verify.

If you do not have access to either a secondary email address or phone number, Yahoo! may ask you for other information to verify your identity, such as contacts in your Yahoo! Mail address book.

Once you have successfully recovered access to your account, you can change the Yahoo! Mail password to whatever you like (and will remember); it is best, of course, to use a strong email password.

I Cannot Recover My Yahoo! Mail Password Using the Automated Process

If you have run out of options for Yahoo! Mail to verify your account automatically, there is very little you can currently do. You can try posting about your situation to the Yahoo! Help Community, where Yahoo! employees gather information:

1. Visit this Yahoo! Help Community Password and sign-in forum.
2. Read this post about help recovering passwords for individual accounts.
3. You can post to the Password and sign-in forum to add your feedback.
   
   You may have to create a Yahoo! Help Community account to post.
   Important: Do not post any personal information, such as the Yahoo! Mail email address to which you have forgotten the password, phone numbers, remembered passwords or anything similar.