Body
Questions
- I have a personal Claude account on my @bowdoin.edu email. What do I need to do?
- Why can't I keep using my personal Claude account on my Bowdoin email?
- How do I move my Claude account to a different email address?
- Can I just change the email on my existing Claude account?
- Will I lose my conversations and projects when my account is deactivated?
- How do I save my Claude chats before my account closes?
- I pay for Claude Pro or Max on my Bowdoin email. What happens to my subscription?
- I'm not getting access to Bowdoin's Claude Enterprise account. What are my options?
- What is the deadline to move my personal Claude account?
- How do I create a new Claude account on a personal email?
Environment
This article applies to Bowdoin community members who have a personal Claude account (Free, Pro, or Max) registered to a @bowdoin.edu email address and who will not be receiving access to Bowdoin's managed Claude Enterprise account.
- Who: Faculty, staff, students, and other community members who use Claude with a @bowdoin.edu email and are not being provisioned in Bowdoin's Claude Enterprise workspace.
- What: How to save your work and set up a new Claude account on a personal email before your @bowdoin.edu account is deactivated.
- Not in scope: If you are joining Bowdoin's Claude Enterprise account, see the other articles in Migrating from a Personal Account for your steps.
Resolution
Why this is happening
Bowdoin is launching a Claude Enterprise account with single sign-on (SSO). As part of that setup, Bowdoin is claiming the @bowdoin.edu email domain within Claude. Once the domain is claimed, personal Claude accounts registered to @bowdoin.edu addresses can no longer exist alongside the Enterprise workspace. After a 30-day notice period, personal accounts on the domain will be deactivated.
Not everyone at Bowdoin will receive access to the Enterprise account. If you're in that group and currently use Claude on your Bowdoin email, you'll need to set up a new account on a different email address to keep using Claude.
What you need to know before you start
- You cannot change the email address on a Claude account. There is no setting for this. The only way to move to a different email is to create a brand-new account.
- Claude's data export is for your personal records only. You can download a copy of your conversations, but there is no way to import that file into another Claude account.
- Custom skills can be exported and re-uploaded to a new account.
- Chats, projects, project files, and Claude's memory do not transfer between personal accounts. You will be starting fresh in your new account.
Plan ahead: Set up your new account and export your data well before the deadline. Once your @bowdoin.edu account is deactivated, you won't be able to sign in to retrieve anything.
Step 1: Create a new Claude account
- Go to claude.ai.
- Click Sign up.
- Register with a personal email address you plan to keep long-term (for example, a Gmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo, or iCloud address).
- Complete the verification steps to finish creating your account.
If you had a paid Pro or Max plan and want to continue it, you can subscribe again from the new account after it's set up.
Step 2: Export your conversations from the old account
While you still have access to your @bowdoin.edu account, export a copy of your conversations:
- Sign in to claude.ai with your @bowdoin.edu email.
- Click your initials in the lower-left corner and select Settings.
- Go to the Privacy section.
- Click Export data.
- You'll receive a download link by email. The link expires in 24 hours, so download the file as soon as it arrives.
About the export: This gives you a read-only archive of your conversations. It cannot be imported into your new account, but it's a searchable reference copy of everything you've discussed with Claude. Save it somewhere you can access later, like Google Drive or OneDrive.
Step 3: Save your custom skills
If you've created or uploaded custom skills in your Claude account, export them before your account closes:
- In your @bowdoin.edu account, go to Settings and find the Capabilities or Skills area.
- Open each custom skill you want to keep and use its download or export option to save the skill file (typically a .zip) to your computer.
- After you've set up your new account, you can re-upload these skill files to restore them.
Step 4: Save anything else you want to keep
A few other things that won't carry over:
- Published artifacts and public share links: Save your own copies of anything you've published or shared. Public links will stop working when the old account closes.
- Project instructions: If you've written custom instructions for any Claude projects, copy the text and paste it somewhere you can find it later.
- Connected apps: Make a note of which apps or services you've connected to Claude so you can reconnect them in your new account.
Step 5: Cancel any paid subscription
If you have a Pro or Max subscription on your @bowdoin.edu account, cancel it to avoid being charged after the account is deactivated. How you cancel depends on where you originally subscribed:
Subscribed on the web (directly from Anthropic):
- Sign in to your @bowdoin.edu account at claude.ai.
- Go to Settings > Billing.
- Click Cancel subscription.
- Your access continues through the end of your current billing period.
Subscribed through the Apple App Store:
- On your iPhone or iPad, open the Settings app.
- Tap your name at the top.
- Tap Subscriptions.
- Select your Claude subscription.
- Tap Cancel Subscription and confirm.
Subscribed through Google Play:
- Open the Google Play Store app.
- Go to Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions.
- Find Claude and tap Cancel subscription.
Important: Apple App Store and Google Play subscriptions will keep billing you even after your Claude account is deactivated. Claude cannot cancel these for you. You must cancel them yourself through your device settings.
What happens after the deadline
Once the 30-day notice period ends, your @bowdoin.edu personal account will be deactivated. If you haven't exported your data by then, Anthropic will email an archive of your account data to your @bowdoin.edu address.
Your new Claude account on your personal email is completely separate and is not affected by any of this. Setting it up early gives you time to get comfortable before the old account closes.
Additional Help
If you need further assistance, you have several options:
- Bowdoin Bot: Chat with Bowdoin Bot directly from any KB page for instant answers.
- Phone: Call the Bowdoin College Service Desk at (207) 725-3030.
- In person: Visit the Tech Hub in Smith Union during business hours.
- Submit a ticket: Request assistance through the Service Catalog.
Additional Resources
AI-assisted content: This article was drafted with the assistance of an AI writing tool and reviewed by Bowdoin IT staff for accuracy.