Update Your Primary Email Address in Handshake

Your school usually creates your Handshake account using your institution-provided email address (for example, your .edu email). This email is your default primary email and is used for messages from your school, as well as Handshake notifications and marketing communications, based on your notification settings.

If you want to receive emails at a personal address—or you are graduating and want to keep access to your Handshake account as an alum—you can add a personal (alternate) email and make it your primary email, as long as that email is not already used on another Handshake account. 

Before you start

To add or update an email address, you need:

• Access to your existing Handshake student account.
• Access to the inbox for the new email address, so you can confirm it.
• An email address that isn’t already associated with another Handshake account (student, employer, or career services). If you receive an error indicating the email is already in use and need to verify whether an account exists, contact us with the email address and our support team will look into it for you.

Add an additional email address

1. Click your account icon in the upper-right corner of the Handshake screen.

2. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.

3. Click Account Access.

4. Click the Add email button.

The new email appears in the list as Pending until you confirm it.

Handshake sends a confirmation email to the new email address. You have 7 days to confirm the address before the request expires

Confirm your new email

1. Open the inbox for the email address you just added.

2. Find the message from handshake@m.joinhandshake.com with a subject similar to “Confirm Your Email.”
3. Open the email and follow the Confirm button.

After you confirm the email:

• Handshake displays a success message, such as:
  • “Your email has been confirmed.”

  • “You can now use any confirmed email associated with your account to log in.”
• If you want to receive messages from Handshake, employers, and your school at this address, you can make it your primary email from your settings.

Change your primary email

Once you have at least one confirmed alternate email—or if your school added another email for you—you can change which address is your primary email:

1. Click your account icon located in the upper right corner.
2. Click Settings from the dropdown
3. Click Account Access.
4. In the Emails list, find the address you want to make primary.
5. Click the three dots next to that email.
6. Select Set as Primary email from the dropdown.

What happens next:

• The change takes effect immediately.

• Your new primary email moves to the top of the list and displays a purple Primary tag.

• Your primary email is where Handshake and your school send messages and notifications.
• If your institution imported your original school email, that address can still stay associated with your account, even if it is no longer primary.

Changing your primary email does not change your login method if you normally log in with your school's single sign-on (SSO), you can continue using SSO even after you change your primary email.

Additional Tips

• If you do not receive the confirmation email, check spam or junk folders, then search your inbox for the subject “Confirm Your Email” or messages from handshake@m.joinhandshake.com.

• To resend the confirmation email, click the three dots next to the pending email, and choose Resend confirmation email.

• To remove an unconfirmed email address, click the three dots next to the email and select Delete.
• If the confirmation link expires (after 7 days), add the email again and repeat the confirmation steps.