Q: The app store continues to ask me for a password for an email address I no longer have
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Jul 1, 2015 7:43 PMby Linc Davis,HelpfulApp Store products can only be updated by signing in to the store with the same Apple ID that was originally used to download them. You can't update anything, including your own purchases, as long as there are pending updates linked to the other ID.
If you can't sign in with the other ID, you have to delete all the apps that are linked to it. If you don't know which apps those are, see below.
1. Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:
kMDItemAppStoreHasReceipt=1
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
2. In the Finder, press command-F to open a search window, or select
File ▹ Find
from the menu bar. In the search window, select
Search: This Mac
from the row of tokens below the toolbar. Below that is a popup menu of search criteria, initially showing Kind. From that menu, select
Other...
A sheet will drop down. In that sheet, select
Raw Query
as the criterion, then click OK or press return.
Now there will be a text box to the right of the menu of search criteria. That's where you enter the raw search query. Click in that box and paste the text you copied earlier by pressing command-V.
3. The search window will now show all the App Store products that are installed. Compare those search results with the list of your purchases from the App Store. To see the complete list, you may need to unhide hidden purchases. If any apps were download from the App Store using other Apple ID accounts that you control, sign in to the store under each of those ID's and check the purchases.
4. At least one of the apps in the Spotlight search results is not among your purchases in the App Store. Delete each such item by following the instructions in the Apple Support article linked above.
5. Quit and relaunch the App Store.
If you find these instructions confusing, ask for an alternative method.
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Jul 2, 2015 5:30 AMby mitzimaxx,Thank you. Before I begin, I was able to find the old password to the old email address which allowed me to proceed with the updates. Do you suggest now that I follow your instructions anyways or just leave well enough alone? I'm not tech savvy and don't want to get in a jam.
Is there no way to get into the Apple ID , iCloud and simply DELETE the old email address?
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Jul 2, 2015 6:54 AMby Barney-15E,mitzimaxx wrote:
Is there no way to get into the Apple ID , iCloud and simply DELETE the old email address?
It isn't that simple. It's not an "email address." It is the username for the AppleID you created to purchase those items.
AppleID's cannot be merged or transferred. Those products will always be associated with that old AppleID.
You can either use two AppleIDs to keep the separate products updated, or delete the ones licensed to the old AppleID and re-purchase them under the new AppleID.
I don't think it is really that difficult to keep them independent. You can always change the password on the old AppleID such that they match. https://appleid.apple.com
Some people keep one AppleID for purchases and another for using the iCloud services.
