Many of us have a lot of digital data locked away in our Google accounts: emails, photos, chats, documents, schedules, restaurant reviews. Losing access to that data is likely to be fairly high on the catastrophe scale.

There are steps you can take before that happens to minimize the chances of you and your Google account being permanently separated. You should put the tightest security possible around the account, which includes setting up two-factor authentication, and you should review your options for regaining access should the worst happen.

Those options now include Recovery Contacts, which is where you specify friends and relatives who you trust that can help you get back into a locked account. Here's how it works, plus information about the other account recovery features you need to be aware of.

Set Up Recovery Contacts

We'll start with the newest feature for account recovery, which is Recovery Contacts. This is a list of up to 10 people you specify, and when you're trying to get back into your Google account, they can be asked to confirm access in the same way that you might normally approve a prompt on your own phone (which is helpful if your phone is lost, for example).

To set up your recovery contacts, head to your Google account on the web, then click Security. This is the page where you can control access to your account, check the apps and devices you've linked to it, and review recent account activity. Under the list of sign in options, click Recovery contacts.