Do you have ~15 year old emails available in gmail?

I don't think my earliest emails are available at all, I may well have deleted them, but even if they were, the device that remained logged in is over a decade old, uses POP or IMAP or something and barely functions. Not the gmail web interface, that's out of reach.

I wonder if signing up for Google One, which apparently comes with support, would possibly get access to a real person who could resolve the issue?

IMAP might do it via the "All Mail" folder? (Just a guess.)

Also, anyone who still can should print out Google backup codes and store them somewhere safe. Google Authenticator is not enough, because phones break eventually. A Yubikey is not enough, because they can break too.

> Also, anyone who still can should print out Google backup codes and store them somewhere safe.

The 2fa set up process for many websites (and iirc Google too) do not make this a priority. They should clearly emphasize the importance of saving the backup codes, and make you check a box that says you printed them. The 2fa should not be enabled until that is done.

I remember within the past few years when I was talking to someone who seemed to be unfamiliar with the idea of storing all your really important papers in a safe deposit box. I'm not sure if that's the times have changed, or the particular person I was talking to, or that it never was that standard.

Google Auth now enables you to export codes. I have the same authenticator on multiple phones at home (being a mobile dev i have a crapton of phones)

You need more than one Yubikey and probably three. Keep at least one somewhere reasonably remote and safe (lockbox, your parents' house, etc).

...not to mention there is or was an option to delete email automatically after downloading, that I used to use.