If you've clicked the reset link in your password reset email and landed on an error page instead of the "set your new password" screen, you've hit one of the two short-lived states a reset link can be in: expired, or already used.
The good news is that the fix is the same in both cases, takes about thirty seconds, and you don't lose any progress — your account is unaffected.
This article walks through exactly what's happening and how to clear it.
The two reasons a reset link stops working
Reset links are deliberately short-lived. There are two specific limits, and one of them is almost always responsible:
They expire after about an hour. If you requested a reset, then left the email sitting unopened in your inbox while you did other things, the link inside will have quietly timed out by the time you click it. This is the more common of the two cases.
They only work once. The first time you click the link and complete a password reset, the link is spent. If you go back to the same email later and click the same link a second time — say, because you forgot the new password already, or you opened the email on a different device — the second click will fail.
You don't need to figure out which of the two it was. The fix is the same either way.
How to fix it
The cure for an expired or used-up reset link is to throw the old link away and ask for a new one.
Go back to the sign-in page.
Click Forgot password? below the password field.
Enter the same email address you used last time.
Submit the form.
A fresh reset email is on its way within seconds. Open it, click the link inside, and you'll land on the "set your new password" screen — the one the expired link was trying to take you to.
The old email in your inbox is now a relic. You can delete it; the link inside is permanently dead.
A small note about the in-between state: if you submit the Forgot password form and then hunt for the new email, make sure you're clicking the most recent one.
Inboxes tend to surface the older message first if you scroll up by accident, and the older message is the very link you just retired. The new email is always the one with the most recent timestamp.
A few practical tips
Reset links are short-lived for security reasons — the shorter the window, the less time someone has to do anything with a link they shouldn't have access to. But that does mean the flow rewards a bit of momentum. A few small habits make it easier:
Do the reset in one sitting. From "click Forgot password?" to "I'm signed in with a new password" takes about two minutes if you don't stop in the middle. The trouble starts when there's a gap of half a day between requesting the email and clicking the link.
Use a recent reset, not an old one. If you've requested a reset more than once during the day, only the most recent email's link will work. The earlier ones are all expired or superseded.
Open the email on the device you're going to set the password on. If you request the reset on your laptop but open the email on your phone, the new-password page opens on the phone — and then you have to log in on the laptop separately afterwards. Doing the whole flow on one device is simpler.
Save the new password somewhere safe. A password manager — 1Password, Bitwarden, Apple Keychain, the one built into your browser — keeps you from having to do this again next month.
When the new reset email doesn't arrive at all
If you've requested a fresh reset and the new email also isn't reaching you, the issue has shifted from "expired link" to "no email." The diagnostic path for that is over in I'm not receiving the verification email — most of the same troubleshooting applies (spam, promotions, the right address, strict provider filters), even though that article is written for the sign-up case.
If the new email did arrive but the link still won't load anything, double-check that you're clicking it within a few minutes of receiving it, and that you haven't already clicked it once.
If both of those check out and it still isn't working, the next step is [I'm locked out of my account] — there are situations a self-service reset can't resolve, and that article covers what to send us so we can help directly.
What you don't need to worry about
A couple of things people sometimes assume about expired reset links that aren't actually true, in case any of them are nagging you:
Your account isn't affected. An expired or used-up reset link doesn't lock you out, doesn't put a hold on the account, and doesn't reset anything on its own. Your existing password is still valid (if you can remember it), and your data is untouched.
There's no limit on how many resets you can request. Within reason, anyway — within a single day you can ask for as many as you need. The cooldown between requests is short.
The new link doesn't invalidate your sessions on other devices until you actually complete the reset. Only the click-through-and-set-a-new-password step changes anything. Until then, everything is the same as it was.
Where to go next
Resetting a forgotten password: The full walkthrough of the reset flow from start to finish, if you want the canonical version.
I can't sign in: The wider sign-in troubleshooting article, if you're not sure the reset is the right path at all.
I'm not receiving the verification email: What to try if the new reset email itself isn't arriving in your inbox.
I'm locked out of my account: The escalation path when every self-service option has been tried.