I have three Gmail accounts: one that’s associated with this blog, my “standard,” everyday Gmail account, and one that I use solely for online ordering and signing up for offers. Switching between them has always been a pain: I’d have to log out of one, then log into another,- until I discovered that you it’s possible to toggle between accounts in a second or two.
All you need to do to make this happen is go to google.com/settings and enable “Multiple sign-in” –
Just click on “Edit” adjacent to Multiple sign-in, and you’ll see this (click on image for a close-up) –
You’ll be prompted to check the three boxes: this is intended to alert you to the fact that not all Google products support multiple sign-in. Note that Mail, Calendar, Google+, News, Voice, and Reader all function just fine.
You may have to log out of your account for the changes to take effect. Once you do, switching between accounts couldn’t be much easier: first, click on the drop down box in the upper right hand corner of your mailbox, then click on “Switch account,” as shown below:
All you need to do after that is click on the account to which you want to switch:
Note that Multiple sign-in only works with desktop browsers now: you can’t use it on your phone. For the services which don’t work with Multiple sign-in (e.g., Blogger, Picasa), your account will default to the first account you signed in with during your browsing session.
Hope you find this of use!
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Cool. For Hotmail I open two different browsers, usually Chrome and Firefox, but that’s potentially wasteful of memory not to mention processing power (thanks, Adobe Flash, for being such a processor cycle hog even on websites that don’t seem to use much obvious Flash).
Did you ever give much of a review on the Macbook Air 11.6″ edition? I remember a quickie review but not your long term impressions….
[Reply]
Kevin Reply:
February 5th, 2012 at 9:24 PM
Michael,
No… of course the next gen MB Air is out now, with backlit keys and (I believe) a better processor. In any event, I love the thing. I use it every day, and it’s the only computer I bring with me when I travel.
[Reply]
A problem in having multiple gmail accounts open at the same time is that you could end up sending emails with the wrong one i.e. professional messages from the personal account.
One easy solution for this is having differently coloured backgrounds. You can set a theme through your account settings…
And, when you have four accounts open (as often happens to me), this helps a lot..
[Reply]
Kevin Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 4:28 PM
With the approach described here, you can only have one account “open” at a time (hence, “one browser” in the title).
[Reply]
Adriano Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 4:48 PM
Of course, but when you change account often, you have to pay particular care on which one you are in at that moment…
[Reply]
Kevin Reply:
February 12th, 2012 at 5:00 PM
This is really not an issue in any way. I use Outlook for my “professional” emails; Gmail for personal. I use one of the Gmail accounts extensively, one only occasionally, and one rarely. Getting them confused is never an issue.
Adriano Reply:
February 13th, 2012 at 5:40 AM
Of course, using two different programs, as you do, solves the problem. The issue, though, could (and, believe me, will) arise in those businesses where Outlook and any email client have been abolished and where the account is accessible solely through a browser interface (as happens to me).
Have a nice day!