Tuesday, July 19, 2011

How to Sign In to Multiple Google Accounts, Simultaneously

Google has been making a lot of changes lately, and change is hard. We love Google for the most part, but with new improvements come new headaches! One issue brought by the new changes that has been frustrating for us is juggling personal and business accounts. Previously, you could have multiple Google Accounts open in the same browser, however now (after accepting new terms and conditions) it is harder to use multiple Google Accounts simultaneously. Given Google's responsiveness to user feedback, I'm assuming this account consolidation is still in BETA (at least I'm hoping this is true).

We came across a good how-to-guide to fix this problem, (See Reverse Symmetry) and wanted to share it with you in our own adaptation in 5 simple steps!

Step 1 - Click on your account name in the top, right hand corner. Select "Account Settings."


Step 2 - Go to "Security," and check status of "Multiple sign-in" field. If "Off", click edit.


Step 3 - On the following screen (below) select "On" and check all boxes below. Save.


You'll notice that Google currently only allows for multiple sign in for a handful of their products. Therefore, you will still encounter some difficulties when attempting to access several Google Products (i.e. Blogger, Adwords, Analytics) that you control via different accounts. Hopefully, they will add multiple sign in to the full suite of products soon.

Step 4 - Complete steps 1-3 for all necessary accounts.

Step 5 - Now, when you want to open another Google Account: click on your account name again, then "Switch Account". You should see a drop down with your multiple accounts. Select the name of the additional account to switch from one to the other OR right click the additional account you'd like to open and select "Open in New Tab" in your browser prompt.


That should do it! According to Reverse Symmetry, Google is now completing this process for you whenever you make a second account, but should you need to do it manually, this guide should cover you! Happy tab toggling! Hopefully, Google will soon improve this process...keep hope alive.

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