Unlike a Windows PC or a Mac, setting up a Chromebook is a breeze. All you need is your Google account and you are good to go. The same goes for adding and using multiple accounts in Chrome OS. So, if there are multiple people in your family that are going to use a Chromebook, it’s a good idea to add separate accounts for everyone. Also, you can set up multiple accounts for yourself, if you want to keep your work and personal accounts different. So, here’s how to add multiple accounts in Chrome OS and managing them perfectly:
Add multiple accounts in Chrome OS
It’s pretty obvious that you need to first add multiple accounts in order to start managing them. It’s pretty easy to add a new user in Chromebook. When you first start up Chromebook, the welcome/login page features an “Add person” button at the bottom shelf. You can just click on the button to set up your Google account on Chrome OS. If you are already logged into your account, you can just sign out to get to this login screen and then, add new users.
Note: There are also options to create a supervised account, which is basically a child account you can set up parental controls on or you could just use the Chromebook as a “Guest”.
Sign into multiple accounts at the same time
Chrome OS lets you switch between multiple user accounts with ease. However, you can only start to use multiple accounts, if yours is an administrator account. Well, here’s how to sign into multiple accounts at the same time in Chrome OS:
1. From the account you are using, click on the status area or system tray, as we know it and click on your account name. After which, you should see an option to “Sign in another user…“. Click on it.
2. If you are using this feature for the first time, you will get a message telling you about the feature and that you should only use with accounts you trust. Click “Ok“.
3. You will then get to the login screen, where you can select the other user you want to sign in with. Select the user and enter the password to login. It also features a warning saying “All signed-in accounts can be accessed without a password, so this features should only be used with trusted accounts”.
4. After you are logged in, you will see both the accounts logged in simultaneously in the status area. You can then just tap on one of the accounts to switch with ease and there’s no need to enter the account password again and again.
However, there’s no option to sign out from a single account and if you want to sign out, you will have to sign out from all accounts through the “Sign out all” button.
Note: Chrome OS lets you sign in to 4 accounts at the same time. All the active users will share the same network, while other preferences like wallpaper, profile pictures, bookmarks etc. remain different.
Transfer Windows from one account to another
When you are logged into multiple accounts at the same time, you can easily move one window from one account to another. To move a window, you can simply right click on the top of a window and you should see an option to “Move window to…“.
Just click on that and the window will open up in the chosen account. Google warns that the feature may result in unexpected behaviour.
SEE ALSO: How to Extract ZIP Files in Chromebook
Use multiple accounts simultaneously with Chrome OS
While the ability to add multiple accounts is a part of all desktop operating systems, we appreciate the fact that Google lets you switch between user accounts with ease. Also, Chrome OS lets user accounts connect with each other. As of now, you can only move windows from one account to another but we can expect Google to bring more similar features in the future. Well, that’s all from our side, if you are a Chromebook user, go ahead and have some fun with multiple accounts. Do let us know how you like it.
