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Google working on multiple-account sign-in, finally

by Erez Zukerman on July 15, 2010 at 06:00 AM

Google Operating System reports that Google is testing a feature for signing in using multiple accounts.

While the post itself has a screenshot (which you can see above), it does not include any instructions on how to enable this functionality. This is obviously a limited or closed-beta test; the question is just how limited it is.

This functionality is not just "useful" – it is often vital. I have one account tied into an AdWords account, another account tied into Analytics, and yet a third Apps account. Merging them is impossible, especially as long as Google Apps doesn't support Reader. Having a way to sign into all three at the same time from the same browser would certainly make things less irritating.

Tags: accounts, google, login, sign-in

Comments

KhurtJul 15th 2010 6:35AM

Neutral

If you ( I'm speaking directly to the author) are going to want to tie all your Google accounts together, why did you create separate accounts in the first place?

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EatmoldJul 15th 2010 7:35AM

Neutral

I would guess their in a situation like me.
I have adsense setup on an old hotmail [spit] account
I have my main gmail account
I have a gmail account for syncing my work calendar to (had to setup this way, as multiple calenders wouldn't let me auto accept into the right calender)
I also have a separate gmail account for a website I run.

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DuffinJul 15th 2010 10:04AM

Neutral

The answer is simple. I have an account I use for friends and personal stuff. I have an account I use when signing up for stuff that may get me added to mailing lists. I also have one strictly for business/professional-related activities. I have a whimsical email address for my personal emails which doesn't look very professional, so I separate them as well as my contacts.

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dmorris68Jul 15th 2010 1:27PM

Neutral

Lots of reasons, as others have pointed out. For me, I have an Apps account that hosts my main email account, a personal Gmail account that I've had since the early days of Gmail, a Google Voice account that doesn't work with an Apps account, Google Reader doesn't work with an Apps account.

What they really need to do, even beyond the ability to sign-in to multiple accounts, is to enable all Google functionality from an Apps account. Then I could access 99% of all my Google stuff through my Apps account.

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KhurtJul 15th 2010 3:40PM

Neutral

@dmorris68 @Duffin While I understand that your use Google Apps service on your personal branded domain, these services were designed and offered as "professional" accounts for use by enterprises and other large orgranisations.

Unless Google provides a mechanism to prevent it, I doubt any organisation would want it's employee integrating corporate services (Google Apps) into regular Google services.

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