Google sign ins have become a tad more difficult for multi-account owners now
Usually when you sign in to an Internet service or site like Gmail, you are asked to enter your username or password to do so. And if you have configured two-factor authentication, you may also be asked to provide the second code to complete the login process and access account data.
Google recently changed how you log in to its products, and if you happen to be a multi-account owner, not for the better. Multi-account in this regard means that you have access to multiple Google accounts that you switch between regularly.
The sign in form has changed significantly, with the most important change being that Google is now displaying your username (your email address usually) in the username field by default so that you cannot change it anymore.
The new Google sign in page
One account. All of Google.
Sign in to continue to Gmail.
Sign in with a different account
If you are just using that account, that is not that big of a change as you just have to type your password to sign in to the service.
The problems start when you want to use a different account to sign in. Say, you have a work and home account, or a friend wants to sign in, or you use multiple accounts to access different Google products. Whatever the reason, you may notice that the only way to go forward with signing in with a different Google account is to click on the "sign in with a different account" link underneath the login form.
If you now thought that Google is displaying a username and password field for your to log in to the selected Google service regularly, you are wrong.
Instead, you are taken to a "Choose an account" page where you can select from accounts that you have previously signed in with, or pick a new account by clicking on the add account link on that page.
Only when you click on the "Add account" link, you are taken to a page where you are allowed to enter an alternate email address and password that you want to sign in with.
Each account that you add this way is added to the list of accounts that you can switch between. So, whenever you want to change accounts, you need to perform the very same steps to do so. Instead of clicking on "add account" on the "choose an account" page, you may select an account that you have previously added. That too requires you to go through the process, so instead of being able to sign in with a different account directly, you need to click twice before you can do so.
Options
You have three options to change this behavior. While you cannot undo the new Google sign in page at all, you can:
- Clear all Google related cookies whenever you want to switch accounts to clear the email field so that you can type in the email and password field on the Google sign in form.
- Use a different web browser or a different browser profile to use multiple accounts without going through the process.
- Use a browser extension that enables you to use different accounts by using separate sets of cookies for these accounts.
Closing Words
While Google is usually about simplification and making things as easy and error-proof as possible, the new sign in page is everything but, at least if you own multiple Google accounts. Switching between those accounts has become more work than before, and there is no real reason for why the new login page has been created like this.
Now Read: Troubleshoot Gmail sign in issues
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My ISP is dropping email support so I tried gmail. And tried. And tried some more. Short answer: Yes google accounts are f***ing hard to manage (that is the google search that got me to this page) I don’t think I have multiple accounts, but is there a password for gmail and a different password for your google account? In trying to get into gmail, sometime one password would work, sometimes the other. Sometimes neither. I give up. I guess when you’ve driven everyone else out of the market, you become lazy and turn into microosoft.
So you have such good security and made so hard get to multiple accounts only your programers can use nice job remeber people pay your checks are not programers try make it not so complicated time change services
My computer would support you. And my credit card would not accept the charges. Sorry About this. I am just screwed by some one. It is not you. It is someone in my family. Thank your for patient and for chatting with me. Do you know one that want to buy a telikin computer?
Thank you John for just a fantastic hint, possibly non-developers just like us should be able to draw this specific away: )This is really vital for some sort of multi-international site when it comes to WEB OPTIMIZATION.
Thank you very much SoPOd-at-Google January 6, 2014 at 12:27 pm # , with multiple sign-in problems. It works like a charm and does not take that long. I really had nightmares about this and no-where on the Google or G-mail site could I get an answer.
Keep well
All of this is smoke and mirrors to distract you, sure, it’s ridiculous and people are rightly upset, but what they miss is that all these “permissions” are not really necessary to spy on you. All they need is your name attached to your smartphone account. This is what they DO NOT want you talking about. The FACT that it is IMPOSSIBLE to activate a smartphone on a mobile network without attaching your identity/name/etc… to said smartphone.
Why is that? Because they can spy on you. They DO NOT need your permission, by the very definition of spying. All they need is to know who owns and activates a particular smartphone.
I bet eventually all this purposeful google privacy invasion bullshit will be cleared up, and you will think victory is in your midst, but it’s not because all they needed all along was the ability to deny you the right to use a phone without your identity attached to everything you do on that phone, via your service provider.
Hey you guys are lucky. I’m just a dumb user, totally non-techy, and can’t get past the check everything page. Haven’t seen my accounts for months. Good thing I keep emails away from google.
Is there a viable alternative t google adsense and site stats?
Don’t care if they pay taxes or not. Google never will.
But help – how the hell do I get past that check everything page and please don’t tell me I have to put up with the fat woman trying to sell me adsense.
I purchased a new macbook and had a heck of a time setting up my email. Now my primary desktop mac won’t let me sign into the same e-mail I have used on the original desktop for 12 years, It says I need to email the owner to get permission, which is me (the owner) and since I can’t get on the computer I can’t. Its all messed up and so I am. I am challenged a bit with technology:) can you help.
cant log into my account can u ass assist?
I browsed the first 50 or so posts and didn’t find my issue. When I want to log in to gmail, the suggested password list (“use password for:”) includes 2 emails I don’t use anymore; one was an organization at which I had a google address and the other is an email my daughter no longer uses. But when I click “sign in with a different account” NEITHER of them show up. I would really like to wipe out the existence of that organization as it’s past history for me. Any suggestions???
The reason is simple but fkn sneaky. they want to, and now CAN TRACK you, and every “different/separate” email accounts you have. they clump all your accounts together into their data base and thus ANY “activity” on ANY of those accounts will all link back to said data base, FOREVER TO BE LOGGED AND DOCUMENTED PERMANENTLY. By following their deceptive directions and FORCED log-out-login procedures etc etc etc, it ALL gets logged as YOU so “they” can locate/track/find YOU no matter how you log in. “They” INSIST ON eliminating any and all “anonymous” accounts so “they” can and will and may find YOU anywhere and everywhere, period. Throughout History, the “DicKtators”, “Government”, “Leaders”, “Powers in Control” have used various updated measures to do such things, to keep everyone UNDER CONTROL, and EASILY ACCESSABLE if and when they decide to , or NEED to locate you and keep up with what you do, how you feel about things, your opinions, your stance, your political opinions and beliefs, etc etc etc. If you have not ever read George Orwells 1984, where “Big Brother” is watching YOU / us all, even the “Thought Police” that everyone said is a ridiculous concept, well guess again all you social media junkies/whor3s, they know YOU better than your own loved ones do, even more than YOU might know yourself. They have stats/records/etc on everyone, and they use it, most are just too ignorant, OR inundated, or oblivious, or just plain stupid to realize it
Thank you, the tip of deleting the cookies realy helped (for me, there is no option of “remove account” only “add new”
It’s crap now, I had my account for years and within 1 more year I’ll be removing it.
very nice
It’s been two days and I still cant get my account to work.
You have now lost a Gmail account user with multiple accounts. It is like Fort Knox just to try to even figure out how to get into my main one. Why would you fix what already worked. Stupid, stupid, stupid. At least allow us to choose if we like spending wasted time to figure out what your are trying to accomplish. Who ever thought of this should be fired!!!!! If I had an issue with the way it was working many of us would have already told you. Stop being like Microsoft and just making dumbass changes thinking your know what we want instead of ASSuming. I am so pissed at even Firefox that I am changing browsers for allowing stupid Bing to somehow take over.
Try using a contact manager with an e-mail client on it to get your g-mail work e-mail. You can’t because the contact manager must sign in under the main gmail account and then — yep all gmail is down loaded into the contact manager client.
I am so freak’in PO’d at all the nerd a-holes that come up with this stuff. They must think it is so cool — look lucy you have less clicks on your i-phone now. But for people that use this stuff for work it is a nightmare and there is nobody to call!!!!!!!!
Normally I don’t use gmail for work but yesterday my 2005 piece of software stopped working with my ATT Yahoo account.
Years ago I had ATT as my ISP. I’ve been paying to keep the ATT e-mail address because thousands of clients have that ATT address. Several years ago ATT gave the e-mail server work over to Yahoo. Now Yahoo isn’t accepting my SSL attempts to access my account.
Maybe updating my Contact Manager program would work but I don’t feel like spending $1,050 just because Yahoo doesn’t like my SSL authentication.
Errrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you, Martin. Your article has been very helpful.
Martin;
I have 2 laptops and one desktop. My gmail account was opened a couple of weeks ago. When I open my desktop and one
of my laptops I receive what I believe to be all of my messages and contacts. But, on my 2nd laptop, when I open my gmail
using the same email address, I see only current emails which are not reported on my other two computers when I request my email using the same address. It seems that my 2nd laptop is living under the same address a life of it’s own. My most recent messages are seen on my 2nd laptop computer but not seen when opening the same gmail account on both my desktop and 1st computer using
the same address. How can you have an address split between two computers using the same address but not receiving or opening the same emails? Many thanks for you help.
Honestly, now I hate Google!
PLEASE,arrange some modification or strategy that make enable to have my main and permanent google account for both my device and my pc,i will try to remove an extra google account which has been built by mistake.thank you
So I try to sign in with my other g-mail account I get the message that someone else already has it. Well gosh?! Maybe that’s ME?
Dwight, a coupla ideas: Are you sure you signed in to the sign-in page or might you have signed in in the “create new account” area. Do me a favor and check that out. It can be confusing.
Second, do you have your password straight?
I forward all of my accounts to different accounts, so I have a good chance of finding the email if something weird happens.
Hope this helps.
SN
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I seem to have an even bigger problem here. I have two accounts, and when I click on the ‘Sign in with a different account’ link, it takes me to the account selection screen, showing the two accounts correctly. But when I click on either account it ALWAYS takes me back round to the same account!
This is using Chrome browser, and I have cleaned out any remembered passwords.
Has anyone seen anything like this? The only special circumstance I can think of is that the email address of the first account is the recovery address of the second account.
As it is though, I can no longer login to my second account.
I know this is way late, but I just read your message and problem.
If there is an X on the upper right side of either, I’d try X-ing it out. And then do whatever you need to do to the other account.
I no longer sign in to multiple accounts because it’s too tedious to figure out the workarounds they choose not to share.
Google are moronic. My wife and I both use gmail with mine now the default. Her getting into her account is now ludicrous. I usually use Firefox and this problem is classical to this problem. When I use Internet Explorer bot accounts are shown at the log in page and it is an easy click option to select either. However Internet Explorer doesn’t remember passwords easily. I have tried getting around this by using windows credential manager but have not been able to get this to work. Typical Microsoft – nothing works easily. Any easy explanations of windows credential manager specifically for gmail login would be helpful.
I did an experiment with an older android phone. did a factory reset don’t activate anything google or anything else for that matter. All your preferences can be done later. Android has an email notifier (not gooles, leave it be) I added all my emails there even my gmail. I used Slideme android market or amazon for my apps downloads. you must check allow unknown sources on you phone to use these. Whala no google. I also deleted ALL my gmail accounts except one. It’s hard to get around google plus though. In you tube google asks which account I want to use, they list one of my old gmail accounts so I use that one. In case they do like facebook and reactivate your deleted account on login. I change everything in that account to foolishness. On my main gmail account it listed my full name, didn’t like that so I changed it. Gmail allows you to do this one time. I also noticed all popular email services want a cell number an alternate email address. Really? How do you list an alternate email address is you never had an email account? Not everyone has a cell ether. Stupid huh. Mail.com doesn’t ask for a number or alternate email address.
OK… I gonna play the devils advocate here…
What about the pond suckers/ degenerates who are stuck in a bad marriage and have a mortgage that won’t be paid out in their lifetime due to a mediocre office job, poor dieting habits and mild drinking problem… I mean lets have a little discretion here…. hey the Kennedy’s did it and no one seemed to mind… Now my accounts are all linked up and a total “rooster block” if you know what I mean…
Anyway thought I’d put that out there Google/ NSA if your listening… some of us need some privacy and some separation from our normal surface cookie cutter lives and the shit that keeps us sane and working everyday… Kapeesh!!!
FIX IT… if it ain’t broken then don’t mess with it… golden rule of usability… cause your bound to piss people off with your good intentions… and your new ways of doing things… some of us like it old school… at least wait till we die off before you muck with it…
I too have this problem, on my Samsung Galaxy’s Android browser. I have a main google account and a secondary google account. No matter which login I choose on the user account selection page, it always logs me into the secondary account.
And this mobile version doesnt even let me remove an account from the page.
Google have indeed started to become really annoying, and yes it really does feel like they are becoming the new Microsoft. Because of their lust to own all our data without regards to customers privacy needs they are set to piss away all the customer goodwill it took them nearly 20 years to accumulate.
Makes it impossible to use a public computer or have some one check their email on yours.
Seams Google wants to become Big Brother but lacks the ability to do it correctly.
I do not want them to decide what contacts, emails and social networks get linked to my accounts or what adds I want to see because none of this auto-think algorithms work.
Why because today I may change every behavior I had from yesterday.
But Google wants to shove us into its square box and force us to fit.
If you have not seen or read the book 1984 do so and it is scary when you see whats going on here.
Google stop thinking for me I have my own brain thank you.
This is a travesty when using public terminals. Now, after I’m done, I have to go through extra steps to remove my own name from the next stranger who sits down at this public terminal.
Google: You are getting in the way of making my experience with you worthy of my time. I will now have to move my Gmail accounts to a different service, so I can log off a public terminal.
Please, give me an option in my profile to enable/disable this egregious “feature.”
I HATE IT!!! Terrible.
Whenever I have problems logging into an account I delete the site settings cookie. Then restart the browser. Then log in again to create a new cookie.
At last I found someone who knows what he is talking about. I do not understan everything in the posts and replies but at least I am not alone. I added a third account in December intending to use it for purchases. Since then Google has managed to deny me access to everything I have turn one email address over to Google + and lock me out of sites i have accress to. I managed to sort out the personal address and my address for groups after hours on the computer. Today I had receipt sent to “purchases address. LOCKOUT. not accepting password. So I mam back to using IE for that.
Mr Brinkman can you write a simple article for all us lowly non tech normals on the difference between Google
Google Chrome
Google+
Google Now
Thanks, Monica, an oldie
I have a bunch of Google accounts, linked by the fact that I have them all set so I can “send as” from my primary account (except for one which was set up like that but I have deleted the link as a test).
When the One Account signin page is displaying the email address for any of these accounts (say “account A”) and I enter the password for a different account (“account B”), I find myself logged into account B.
Doh! Have just realised that this only happens when I use Roboform to fill in the password, not if I manually enter it, so there must be an invisible form field for the user name that Roboform is also populating, and that Google uses in preference to the displayed user name.
It is seriously horrible. I can’t sign in, I’m not authorised to use this or that, I can get into blogger but not YouTube, or I can get into Gmail but not Blogger or YouTube.
The ironically hilarious thing is when you select “I can’t sign in”, and ask for assistance, Google decides that it would be a good idea to send a password reminder email to the Gmail address. That is, the one you can’t sign in to.
It’s just awful. I think I might switch to something else because its just too frustrating for words.
I have 3 google accounts and I am annoyed and upset to say the least. When I am signed into one google account, everything I do is under that account. If I want to change the account I am in in order to access another gmail account I have, I need to log out of the account I am currently in and then try and login using the other google account name. because I have 3 google accounts and it will only show on the login screen two of the three, why? SO I cannot login to the third account because it does not show up in the list of google accounts!
I also made the mistake of using LAstpass, which made a 256 bit new password for each of the separate google accounts, so now my google account will not login with another name why? because the lastpass is using the password on the wrong account and I have been LOCKED OUT OF MY BUSINESS ACCOUNTS! I have also been locked out of my business website and gmail addresses. This is so upsetting. Also it turns out that my business accounts have all of my personal contacts and visa versa.
Can anyone out there help me out? I am stuck. YEs, I put a ticket into lastpass to try and help me, no answer, yes I have tried to contact google, no answer. There is a google building about 30 minutes away from me. I may go there and throw myself on the mercy of the court, and ask someone help me untangle this mess, surely someone there will know how to do this right?
Hi Martin,
great article – thanks for sharing.
I just was super annoyed and did not realize what was going on.
The solution for me – fuck Google and just use Chrome / Firefox in incognito mode as standard.
If you know a solution on how to just block the Google cookies, please share it!
Here is the workaround for the standard incognito settings:
http://www.coolgeex.com/start-google-chrome-in-incognito-mode/
Cheers!
i have a google +
google
youtube
so i meged em
then the fun started
google + is sian
but youtube keeps changing from sian jackson to sian
both use same email address
i only now need the google + but it keeps signing in as sian jackson then switching to sian account name which confuses me and all my circle frieds
how do i get rid of the sian jackson account without losing everything from my google + account which is called sian
simple instruction please.
Fact: The new Google login webpage is only user friendly for none developers, people that might only have two gmail account. But if your a web developer and have to login to over hundred accounts to check webmaster accounts and Google Analytic it makes it a @#$&ing pain in the @#$…. I cant stand the new login page in fact Google is a big dog in the industry, but they have made way to many modification to their search engine, its not really user friendly anymore. Reality, you always get garbage in the listing. I’m pretty sure people might have different opinions about this. But everybody needs to Boycot google this search engine was built buy the smaller man not by the big CORP’s, and thats all you see in the listing Amazon, eBay, Walmart etc. plain and simple google is starting to really suck!. Login Page SUCKS!
This is why I still use Hotmail. It has always been a very simple and effective e-mail client. Gmail is hell.
I don’t have Gmail but I do have a Google account. Every time my girlfriend goes to http://www.gmail.com on my computer, she is offered the option to add Gmail to my account. Then she has to figure out to sign out of my account by clicking on my name on the top right hand of the corner. Then she is offered the possibility to sign into my account. Then she has to click add account. Then she has to sign in. Then she has to type http://www.gmail.com. Again.
Hard to believe it, but Google have managed to become more annoying than Microsoft.
I have 2 google accounts, and this change is another example of the geniuses at google making things harder. No matter how many times I “add account” my secondary account is never in the selection list.
Maybe the thinking designers at google are now at work on the self-driving car.
‘No matter how many times I “add account” my secondary account is never in the selection list.’ – do you have cookies enabled?
Even worse is that Google keeps importing, WITHOUT my permission, ALL MY CONTACTS from my major, personal account!
I use multiple accounts for different purposes including business and other interests. I do forward them to a main account and have all the addresses set up in my main account so I can respond to them without the tedium of signing in and out of accounts. Often, I will keep multiple accounts open for more convenience and to be sure I had my specific contacts in each specific gmail account (and to change settings forced on use by google).
A month or so ago, I discovered ALL my contacts had been imported from my “main” account to several accounts. I had to go through and delete them all, no easy task because I had several divided into convenient categories.
Then I discovered there were tricks to stop them from being imported, exported, shared or whatever, so I did that for many of my accounts. And then I relaxed.
Today, I logged in (how time consuming as I must be sure to be logged out of any other account and remove cookies) to the account associated with my YouTube videos. (This account name was started when YouTube began, far before Google acquired it. It was associated with a Yahoo account name, which I had to change (I opened a gmail account of the same name)). I have resisted all Google’s pressure for G+ and using a different name!
There was an alert, that a friend had opened a google+ account. That friend is unrelated to my YouTube account. Then I discovered that, sure enough, Google had stolen all my addresses and contacts and put them into my youtube account. Once more, I had to spend lots of time deleting those contacts.
Sadly, I was unable to find the ways I previously used, to protect my account. It seems that Google has removed those links and actions, to, duh, stop us from preventing them from stealing our information. Further, it seems that now, without my permission (quelle surprise) that account is now a Google Plus account. And, of course, it is linked to all my contacts from my unrelated and separate account.
I must check my university account. I often keep that opened for email that I don’t forward. I’ll be really upset if that account–with the .edu from my university–has been hacked by Google!
I suspect I can never again use their multiple sign-ins again, and that I must assiduously remove all cookies when going from one account to another.
I write this to inform you of this, and hope you have ideas or solutions on how to protect ourselves from having our google so-called privacy thus invaded.
Like WCS.Tony, I use numerous Gmail accounts every day between my personal, business and customer accounts. I refuse to associate my customer’s accounts with my business accounts, and I refuse to associate my personal accounts with either. Multifox was working fine several Firefox versions ago, but as of Firefox 24, it is no longer working. And there are not enough different browsers to cover the 4-5 accounts I often need to use at the same time. Because of this latest change, I would ditch all of my Google accounts if that were an option.
I’ll be watching this thread for alternative solutions, if anyone knows a good fix for this in Firefox 24, or at least a good cookie manager
Many thanks,
April
And once again Google seems to be upsetting its CUSTOMERS.
I use dozens of Google accounts, mine and customers, I do not appreciate my account name being held and displayed on customers computers.
However it’s not as bad as I first thought.
1) LASTPASS still works and logs me in to a different user, even when a different account name is displayed.
2) When you log out and back in:
Click on REMOVE, under the account names, and click on the X next to each name to remove the names from the screen.
You are then left with the “standard” old sign in screen.
Thank you Google.
Honestly I saw this coming some time ago – and consequently I made efforts to remove all extra accounts or hand them off to my main account as a managed page. This included unattaching youtube channels and making new G+ pages and attaching them to it.
Alex,
You acted predictably and thats exactly what google wanted from you, consolidate so that they can spy better on you. All google choices lead to no choice but conform(become their sheeple) or leave. I choose to the latter.
strongly agree
What ticks me off about this is it doesn’t work. It offers me the accounts to log in, but no matter what I choose it just goes with the first one. I have to clear cookies every time. This is the last straw for me. Google apps are nice, but there are options and now I’ll use ’em.
FROM THE ARTICLE: You have three options to change this behavior. While you cannot undo the new Google sign in page at all, you can:
1) Clear all Google related cookies whenever you want to switch accounts to clear the email field so that you can type in the email and password field on the Google sign in form.
2) Use a different web browser or a different browser profile to use multiple accounts without going through the process.
3) Use a browser extension that enables you to use different accounts by using separate sets of cookies for these accounts.
MY RESPONSE: Or, if you’re using CHROME, at least, just [Shift-Ctrl-N] to a new “incognito” window. Simple as pie.
__________________________________
Gregg L. DesElms
Napa, California USA
gregg at greggdeselms dot com
simple as mud,unless ur 12! “grandma”/”grandpa” people will be locked out! i know i have been.if u are not all that tech savvy,u cant do this.its frustrating.i managed fine untill they accepted one account-my husbands-and locked me out.neither he not i know how to change it.we will have to find a teenager to help us! or,better yet,we will both go off google for good.because this is crap.
You are right, private browsing mode works as well. I have listed all options here: https://www.ghacks.net/2013/10/30/log-multiple-accounts-website/
works for who?
It seems odd to me that with all the uproar and negatives around an individual’s privacy (vis-a-vis the NSA…) that Google would pick now to force consolidation of separate accounts.
For me, this change by Google is it… I have three gmail accounts. I want and need three *separate* accounts for many reasons. One for work, one for personal use, and one for my side charitable-group efforts. The side account is accessed by several people – and I don’t want them to have access to my other accounts.. hence having separate logins.
Further, I neither want, nor can have, my personal and side business accounts accessible on my work PC or phone as that would potentially expose my personal/side-business Gmail info to my employer.
With this latest change from Google, they are removing a lot of value and significant advantages of Gmail and associated services at least for me.
I’ll sort this out and retain one Google account – which will be sand boxed or at least as cookie-free as possible.
Any recommendations for some good alternatives to Google services? Email is my must concern, but calendar, mobile access and cloud storage are wants.
i cant understand why they assume seperate accounts are all the same person? some families have one computer and everyone uses it! and,theres nothing wrong with seperate accounts for one person.i have one on yahoo just for work so i dont miss anything from my boss amid the spam.why is it always assumed multiple users are up to no good and must be stopped? google is annoying me now
Dan Strong — See my post, above. I recommend Zoho as an alternative. It has calendar, email, drive, docs, and a host of other apps which are free for light users. I recently bought a Chromebook and was about to return it — since it’s wrapped around Google — until I discovered Zoho has substitute apps that are well-designed for Chromebook or Android devices.
“there is no real reason for why the new login page has been created like this.”
There’s no good reason for the majority of changes made to any website or program after a certain point, other than the people who work on them having to justify their jobs. If the boss sees them sitting around twiddling their thumbs after a job well done, they suddenly appear expendable, so they dive back in to constantly fix things that aren’t broken.
This probably explains 90% of all the stupid design changes we are seeing lately…
digital janitors looking for work.
As has been said, Google wants to put an end to the anonymous Internet. They want to associate every Google account you have, even your anonymous ones, to one central account so they can track literally every aspect of your life, private and public.
Re: Coyote, as long as you are logged into any Google account, they will track you. They only way to avoid their snooping is to log out of your Google account and clear your cookies regularly.
Well that’s just the thing, I use google for work and the convenience of having drive, gmail, chrome synced tabs, and all the other bits that they like to “snoop” into is what I would describe as the way the features should work. Locking down every individual account and not having any interoperability between them would make the whole service useless. Besides, I could care less if they want to see what I’m doing, it at least gives me a reassuring feeling that somebody out there appreciates my work….
Coyote, “Locking down every individual account and not having any interoperability between them would make the whole service useless.”
I’m not so sure that said ‘interoperability’ is provided by this latest Google change. As I understand it, if you have two separate accounts that ‘appear’ to Google as two different people. This change forces you to bring both under one login – but that does not (per my understanding) consolidate both account’s Google Drive files nor Calendars, etc.
For me, the reason this change is a “bad thing” is because one, I have no choice but to consolidate, and two, I have have three accounts with Google, one for my work and two that are personal and neither of which do I want to have on my work phone or PC – but with this change, all three are accessible even on my work PC/phone.
This is a privacy killer as Google seeks to track us more closely. On principle, I disagree with the change and I am voting with my feet so to speak – I’m moving at least my two personal accounts to other services and enabling session-only cookies for Google services for my work account.
At least until I can find a service provider that will respect my privacy.
i’ve noticed the change to the login page, but my experience differs from yours in that it still shows a box for email address for me.
i believe this is because i browse in a sandbox and the sandbox’s contents are destroyed when i close everything down.
the information about which account(s) you can sign into is most likely being stored in a cookie. perhaps clearing cookies will change the user experience back to what you were hoping for.
You may be missing something, I can still use 2 accounts in chrome with side-by-side tabs
You just need to login to the first account,
then click your user icon on the upper right, the “add user” option is there.
The login page has changed a bit but it still logs in the same as having dual accounts.
Now if you try to just login to gmail a second time without using the “add user” button it will boot you out of the previous account, this has been the way it always worked. They’ve just made things cleaner looking, although I did like the way it wouldn’t forget my main account like before. Now I must login, before adding my second account.
Yes, I use this feature as well. This has worked great for me, Martin. I’m able to simultaneously use two Google Accounts in different Chrome tabs.
Multifox is an extension that allows Firefox to connect to websites using different user names. Simultaneously!
http://br.mozdev.org/multifox/
Fortunately I only use Thunderbird to check my emails.
I don’t really see the issue. When I want to login, I just select the account I want from my PW manager then click sign in. Then when I’m done I click the sign out button which returns me to the login page where I can select another account from my PW manager if I need to login to another account. :)
Not exactly…..Now, it locks the username in place and you can’t change it. What if there are more than one user on the same device and/or computer. Husband and wife…Google wants to tie everything together as one account that can be tracked. I have multiple businesses and don’t want my account and/or username and/or email posted unless I want it. I can decide for myself what is posted or used and for what purpose.
thats exactly what has happened.my husband can access and i cant.i will boycott anything google tries to send me! if im locked out from my own computer accounts,then i dont need them or their services.and why does it pick the husbands accounts to favor and not the wife? im not tech savvy…but google has earned my enmity.
I’ve regularly used different instances of Firefox Portable over the years–one for each Google account–to access Gmail et al, just to keep them separate. Good on me.
Google, like Facebook, want an end
to the anonymous internet.
I’ve just deleted my Gmail account.
Adios Sergey, and Larry too , it’s been fun.
I am almost to the delete phase… i think more of what I will do is a redirect and a slow phase out as I convince my friend to change my address. But even with that they make it challenging for say grandma to know that she is not sending email to the deleted account.
I have deleted one account which leaves me with only one, problem solved. I don’t like what google’s done, it’s like they had a trap in the shadows full of bait, just waiting for the right time to set it off, I was always leery about all the cool “FREE” services they offered. Like google voice, it’s very covenant and a good idea to have a life time phone number and to ring all your phones at once. But they can easily hold you hostage with that as they are doing with the google+ thing. Google has captured Andriod which isn’t really theirs, it’s open source. It’s true you don’t have to have a gmail account to fully use an android phone or tablet, however many people don’t know this. I once used yahoo for everything, but moved away from that. I’m doing the same with Google now. Google (and others) think everyone wants social media. Social media is a corporate (and even government) wet dream, it’s why they are trying to jam it down our throats. I meet strangers in the street all the time and sometimes have a short conversation or just say hello. I don’t offer them my full name, address, phone number, email, interest or pictures of my first born. People who use Social media are stupid if you ask me.
But in the long run isn’t this easier? I mean once you add the account you want then the next time you want to log in you just click on that account? You don’t have to keep setting up accounts each time right? Like in your example. You have your account. Someone else wants to sign in, so they go through the process you described. When they are done they sign out, and you can log back in. Then if they want to use it again down the road they just have to switch accounts, and their info should be there. The only issue I can see is if you’re a type a person who lets random people sign in to check their emails. Then I can see someone having a long list of accounts, but who the heck would do that? LOL
More than one person uses my computer. We want to keep our e-mail ids private. Ditching gmail seem the best bet – vote with our feet.
Bobby-
I’m a tech administrator for a school district using Google for Ed and the problem for us is multiple students and staff using the same machine during a day. Each one develops an very long list of account in no time that becomes cumbersome and confusing.
Bobby, compare the two options:
Old:
1. Open a sign in page
2. Enter username
3. Enter password
4. Done
New:
1. Open a sign in page.
2. Click on sign in with a different account.
3. Click on the account that you want to use
4. Enter password
5. Done
If you are using a password manager to auto-fill, it is become even more of a issue. As far as multiple accounts go: I have a separate YouTube account for instance from the time when YouTube was not Google. I also have work-related Google accounts that I need to access every now and then.
The old way is the best way. This new way drives me absolutely nuts! I get stuck in one of my gmail accounts and I can’t get out! I researched and research online until I finally found something that really helped me through it. The biggest problem is that you also have to sign into Google and that is the stumbling block to accessing one of your other accounts. GOOGLE NEEDS TO LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO USE THEIR PRODUCT AND MAKE THE SUGGESTED ADJUSTMENTS! THEY HAVE MADE THINGS TO CUMBERSOME, NOT BETTER!
Now with Hotmail it’s:
1. Open page
2. Sign on
3. Get a message of too many redirects
4. Go into Chrome settings
5. Advance settings
6. Clear the cookies
7. Back to page
8. sign on again.
Bullshit.
maybe im not tech savvy.we have 2 people in the house,and now i cant get on to google plus.it keeps wanting my husbands passwords and info and all of a sudden wont take mine.for gods sake,multiple account users arent all shady types trying to scam people! sometimes its as simple as spouses sharing the same computer! maybe theyre in cahoots with computer companies so that every home must now have 2 computers,im out.i cant log on.i will stick to facebook.if google’s aim is to send advertising to as many people as possible,this is an epic fail.plenty of people,like me,will simply give up,because we have facebook already.google plus was simply an adjunct,and now its an adjunct thats become difficult to access.pffft! i dont need the agro!
Hi
I hope you have an idea to help. I have 2 gmail accounts. On other browsers like Firefox and IE (hardly use IE) I go to gmail and I am asked what account I want to log into. I chose one the password is filled in and I go to my gmail. Then I sign off and go to my other account my saved password shows up and I read my email. With Chrome it will only save one password not both and never the same one so I end up having to type in my password. Is there something I am doing incorrectly? Makes me want to go back to Firefox just for email because I have no hassles.
Thanks in advance
You could use a password manager like LastPass for that: https://lastpass.com/support.php?cmd=showfaq&id=7226
I had to log my dad into the gmail acct, now I can’t get him off and I can’t log in. Really frustrated. How can I check my email? It’s gotta be something easy I hope.. Thanks
SoPOd — the steps you outline worked for me, too. I’m really upset at being forced by Google to unite my different accounts. Believe me, the minute you “Add” your accounts to the list, Google links them to some sort of internal profile they have of you. Even if you later remove them or unhook them, Google most likely retains knowledge of which accounts were at one time grouped on your account lists.
I have found one workaround to Google’s voracious appetite for viewing my contacts: ZOHO. Zoho’s contact manager is better than Google’s, and now they have Zoho Docs and Zoho Drive, so you don’t have to deal with Google for anything except gMail, and if you’re a little tech savvy, you can use ZohoMail instead. So far, Zoho shows no signs of forcing people to conform to a single identity.
Problem is there is no longer an option to sign in as different user !
On my PC a different user was logged in and it only allowed me to choose this user … which is not a regular user on this PC and thus I do not want it even listed. In the end I had to remove it from the account chooser to be able to type my own email.
They should simply add “Sign in as different user” with a check-option to add new account to account chooser or not. Problem would be solved and flexibility improved.
The problem with adding an account is, as I noted in my lengthy response below, Google then added ALL my contacts from one account to the other.
The only way I have found to prevent that is to totally sign out from the upper right corner drop-down menu. Then
1. Open a sign in page.
2. Click Manage accounts on this device.
3. Click on “sign in with a different account”
4. at “Choose an account” click on “REMOVE”
5. Click on the X (no, it doesn’t remove that account from gmail)
6. Click on “Done”
7. Enter email and password
8. Click on Sign in
Prior to the Google changes, I was able to sign in to my other accounts as Martin recommends. But, as said, Google then exported my contacts to those accounts. I discovered ways to avoid the transferring of all my account contacts, but them Google changed that process, and again, all my contacts were imported into those accounts. This is the only way I have found to effectively prevent that. So far.
Martin, i don’t see anything on the page that gives you an option to sign-in with a different account, that’s the problem im having, its 3 people in my house and we all use gmail but have different email accounts that we don’t want all linked together cause that makes no-sense. So my question is by me not seeing the option to sign-in with a different account, what do i do to find it?
Susan, go to http://www.google.com/ and click on the profile photo on the upper right. Select Add Account there, and follow the instructions.
Eventually these types of account sign in’s are going to have to be explored and seen for which is best for security and ease of the user. I see many people ignore or more likely not see the importance of the “Security” of the account for safety of against hackers breaking the security measures.
Thanks for the article. I don’t understand why Google is complicating everything lately. Sometimes I can’t even access the log in page although I click on it.
So, what browser extension can I have to enable different accounts by using separate sets of cookies? Thank you!
you are the PRODUCT, they want to capture you and all of your data into one thing that you will simply just accept… Google rules your life and your information. Welcome to the net 4.0
yesterday one account I used for bisuness advertised to me something that was actually from a confidential email.
the new net is going to be… pay for privacy. its that simple.
I try to avoid Google as much as possible, but I am forced to since they took over youtube. Now I can’t comment unless I login with a Google Account.
Nathaniel is 100% correct. they want to bundle all of our accounts together so that we cannot have “dual-lives” anymore. I recognized that ASAP. I have been careful in how I am logging in, but I am sure it only takes one time that and they that sexyBeast69ILoveToDeepthroat@gmail.com is the same as seniorVPWithKids@gmail.com
That’s a real big problem.
Yes part of the solution would be to use the gambit of email hosts, hotmail, gmail, hushmail etc. to bifurcate your aliases.
Simple. Don’t use google. If enough people stop behaving like sheep and google start losing business they may start to listen to their customers. That’s you dear reader. Boycott google there are alternatives
I am amazed how people allow themselves to be manipulated to the point where they belive google is a must in their lives.
the problem is because google needs to know your personal information or they wont let you use their services. if they cant put a persons identity and location to an account, dont expect to use Google services. its free because they track you. if you try to remain anonymous then they consider you a bad guy because they cant use you to spam with advertisements or data mine your life. sad but true #nomoreprivacy
I have a number of e-mails, I’ve had them for years, Lycos, Yahoo, AOL, etc…. Most recently (2008) I got a gmail account I had to wait for someone to invite me though, because I didn’t want to give Google my Cellphone number which was one of the prerequisites to get a gmail account, and in 2007 people were guarding their invites, by 2008 a friend sent me one, and had one ever since, but I’ve lived without one before, and I’m pretty sure I can live without one now. Google privacy invasion is getting on my nerves, and I’m giving them up. No Google, Youtube, Facebook, or any other non-sense for me. I’m now using DuckDuckGo as my search engine. There is life without google.
Right on. People should not behave like sheeps and accept anything thrown at them.
Needing an email address isn’t manipulation, it’s a necessity thing today and if you’re smart you’ll have two. One for only personal serious business like banking, medical and such. The other for hey how you doin’, enter your email here ( like this reply requires) to sign up kinda’ junk. If both happen to be the same provider isn’t manipulation it means you like the service.
I agree. But the problem is not solely Google accounts. I have this issue with Microsoft Accounts (personal) and Microsoft Organizational Accounts. Microsoft is even worse. You can only sign in to one account at a time.
Even though Mozilla is deprecating Thunderbird, I find myself using it more and more because it will handle multiple accounts, with aplomb, and it isn’t the awful Microsoft Outlook.
Soooo agree!! they’re always have me jump through hoops with my passwords giving me codes telling me to sign in here and sign in there it’s ridiculous Microsoft is really bad!!!!! Have many many many problems with them, they blocked my account … my very first email account that I’ve had forever they made me deactivate that account and start a new one.
I hate the new log-in format for google. I have one main google account but also a University account that is managed by google that I can’t log into using the new Google or gmail log-in page. Get rid of this stupid format coz its making my life wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more complicated than it needs to be.
How do I 1.Clear all Google related cookies whenever I want to switch accounts to clear the email field so that I can type in the email and password field on the Google sign in form ?
God help my patience on this one… Gurrr….
why is it that when there is a mention of an awful thing like google, there is always a comparison to MS. if you hate it so much, then don’t use Outlook. It sounds just like when somebody mentions anything bad about trump, somebody has to equate that to what Hilary is all about…. ….. get over it…
Hi Max, I’m all with you as to people’s criticizing MS Outlook, etc. especially I’m with you when you refer to President Trump’s comparison to Hillary! Bravo! :)
You use a childrens tool like tbird with no functionality whatsoever and find outlook awful? I’m absolutely impressed.
This may not be the same problem, but I need to get to someone who may help me. My I guess it’s called ISP, who I pay to get on the internet. I have a main email account with them. When google moved away from ISP’s who signed into google for their customers to use google they took away for anywhere on google to put in my main email address if needed. It always comes back with that the account was removed from google. I never stopped using google and want to know why my account was taken out when I preferred using google.
THank you,please let me know your suggestion for solving the problem.thank you