Switching Google Accounts

When you get one of the organizational accounts (i.e. your.name@yourorganization.org) and you are already using Google services with your private email, you will need to know how to switch between those accounts and/or how to use multiple accounts in different tabs in your browser.

In fact, one of the most common problems that people face early on is being logged in into one account, and trying to read a document stored on the G Drive that requires another account.

This article is about using a browser on your computer or laptop.

In your browser (Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Internet Explorer, Safari etc.) you switch or sign in to other accounts using the Google Account icon, and it needs to become your close friend. It is always found in the right top corner of any Google service, and usually appears as a circle of a solid color with your initial in it (when you do not have a profile image for your account, then it has your profile photo). Here it is blue with a white M (for Martin) in it:

When you click on the icon, a menu will appear that will allow you to do several things:

1. See which account you are currently using in this window of your browser (different tabs in a browser can be using different accounts - very handy!)
2. Switch to another of your accounts
3. Add an account
4. Sign out of all of your accounts

The information about your accounts is stored with your Cookies, and so it persists until you clear your browser history. If you use multiple browsers, you may have different list of your accounts in each.

If you want to manage which accounts show (if you have more than two like me, the list may get long), click on the Sign Out (right bottom of the menu) and you will be presented with a screen like this, where you can Remove an account:

Of course, you'll need to log in again later if you need to use that account in this browser.