“Don’t be evil”?

There are a growing number of reasons to be concerned about Google’s products and services. But many schools are Google schools, with Gmail and Google Drive accounts for everyone. So you, like I, might be stuck with Google for a while. 

A friend was recently trying to access some items in her state library organization account from her school Chromebook. She was having all kinds of difficulty, and I realized she didn’t know about Chrome Profiles. 

Too Many Accounts!

When you use Google Chrome as a browser, you are usually signed into your Google account. So if, while you are browsing, you navigate to Gmail.com, your email for that account appears. So far, so good. 

Lots of us have multiple Google accounts. I have one for work, one for my state school library organization, one for my podcast, and two personal ones. (And those are just the ones I use fairly regularly.) 

Logging in and out of a computer or Chromebook to access information from one account or another is a pain. If only there was a better way!

This One Easy Trick

The Chrome browser, and most Chromebooks, allow you to log in to multiple Google accounts at once and toggle between them easily. This is incredibly handy when you have information in one account that you want to quickly copy-paste into another. It’s also great for general use – you can work on personal stuff in one window and work stuff in another. 

 I find profile switching is invaluable when I’m travelling. I can access all of my accounts through a single computer – whether it’s a desktop, laptop, or Chromebook – without having to log in and out of accounts. 

And it’s really easy to set up!

Add Profiles In the Chrome Browser (desktop or laptop)

In the upper-right corner of your browser window, just below the “Close this window” X, there’s an icon for your account. 

A screen capture of the Chrome browser's top-right corner. A red box surrounds the profile icon. Text on the screen reads "Clicking on your account icon in the upper-right corner will offer you a pop-up menu."

Clicking that icon pops up a new menu list. Near the bottom of that list is “Add Chrome profile.” 

A picture of the pop-up profile menu. Text reads "Look for the option to 'Add Chrome profile'." A red square highlights the menu option that reads "Add Chrome profile."

If you click that option, you’ll be asked to log in to another Chrome account. As an example: If you’re in your home account, you can enter the credentials for your school account – the email address and password. Go through the sign-in process. When you’re done, a new Chrome window will open and you’ll now have both your home and school accounts signed in at the same time!

A screen capture of the top of two side-by-side Chrome browser windows. On the left, an orange themed account with Steve's profile picture. On the right, a black themed account with a bitmoji of Steve and the word "School" in the profile icon position. Beneath the image, text reads: "Steve's home and school account, on the same computer!"

Once you have authenticated the account, you’ll see that the profile menu will change. When you click your profile icon in the upper-right, you’ll now have a list of Chrome profiles. Clicking on one lets you instantly open a new Chrome browser window for that account. 

A screen capture of the pop-up profile menu. Text on the image reads "Click your profile icon, then select one of your added profiles (accounts) to open."You can add as many different Chrome accounts as you want. Click on any one to switch to that account! You can see my wife and I have several Chrome accounts that we can switch between with just a click. It saves lots of time and effort! 

Bonus Tip: 

Click the “snowman” triple-dot icon in the upper-right corner. In the pop-up list, click “Settings.” In Chrome’s Settings, click “On Startup.” Select “Continue where you left off.” 

A series of three screen captures. The first shows the "More options" pop up menu that appears when one clicks the "snowball" icon in the upper right corner, which in the image has a red box around it. A red arrow points toward the bottom of the "More options" menu, where "Settings" is highlighted by a red box. An arrow points to the next screen capture, which shows the Chrome browser's Settings left pane. The list of options has a red box around the option "On startup". A red arrow points from there to the third screen capture, which shows the "On startup" option menu. A red box surrounds the "Continue where you left off" option.

Now, if you close one of your Chrome windows, when you re-open it, all the tabs you had open will automatically reappear. 

This makes using multiple Chrome accounts on one machine even easier. If you need to close one account’s window, when you re-open it, you can pick up right where you left off! 

BIG Caveat

Let’s say I’m logged in to my computer. A co-teacher adds their profile within my account so they can open some files on my computer. Great. 

But unless I delete that account from my profiles list, I’ll be able to access that co-worker’s files any time I want. 

Deleting a profile from a list is easy. Click your profile icon and go to “Manage profiles.

Screen capture of the profile pop-up menu. At the bottom of the image, a red box surrounds the option "Manage Chrome profiles." On the right, text reads, "To delete a profile from your list, go to 'Manage Chrome profiles.'"

Find the profile you want to remove in the list that appears. Click the “snowman” (“More actions”) and choose “Delete.” 

A screen capture of the Manage Profiles menu. Each profile appears as a separate box with its icon in the center and a "snowman" ("More actions") menu in the upper right. One profile snowman has a red box around it and red lines showing a pop-out view of the same profile box after the snowman has been clicked, which reveals a pop-up menu listing "Edit" and "Delete" as options. On the right, text reads, "Click the 'snowman' ('More actions') and select 'Delete.'"

That profile is now gone! You can re-add it at any time, but it will need to be signed into with full credentials.

Add Profiles On a Chromebook

Signing into multiple accounts on a Chromebook can be trickier than on a regular computer. Some school or other organizational Chrome accounts are set to disallow sign-ins on Chromebooks from inside non-organizational accounts. This means if you’re signed in to a Chromebook with your home account, you may not be able to then also sign in to your school account. But the reverse is usually not a problem – if you’re signed in to your school account, you can usually sign in to your home account. 

The only way to know is to try! (Well, you could ask your IT department. But what’s the fun in that?)

Step Zero: Sign into ’em all

Before you can set up switchable profiles, you have to sign into the Chromebook at least once with each of the accounts you’d like to access. That should place each of the accounts in the Chromebook’s memory. Then you’re ready to set up easy switching!

Steps the Rest

Go to the bottom right corner of the screen and click on the menu area by the clock. This opens the system menu. Click the power icon to view power options and to see the account you’re currently logged on to the Chromebook with. Click on that profile name to open the profiles menu. 

On the left: Screen capture of a Chromebook's system menu. A red box outlines the clock/wifi/battery indicator in the lower right corner of the Chromebook's screen., which has been clicked A red arrow points up and left to a red box around the power icon, which has been clicked. Another red arrow points up to a red box around Steve's profile at the top of the power options.

Click “Sign in another user…”

Screen capture of a Chromebook system menu. Visible is the option "Sign in another user..."This will offer you the option to sign in to one of the other accounts that has been signed in to previously on that particular Chromebook. Select the profile you want to switch to and sign in. Once you’ve signed in, you’ll be in the new profile. To switch between the profiles, go to the system menu. You’ll see that you now have a profile icon next to the power icon – that’s showing which account you’re in at that moment. Click that icon to view the list of accounts you’re signed in to and click any of them to switch to that account.

Screen captures of a Chromebook's system menu. On the left, the system menu features Steve's profile icon next to the power symbol. Text below reads "Now when you go to your system menu, you'll see your profile icon. Clicking it shows which profiles are enabled. Click a profile to switch between accounts without having to sign out and sign back in." On the right is an image after clicking the profile icon in the system menu; it displays Steve's main profile at the top (the current profile) with an image of another of his accounts below; beneath that is a system option to "Sign in another user..."Unlike with a desktop profile addition, when you log off, your Chromebook won’t “remember” the profile you linked. You’ll have to re-connect the profiles the next time you log on. But it’s still a real time-saver! 

Add Profiles The Sneaky Way: Within Each Google System

There’s also a third way you can switch between Chrome profiles. This way happens within a specific Google service – like Gmail or Google Drive. 

When you’re signed in to a Google service, you’ll see your profile icon in the service’s window in the upper-right. 

On a laptop or desktop, there’ll be the Chrome Browser profile icon in the super-upper-right, and below that, a larger profile icon in the Google service window. 

Screen capture of a desktop Chrome browser window's upper-right section. The browser is displaying a Google service. There is a smaller profile icon at the top, just below the Close Window X, and another larger profile icon beneath that in the Google service window. Text on the right reads, "The profile icon in the theme-colored part is the browser-level icon. The profile icon in the service-colored part is the service-level icon."

On a Chromebook, there’s just the profile icon for the Google service in the upper-right. 

So if I’m in Google Drive, I can click on my profile icon in the Drive window. I can then click “Add another account.” After going through the sign-in process for my other account, I’ll have two tabs open for Google Drive – one that shows my Drive for my home account, and one for my school account. 

At the top: Screen capture of two side-by-side Gmail tabs. The left tab reads "Inbox (211) DrTLovesBooks." The right tab reads "Inbox (288) stetreault." Text beneath the image reads, "My home Gmail account next to my school Gmail account, both open in my home profile. (Hey, don't judge me - I'm working on cleaning up my inboxes!)"

This ONLY provides access to one tab showing that specific service, unlike the other method, which switches you entirely from one account to the other. But it’s handy for those once-in-a-while times when you just need to copy-paste something from one email account to another. 

The Power Is In Your Hands

Hopefully, you can use these different methods of accessing your Chrome profiles to make your life a little easier. Once you get the hang of it, profile switching is a huge time saver.

So go forth, and use your new powers wisely!