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Multi user virgin - some basic queries

K

knarzie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 5, 2008
217
2
Hi everyone!

Even though I've now used Macs for a decade this summer (might a little celebration be in order), I have never shared any of my Macs (sheer selfishness really). However, the time has come (the late '08 unibody MacBook that my wife uses is starting to show its age, and my '12 MBA is sitting unused most of the time) for me to share my 2012 MBA running Mavericks with my wonderful wife.

So here are my questions:

1.Does TM automatically back up all accounts, or do I need to fiddle with settings?

2. Will the newly created account have access to all previously installed applications on the Mac (unless unrestricted this somehow?)?

3. If we share apps (word and excel mostly) will she be able to open word/excel docs in my user account?

4. Can she just set up her mail accounts in her user account?

5. Can I just untick 'automatically log in' box to stop my account from being the first one when mac is started up?

6. Can you keep 2 apple IDs completely separately? By this I mean, can she use 'her' (she has an ipad) Safari cloud tabs, iMessage, iTunes purchased apps etc? Could she sync her iOS devices, or do they have to synced with her 'home' MacBook? (This is just out of curiosity really, I see no need to duplicate her itunes backups across two different Macs).


Thank you for reading.
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,132
15,595
California
1. Yes it will back up everything in both accounts.

2. Yes it will have access to all apps.

3. No. You will need to put those documents in the /Users/Shared folder if you both want access.

4. Yes

5. Yes

6. You can have two AppleIDs for iTunes and iOS apps, but for iCloud it gets complicated. Give this a read.
 
K

knarzie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 5, 2008
217
2
Thanks for the quick reply Weaselboy. I've looked at your link, but am none the wiser I am afraid.

So to rephrase, it is not (easily) possible for her to log into her user account on my MBA and there use her apple ID to have access to her cloud synced itunes purchases, safari tabs, and especially the calendar?

So if she logs into her user account, will she just have to add dates to the calendar manually?
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,132
15,595
California
knarzie said:
Thanks for the quick reply Weaselboy. I've looked at your link, but am none the wiser I am afraid.

So to rephrase, it is not (easily) possible for her to log into her user account on my MBA and there use her apple ID to have access to her cloud synced itunes purchases, safari tabs, and especially the calendar?

So if she logs into her user account, will she just have to add dates to the calendar manually?
Click to expand...

She can use her own AppleID in iTunes to manage her iOS purchases (assuming she has her own).

But all the the iCloud features will conflict with your AppleID already using those sync features (like bookmarks and calendar), so she won't be able to use them.

What the two of you could do for Calendar is share the same iCloud account for Calendar and add two calendars to the Calendar app (one each) and sync them both. Then in your respective accounts just uncheck the other persons calendar in the Calendar app and it would not be seen at all by the other person.
 
K

KoolAid-Drink

macrumors 68000
Sep 18, 2013
1,813
843
USA
I thought that in separate user accounts, you could use your own iCloud account? For example, Account A with iCloud A; Account B with iCloud B; and so forth? When you create a new user account with OS X, it prompts you for an iCloud username/password, irregardless of if an existing user account has iCloud credentials.
 
h9826790

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,614
8,544
Hong Kong
iCloud is not a problem in Mavericks. My Mac always have 2 accounts logged in at the same time and running 24/7.

Both accounts use their own iCloud account. All photo stream, bookmark, calendar, etc... works with no problem at all.
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,132
15,595
California
KoolAid-Drink said:
I thought that in separate user accounts, you could use your own iCloud account? For example, Account A with iCloud A; Account B with iCloud B; and so forth? When you create a new user account with OS X, it prompts you for an iCloud username/password, irregardless of if an existing user account has iCloud credentials.
Click to expand...

There are some restrictions. Read the Apple support document I linked earlier here.

I only have one iCloud account so cannot test this. I am just going by what the official Apple support document says.
 
h9826790

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,614
8,544
Hong Kong
Weaselboy said:
There are some restrictions. Read the Apple support document I linked earlier here.

I only have one iCloud account so cannot test this. I am just going by what the official Apple support document says.
Click to expand...

That link is assuming "2 iCloud accounts in 1 profile". As my earlier reply, there is no problem at all base on my real multi profiles daily use.

However, I never use the "Back to my Mac" and "Find my Mac" function. I can't tell is the any limitation on that. But for the remaining iCloud function. There is no interference between 2 profiles using 2 separate iCloud account.
 
Intell

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
If you have multiple iCloud accounts on an iOS device or Mac, only one of account can be setup to find the device with Find my iPhone/Mac at a time.
 
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