Different user accounts use different iCloud accounts?

[stanw]

is it possible to setup different user accounts on a Mac so depending on who is logged in they can access their own iMessages, FaceTime, Safari tabs, pages documents, etc?

Thanks.

 

[Weaselboy]

Yes... that is exactly how it works with separate accounts.

 

[maxsix]

Yes indeed! Works fantastic. Plus it cuts down on the maintenance and troubleshooting I used to do when my wife and kids were on PCs. Except for my work, we are all using Macs, some shared. Different user accounts makes it a breeze.

 

[stanw]

I just did a fresh install and downloaded a bunch of apps and I created a new user account. How can I set it up so that some of the apps I downloaded to my account are also available in the other account? So for example, I downloaded Dropbox, Feedly, Skype, Chrome, etc. I'd like it to just show up in the other account so I don't have to redownload them, but I want to make sure that they have their own accounts and not mine.

Thanks!

 

[Weaselboy]

I just did a fresh install and downloaded a bunch of apps and I created a new user account. How can I set it up so that some of the apps I downloaded to my account are also available in the other account? So for example, I downloaded Dropbox, Feedly, Skype, Chrome, etc. I'd like it to just show up in the other account so I don't have to redownload them, but I want to make sure that they have their own accounts and not mine.

Thanks!

It will work just like we mentioned. All the apps themselves will be available in both accounts in the main /Applications folder. When you launch and setup each app the settings for that app will be saved in the individual users folder. So for example, you can have one set go bookmarks and Chrome settings in account one and an entirely different set in account two. So you all share the same apps, but the settings are individual to the account.

The only thing I would be careful of with something like Dropbox is it might cause issues if you use fast user switching to login to one account while the other is still logged in. I would logout of one account before logging in to the other.

 

[stanw]

Do I need a separate hard drive for both accounts if I want to use Time Machine? So two hard drives for two user accounts?

Thanks.

 

[Weaselboy]

Do I need a separate hard drive for both accounts if I want to use Time Machine? So two hard drives for two user accounts?

Thanks.

Nope.. one hard drive is all you need. Just setup Time Machine and it will backup the entire drive, including both accounts and all their settings.