How To Switch Between Two Gmail Accounts Using Chrome Browser

If you are like many of us and have more than one Gmail account maybe a regular Gmail account and a Google Apps Gmail account then you might be struggling with having to switch between the accounts.

Google doesn’t make it easy to log into one Gmail account and then into another because it stores a cookie on your hard drive telling your system that you have already logged into the account. You will have to click once to log out, type in the new log in information and then click the button to log in or hit return. Minor problem, but if you multiply the extra clicking and typing by the number of times you switch accounts in a given day it can quickly add up.

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The magic starts with using the Google Chrome Browser. It is a great browser with a fast rendering engine. It is very stable and has just about every kind of extension that Firefox has and is faster than Internet Explorer.

Once Chrome is installed you need to find the Swap My Cookies extension. What it does is quickly switch between two sets of cookies, one for most of your browsing needs and another for that second Gmail account. It will install a button on the toolbar that shows a drop down list of Cookie Profiles, which you set up.

Now that you have the extension installed, you will have to set up the Profiles. Log into your first Gmail account. Now click on the Swap My Cookies button and choose the settings icon. It looks like a wrench. The options screen will fill the browser window. At the bottom are the names of the Profiles. Click on the pencil icon and edit the name.

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Choose a name that will help you remember which account it is. Now click on the New button or if there is already a second Profile click on the pencil icon again. Give it another name to differentiate it from the first. Check the other options and change any of them you like and close that tab.

Now switch to the other cookie by clicking on the Swap My Cookies button and choosing the second profile. The next time you go to the Gmail site, it will not remember your first login because under this second profile you have not yet logged in. Log in to your second account.

To switch back to the first account, again click on the Swap My Cookies button and choose the first account profile. If you have Gmail loaded in the browser window it will automatically switch accounts.

Remember, this is for Chrome. To do the same thing on Firefox, you can try the Firefox Extensions Multifox. Lifehacker has a good article explaining it.

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