# Getting a second Google account?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 28, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628 "2010-12-28T18:16:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/1 "2010-12-28T18:16:52Z")
I want a second Google account. It keeps saying no for all my email addresses. Can it be done legally which is what I want?
Strictly on the up & up.
What do I need to do? đ
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/2 "2010-12-28T18:23:05Z")
Keep trying. I have about a dozen Yahoo! email accounts and almost as many Gmail accounts.
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### Author:  [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/3 "2010-12-28T18:25:01Z")
What Is it telling you when it says no? Is it just that the account names youâre trying are taken already?
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### Author:  [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/4 "2010-12-28T22:30:15Z")
I have a bunch of Google accounts. I donât know why you have a problem unless you are providing them with specific information about your computer. Even then I believe they understand multiple accounts are needed.
PS. They even accept disposable email accounts that you never use after the first verification.
If the only problem is that the name is taken, use another name or let them suggest one. That seems to be the real problem here. Add some numbers or something to make yours unique.
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### Author:  [@bleibtreu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleibtreu)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/5 "2010-12-28T23:46:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> It keeps saying no for all my email addresses.
I think itâs not clear to any of us what that actually means. _What_ keeps saying no? Thatâs what it says: âNOâ? What email addresses? That description is just too vague to diagnose, sorry.
But as for âis it legal?â, yes Google allows you have multiple accounts. They now even support âmultiple sign-inâ, so that you can be logged into more than one Google account at once:
> **[Sign in to multiple accounts at once - Computer - Google Account Help](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1721977?hl=en&visit_id=638962359453462447-3871854824&rd=1)**
>
> If you have more than one Google Account, you can sign in to multiple accounts at once. That way, you can switch between accounts without signing out and back in again. Your accounts have separate se
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### Author:  [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/6 "2010-12-29T00:04:12Z")
Iâve got several, never had a problem.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/7 "2010-12-29T05:11:14Z")
I had to make another Gmail account before I could make an Google account. I could not have another account on the Same Gmail address.
Do that first and then it works fine.
Thanks for the help.
:smack::dubious::rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@bleibtreu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleibtreu)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/8 "2010-12-29T06:08:59Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#):
>
> I had to make another Gmail account before I could make an Google account. I could not have another account on the Same Gmail address.
Oh⌠well, yeah.
Thatâs not just your gmail address; itâs your Google username. No more than one account **anywhere** can have the same username. You could create a second account right here, but it would have to some username other than GusNSpot, right? Same thing. There arenât actually separate âgmail accountsâ; your gmail accounts **are** Google accounts, from which you can access any of Googleâs services.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/9 "2010-12-29T17:51:34Z")
> [@bleibtreu](#):
>
> Oh⌠well, yeah.
>
> Thatâs not just your gmail address; itâs your Google username. No more than one account **anywhere** can have the same username. You could create a second account right here, but it would have to some username other than GusNSpot, right? Same thing. There arenât actually separate âgmail accountsâ; your gmail accounts **are** Google accounts, from which you can access any of Googleâs services.
See? I learned something. :smack: You forget & am old so I did not start with puters until late 96 and then the first years were typical old people stuff. Ten year old kids are way ahead of me today but I can change a flat fasterâŚ
But I am gaining on puter knowledge⌠đ
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### Author:  [@\_cc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_cc)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/10 "2010-12-30T09:04:21Z")
Google _requires_ you to make multiple accounts to administer each of your domain names (unless theyâve streamlined the process recently).
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/11 "2010-12-30T09:08:22Z")
**GusNSpot** , since youâre new to this, I should warn you that you can only be logged into one google account at a time, per browser session. So, if youâre logged in as [GusNSpot@gmail.com](mailto:GusNSpot@gmail.com) and you log in to your new account [FluffyKitty96@gmail.com](mailto:FluffyKitty96@gmail.com), everything else in that browser will change to the FluffyKitty account. You canât have two windows or tabs open, each with a different inbox (or other Google functions) showing. If you want to have both inboxes open, you need to use a different browser - e.g. one in Internet Explorer, one in Firefox.
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### Author:  [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/12 "2010-12-30T10:08:39Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> If you want to have both inboxes open, you need to use a different browser - e.g. one in Internet Explorer, one in Firefox.
Or you can have one of the Google accounts forward its mail to the other one. I have 2 gmail accounts but only ever check one, the other being forwarded on so I donât miss anything.
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### Author:  [@StarsApart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarsApart)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/13 "2010-12-30T21:58:11Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> **GusNSpot** , since youâre new to this, I should warn you that you can only be logged into one google account at a time, per browser session. So, if youâre logged in as [GusNSpot@gmail.com](mailto:GusNSpot@gmail.com) and you log in to your new account [FluffyKitty96@gmail.com](mailto:FluffyKitty96@gmail.com), everything else in that browser will change to the FluffyKitty account. You canât have two windows or tabs open, each with a different inbox (or other Google functions) showing. If you want to have both inboxes open, you need to use a different browser - e.g. one in Internet Explorer, one in Firefox.
I havenât tried it yet, but Gmail just introduced email delegation, which allows you to access two Gmail accounts at once.
> **[Email delegation: Granting access to your Gmail account](https://gmail.googleblog.com/2010/12/email-delegation-granting-access-to.html)**
>
> Posted by Hari Nidumolu, Software Engineer I use two Gmail accounts: one is my personal account and the other I share with my family (we use...
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### Author:  [@bleibtreu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleibtreu)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/14 "2010-12-30T23:01:23Z")
And, as I mentioned above, they now allow you to sign in to more than one account. Not all Google products can do it, so for some of them you still do have to log in to the new account. But Gmail is one of them that does work; the full list is here:
> **[Sign in to multiple accounts at once - Computer - Google Account Help](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1721977?visit_id=638279285014725771-750119257&rd=1)**
>
> If you have more than one Google Account, you can sign in to multiple accounts at once. That way, you can switch between accounts without signing out and back in again.
> Your accounts have separate se
The multiple sign-in setup page is here, just log in to one of your accounts and enable it:
> **[Sign in to multiple accounts at once - Computer - Google Account Help](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1721977)**
>
> If you have more than one Google Account, you can sign in to multiple accounts at once. That way, you can switch between accounts without signing out and back in again.
> Your accounts have separate se
But Iâd recommend thecking that âread moreâ link first, because there are some complications that might affect you.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/15 "2011-01-01T05:54:31Z")
All good stuff to knowâŚ
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### Author:  [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/16 "2011-01-01T18:03:54Z")
I have two Google accounts, and my employer uses Google Apps for our e-mail. The work e-mail uses our school districtâs domain, but my two personal accounts are â@gmail.comâ
I can be logged into the work one, and one personal one simultaneously, but not the two personal ones. Because the Google App has considerably less storage, and is close to 60% of capacity now, the second personal mail is POPâd with the work one so I have a backup of everything there and donât worry about deleting anything I might need to get to later. That same amount of stuff thatâs 60% in the Google App is less than 5% in the personal one.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-a-second-google-account/565628/17 "2011-01-02T05:07:32Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#):
>
> ::: snip ::::
>
> I can be logged into the work one, and one personal one simultaneously, but not the two personal ones. Because the Google App has considerably less storage, and is close to 60% of capacity now, the second personal mail is POPâd with the work one so I have a backup of everything there and donât worry about deleting anything I might need to get to later. That same amount of stuff thatâs 60% in the Google App is less than 5% in the personal one.
That cornfused me just reading it. đđđ