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paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
I use Google Chrome, despite its shortcomings, because the graphics suit my impaired vision. On this MacBook Air (Monterey), the default account is my wife's account. Try as I will, I cannot change this to my account. I have tried logging out of her account, then deleting that account, then choosing Use Another Account -- my own -- but all to no avail. Incidentally, in System Preferences, the settinig is for all browser data to be cleared whenever I close the browser. What am I doing wrong ?
 

Artiste212

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2012
143
73
Perhaps you're choosing something wrong. In Monterey, I don't see any System Prefs to set whether all browser data is clears on exit. Where exactly are you seeing these settings? Are they in Chrome itself?
 

paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
I ought not to have referred to SYSTEM Preferences. What I meant was that the path that I follow in Chrome is Preferences - Privacy and Security - Cookies and Other Site Data - Clear Cookies and Other Site Data When You Close All Windows. Have I. misunderstood the effect of this setting ? If I have, I am not sure how much that matters, because I have repeatedly carried out the clearance manually in my efforts to get rid of my wife's account as the default account on this computer.
 

Artiste212

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2012
143
73
Take a look here: Sign out of Chrome & Turn off Chrome sign-in https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/9159867
I think this is it - very likely, signing into Chrome chooses the Google account for mail, etc. Also, clearing all cookies means that there are no cookies to show the most recently account. I suppose that signing out of Chrome and signing back into Google each time would be what I'd choose, for privacy's sake. But then, I'd rather use a non-Google browser so I don't need to enter credentials each time.
 

bogdanw

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2009
6,099
3,011
I'd rather use a non-Google browser so I don't need to enter credentials each time.
For various reasons, I have to use Chrome sometimes. But I never logged into it and I always started in Incognito mode. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95464
This can be achieved from Terminal with open -a /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app --args -incognito
The command can be saved into a .command file or put into a simple AppleScript that can be saved as an app:
do shell script "open -a /Applications/Google\\ Chrome.app --args -incognito"
 

paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
I have turned off the Chrome log in, but, when I try to log into Google, I am still confronted with the wrong default account.
 

bogdanw

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2009
6,099
3,011
Try to delete from ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default the files Cookies, Login Data, Login Data For Account, Login Data For Account-journal, Login Data-journal
 

paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
Bear with me, please, as this is new ground for me. I launch Terminal, and then what precisely am I to do ? I am very grateful for your help, by the way.
 

bogdanw

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2009
6,099
3,011
You can do it from Finder, go to your user account in Library - Application Support - Google - Chrome -Default
You can go directly by pressing Command (⌘)+ Shift (⇧)+ G in Finder and pasting ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default
From Terminal you can use
rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Cookies
rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Login*
 

paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
I have done that, but with the same result. When I afterwards close Chrome and re-launch it, the default account to log into Google is still shown as my wife's,
 

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,702
7,265
I have done that, but with the same result. When I afterwards close Chrome and re-launch it, the default account to log into Google is still shown as my wife's,
Why don’t you have 2 separate accounts on the Mac for you and your wife? This would solve this and likely other problems entirely.
 

paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
Correction, I have got rid of my wife's address. I can manage now, although for perfection I should be glad to know how to make my address shown by default when I log into Google. Once again, my thanks to all in the forum that have come to my aid !
 

paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
I have followed your latter suggestion, but my wife's email-address is not shown there.
 

owidhh

macrumors regular
Jun 12, 2021
170
219
Why don’t you have 2 separate accounts on the Mac for you and your wife? This would solve this and likely other problems entirely.
Alternatively, Chrome itself supports multiple profiles, that would allow each to login with their own account and have their own set of bookmarks/etc..
 

bogdanw

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2009
6,099
3,011
Alternatively, Chrome itself supports multiple profiles, that would allow each to login with their own account and have their own set of bookmarks/etc..
That’s true, but would probably be harder to troubleshoot. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824
I have Chrome Canary installed too, because it has a whole set of different settings and I can set different rules for it on the firewall https://www.google.com/chrome/canary/

I have followed your latter suggestion, but my wife's email-address is not shown there.
I’m sorry, but I don't understand where it's still displayed. If you can post a screenshoot, with the email address obscured, maybe we can figure it out.
 

paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
A few minutes ago, I wrote:

"My wife's address is no longer displayed anywhere on this computer. When I go to login to Google, no address is displayed until I click in the address-field, and then a menu appears showing my address at the top. I am able to go from there quite happily, so I have achieved my original aim in starting this thread..."

I am afraid that I am still not out of the wood. On an impulse, I switched on Sync in Chrome Preferences. I closed Chrome and relaunched it, only to find that it is again showing my wife's address as the default account for login.
 
Last edited:

paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
As indicated above, I was still in difficulty. However, I have now achieved a workaround. Having hitherto accessed my email via Chrome, I have downloaded and installed Mail For GMail, logging-in with my own address only. That has removed any need to use Chrome for the purpose, and has ended the difficulty which prompted this post originallly. Again, thank you all.
 

Artiste212

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2012
143
73
A few minutes ago, I wrote:

"My wife's address is no longer displayed anywhere on this computer. When I go to login to Google, no address is displayed until I click in the address-field, and then a menu appears showing my address at the top. I am able to go from there quite happily, so I have achieved my original aim in starting this thread..."

I am afraid that I am still not out of the wood. On an impulse, I switched on Sync in Chrome Preferences. I closed Chrome and relaunched it, only to find that it is again showing my wife's address as the default account for login.
So your copy of Chrome is syncing to another copy on another device, and that is where your wife's account info is coming from. Glad you found a better email app to use for this account, though. Probably less problematic than running a whole browser just for email.
 

paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
Thank you for that -- can you suggest how I might go about correcting the syncing ?
 

Artiste212

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2012
143
73
Thank you for that -- can you suggest how I might go about correcting the syncing ?
The account is syncing with a Chrome account in your wife's name on another device. You can just end syncing if you don't need to sync. If you do, sign out of syncing and then set it up with your personal Chrome sign in.
 

paieye

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
306
14
Thank you for that, and for the time being I shall leave Sync disabled to see whether I can manage without it.
 
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