Question about multiple users on multiple computers

[blown240]

I got 2 iMacs for my kids home school. I have 3 kids.

I would like it so that any of the 3 kids can log onto either computer and have all their work, apps, etc. For instance if they were to start something on computer #1, they can come back to computer #2 later to finish it.

Is this possible?

 

[Longkeg]

Is this possible?

Sure. Both computers need to be set up with the same apps, those necessary for the schoolwork. They should be logged in to the same iCloud account. Train your kids to save and open all their documents from the iCloud Drive that’s shared between the two machines. Since the documents are stored on a single iCloud drive it doesn’t matter which machine opens them as long as each computer has the software installed to open those documents.

One iCloud Drive for everyone would be easiest but ideally each kid should have his own. Sign everybody up for their own iCloud account that is tied to their Mac user credentials. This keeps everything exclusive to each user.

Suggestion:Give each kid their own restricted user account but give yourself Admin access. Set each machine up identically. And monitor what they’ve doing as often as possible.

 

[KALLT]

iCloud or a cloud-based solution like Google Docs with Google Drive or Microsoft Office with OneDrive is the easier way. Each of these services have family accounts, which makes it easier to manage it.

The only alternative is a server setup in which one of the Macs or a third device (e.g. storage attached to the router or a separate server) can act as a remote storage or account server (e.g. macOS Server); this can get complicated quickly.

 

[26139]

My wife and I do this with our two laptops and shared Mac mini.

We use the documents and desktop folders under iCloud Drive, like the second commenter said.
We also use Pages and export docs to Word for submission (Pages does a good job of giving easy access to whatever on any Apple product).

We each have our own iCloud accounts (we share total data under a family plan) and have access to everything we need on all computers. Phones, too. In a pinch, we can also log into the other's laptop with own our user account connected to our iCloud, but haven't had to do that yet.

iCloud makes this super easy, though Dropbox would work too.

The only thing we pay to be able to do this, besides the computers, is the $2.99/month fee for 200GB of storage. Everything else is freely provided via Apple.

 

[BrianBaughn]

As long as the kids save their documents in the right folders it'll be perfect. In other words, keep an eye on that.

 

[blown240]

Great! Thanks for all the replies!

 

[satcomer]

Great! Thanks for all the replies!

Just remember the way Mac OS is setup! The top level /Applications/ folder is for EVERYONE and the one under your User folder is for YOU only, understand? So if you want a .app for yourself and not other users on your Mac put it Your Username Applications folder!