Two User Accounts (with similar rights) on same iMac

[instinkt]

Hi all,

I am getting the new 27 iMac (my first mac), which I plan to use with my wife.

We each have our own iPhones (with separate Apple IDs), which we plan to synch with iTunes from time to time. We also want to configure Mail so that we each have our own e-mails show up, and not combined inboxes. The main reason why we would create two user accounts (one for each of us), would be for these two purposes (iTunes, etc.. and keeping the mail app separate so it doesn't get too cluttered). We would want everything else to be the same; that is, we would want each of our user accounts to have admin rights and access to all of the apps on the iMac (Lightroom), photo libraries, etc...

First, is this easily doable? Second, does having two user accounts make sense for our limited purpose, or is there a better way to accomplish what we are trying to do (i.e., be able to synch iTunes when necessary using our own iPhones and Apple IDs, and keeping Mail accounts separate).

Hope this makes sense. Any advice/tips would be much appreciated!

 

[GGJstudios]

First, is this easily doable? Second, does having two user accounts make sense for our limited purpose

Yes, it's quite simple, and yes, that's what multiple accounts are designed for. After you set up your Mac, you will have one admin account. You can go to System Preferences and add a new account, making it also an admin account.

OS X Mountain Lion: Create a new user account
OS X Mountain Lion: Associate Apple IDs with your user account
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

 

[instinkt]

Yes, it's quite simple, and yes, that's what multiple accounts are designed for. After you set up your Mac, you will have one admin account. You can go to System Preferences and add a new account, making it also an admin account.

OS X Mountain Lion: Create a new user account
OS X Mountain Lion: Associate Apple IDs with your user account
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

Thanks, will definitely read. But, you're saying that, by making both accounts admin, my account and my wife's account will have all of the same rights to apps, Mac Office etc..so that any changes she makes (let's say edits photos in Lightroom, edits Word documents) will apply to my account as well, and vice versa? Thanks!

 

[GGJstudios]

Thanks, will definitely read. But, you're saying that, by making both accounts admin, my account and my wife's account will have all of the same rights to apps, Mac Office etc..so that any changes she makes (let's say edits photos in Lightroom, edits Word documents) will apply to my account as well, and vice versa? Thanks!

Only edits to shared documents will be reflected when others open those documents. You can also have separate documents that the other user doesn't see. Yes, all apps will be shared, as they always are among users, unless you intentionally specify otherwise.

 

[instinkt]

Only edits to shared documents will be reflected when others open those documents. You can also have separate documents that the other user doesn't see. Yes, all apps will be shared, as they always are among users, unless you intentionally specify otherwise.

Thanks much!

 

[benwiggy]

In fact, you could both use Non-admin accounts, and have a third account for admin purposes.
Admin accounts can install, write and delete outside the user domain. Non-admin accounts can read from the system and app folders (to launch stuff and run apps), but can only write inside their user folder.

That would make things safer, and so to install things, you would both type in the name and password for the admin account.

Each account has its own preferences for every app, of course.

IF you want to share documents, then you need to store them somewhere where both users can read and write, like /Users/Shared.

 

[GGJstudios]

In fact, you could both use Non-admin accounts, and have a third account for admin purposes.
That would make things safer

There is no security advantage in running a non-admin vs an admin account. As admin accounts are the default for a single-user Mac, it's perfectly safe to run on an admin account for daily use. Just think before entering your admin password for anything.