How to setup Mail in Mac Lion

CebuCity · Jun 28, 2012

Hi guys. I have a MBP running latest lion. Can I setup the Mail App with multiple users?
What I really want is that the Mail will have multiple account for my brother, multiple account for my sister and multiple account for me. Is this possible? Can I open my mailbox without automatically seeing theirs?

I want to maintain a single user login for this laptop. I know it's not advisable but we are used to this when we were in windows desktop. Only one login name and all of us are sharing.

Please help me guys :'(

... Thank you!

-Lanz

chas_m · Jun 28, 2012

What you want is not advisable as you mentioned. It was a dumb idea when you were doing it on Windows, and it's still a dumb idea.

Multiple accounts for each user? Not a problem in Mail.

Multiple users in Mail? Nope.

Solution? Each user has their own user account. Then each user can have their own Mail with their own accounts ... and the privacy any normal person would desire.

scathe · Jun 28, 2012

Any particular reason why you're so set on having a single user account? Just go with what chas_m suggested, that is the way to go

I mean that is the sole purpose of user accounts> for more people to use the same computer. There really isn't much setup and maintenance ...

From my point of view, it's a pain to have so much mail accounts from different users in one client - absolute **** :-D Better yet, add GrowlMail to see all the silly popups for all those accounts receiving spam mails :-D

IvanLasston · Jun 28, 2012

I Agree with chas_m and scathe. Windows wasn't particularly good at multiple users on the same machine (Windows 7 has made it much better) - Macs have been designed that way from the beginning. If you want to use mail with multiple users - set up multiple user accounts. With fast user switching it shouldn't even be an issue to change users. Also all your web browsing, and any other data will be segregated as well.

That being said - you could use different mail programs for different users under the same account. I.E. Thunderbird, and Eudora could be used. I don't recommend this but I do have it setup this way in essence as I have several accounts I log into and each of those programs connect to a different email account. (Don't do it - setup multiple users)

CebuCity · Jun 28, 2012

scathe said:
Any particular reason why you're so set on having a single user account? Just go with what chas_m suggested, that is the way to go I mean that is the sole purpose of user accounts> for more people to use the same computer. There really isn't much setup and maintenance ...

From my point of view, it's a pain to have so much mail accounts from different users in one client - absolute **** :-D Better yet, add GrowlMail to see all the silly popups for all those accounts receiving spam mails :-D

Here's a scenario why I decided to make a single login account before.
One time I had 3 user account in one PC. My bro will use his, run programs then sometimes will just leave the computer without making sure all programs are QUIT. The PC will SLEEP then here comes my sister (another user) and she will login into her account, then doing what my brother does, leaving running program behind. At the end of the day I want to shutdown the PC but I couldn't because their programs are still running in the background or maybe my brother is still downloading something. Both of them left for work or school. HOW CAN I SHUT DOWN MY COMPUTER THEN?

One thing also, running a couple of apps in the background from other user will slow down the machine right? Sorry for being ignorant but I hope you know what I mean.

-LANZ

CebuCity · Jun 28, 2012

IvanLasston said:
That being said - you could use different mail programs for different users under the same account. I.E. Thunderbird, and Eudora could be used. I don't recommend this but I do have it setup this way in essence as I have several accounts I log into and each of those programs connect to a different email account. (Don't do it - setup multiple users)

I think IvanLasston this is a good idea. So I need 4 different mail apps. Is there anymore?

Thank you.

-LANZ

IvanLasston · Jun 28, 2012

Again - I'd recommend different users using fast user switching.
How To Utilize Fast User Switching On Your Mac | Mac|Life
How's this for a senario - your brother is surfing (or gets an email) with a malware link. He clicks on the malware - now your DNS redirects somewhere. Your account is now toast - whereas if that was done in his own account then only his stuff and his account would suffer. You really want to take advantage of having multiple users and limiting them to users (not administrators) so that you can keep everything clean. Yes it takes memory if they are running programs - but they are already running programs in your account.

Thunderbird, Eudora, Mail, - here are a few more
Top 9 Free Mac Email Programs - About Email

I would not go down this path of single user - as Admin you should be able to shut down everything - and tough cookies for them if it was running - so that shouldn't be an issue. As I said - on the PC multiple users didn't work right - on the Mac it does.

CebuCity · Jun 28, 2012

IvanLasston said:
Again - I'd recommend different users using fast user switching.
How To Utilize Fast User Switching On Your Mac | Mac|Life
How's this for a senario - your brother is surfing (or gets an email) with a malware link. He clicks on the malware - now your DNS redirects somewhere. Your account is now toast - whereas if that was done in his own account then only his stuff and his account would suffer. You really want to take advantage of having multiple users and limiting them to users (not administrators) so that you can keep everything clean. Yes it takes memory if they are running programs - but they are already running programs in your account.

Thunderbird, Eudora, Mail, - here are a few more
Top 9 Free Mac Email Programs - About Email

I would not go down this path of single user - as Admin you should be able to shut down everything - and tough cookies for them if it was running - so that shouldn't be an issue. As I said - on the PC multiple users didn't work right - on the Mac it does.

Thanks for the enlightenment. One more question if I may, can I shutdown the machine even if there are still apps running in the background on other user account?

IvanLasston · Jun 28, 2012

Sounds that there was a bug back in 10.5 but as admin now you should be able to force a shutdown.
Mac OS X 10.5: Unable to restart or shut down when multiple users are logged in

Dysfunction · Jun 29, 2012

IvanLasston said:
Sounds that there was a bug back in 10.5 but as admin now you should be able to force a shutdown.
Mac OS X 10.5: Unable to restart or shut down when multiple users are logged in

Yep, I end up doing this regularly when my kids have left a 'stale' login and I need to reboot. Worked great since 10.6 IME

CebuCity · Jun 29, 2012

Thanks guys... I'll go with multiple user this time. I just figured it out how to share library on my iTunes with other user. How about the apps I purchased can the other user sync it with their own device with their own apple ID? I don't want to pay twice in a purchased apps.

scathe · Jun 29, 2012

CebuCity said:
Thanks guys... I'll go with multiple user this time. I just figured it out how to share library on my iTunes with other user. How about the apps I purchased can the other user sync it with their own device with their own apple ID? I don't want to pay twice in a purchased apps.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Apple ID is not tied up with your OS user accounts, so if you enter that ID on all accounts, it will be the same as with a single account.

Slydude · Jun 29, 2012

scathe said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Apple ID is not tied up with your OS user accounts, so if you enter that ID on all accounts, it will be the same as with a single account.

That seems to be the way things behave. I don't remember ever having problems that way.

IvanLasston · Jun 29, 2012

As long as you log into iTunes using the same account - everything should work seamlessly. I use home sharing across multiple computers using the same iTunes account. I also have multiple iOS devices using the same account as well. The one thing I found - is you want to have a separate iCloud account for syncing on everyone's devices/computer login. That is in the System Preferences of OSX - and in Settings in iOS. I had to delete the iTunes account on iOS from the iCloud preferences - then put in the iCloud credentials so that my syncing would be different than everyone else in my family.

Apple - iCloud - Learn how to set up iCloud on all your devices.
iOS 5, iCloud, and iTunes - Set Up in a Multiple Device Family » 148Apps » iPhone and iPod Touch Application Reviews and News
Here is info on deleting the iCloud user first
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3862990?start=0&tstart=0

CebuCity · Jun 29, 2012

IvanLasston said:
Apple - iCloud - Learn how to set up iCloud on all your devices.
iOS 5, iCloud, and iTunes - Set Up in a Multiple Device Family » 148Apps » iPhone and iPod Touch Application Reviews and News
Here is info on deleting the iCloud user first
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3862990?start=0&tstart=0

Thanks for the helpful links @IvanLasston. But still something was not mentioned in that blog. Please help me clarify the following:

In Family iMac with below users
userME : Shared iTunes Library --> Me Apple ID --> Me iPhone
userBrother : Shared iTunes Library --> Bro Apple ID --> Bro iPad
userSister : Shared iTunes Library --> Sis Apple ID --> Sis iPad

CAN WE SYNC ALL OUR PURCHASED APPS, MUSICS, Movies, iBooks without having to pay twice or 3 times?

IvanLasston · Jun 29, 2012

If you do it that way - each ID has to purchase everything. What you want is
userME:Me -> iCloud -> Shared iTunes Library -> Me iTunes Apple ID -> Me iPhone iTunes -> Me iPhone iCloud
userBro:Bro -> iCloud -> Shared iTunes Library -> Me iTunes Apple ID -> Me iPhone iTunes -> Bro iPad iCloud
userSis:Sis -> iCloud -> Shared iTunes Library -> Me iTunes Apple ID -> Me iPhone iTunes -> Sis iPad iCloud

TL ; DR - The iTunes account should be shared - the iCloud accounts should be individual.

CebuCity · Jun 29, 2012

IvanLasston said:
If you do it that way - each ID has to purchase everything. What you want is
userME:Me -> iCloud -> Shared iTunes Library -> Me iTunes Apple ID -> Me iPhone iTunes -> Me iPhone iCloud
userBro:Bro -> iCloud -> Shared iTunes Library -> Me iTunes Apple ID -> Me iPhone iTunes -> Bro iPad iCloud
userSis:Sis -> iCloud -> Shared iTunes Library -> Me iTunes Apple ID -> Me iPhone iTunes -> Sis iPad iCloud

TL ; DR - The iTunes account should be shared - the iCloud accounts should be individual.

Thanks a lot @IvanLasston.

How to setup Mail in Mac Lion

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