One of the questions we get frequently is about having both a work and a personal gmail account accessible on your phone or tablet. The answer is, YES, you can have multiple gmail accounts (and google calendar accounts) on the same mobile device.
If you’re having trouble setting this up, feel free to stop by the helpdesk or contact them (webhelpdesk@carleton.edu or x5999) and they’ll be happy to help you get set up. It’s difficult to write a complete set of instructions since there are so many platforms and phones out there, and since some platform/phone combinations look different depending on the carrier you use, so these are just a sketch of the steps to use and we’re happy to work with you individually to get things running.
In general:
- Go to your device settings area (not app settings for mail or calendar, but the settings for the entire device)
- Find the place that lists your Accounts
- Add your various Google accounts there (you may already have your personal Google account there, so simply add a second Google account following the steps your device presents to you). CAVEAT: Occasionally a platform/device/carrier/app combination will not allow you to authenticate through Carleton’s login screen for your Carleton Google account. These instructions on setting up a device-specific password may be useful in such situations, even though the instructions were written for one particular mail client.
- As you add your various Google Accounts, you should be presented with options to say whether you want your calendar, mail, etc from that account to sync to your phone. Turn those on.
- Now open your calendar and mail apps, and you should see items from all your relevant Google accounts. Sometimes they will be integrated and sometimes there will be an account switcher so that you can look at only personal or only work accounts. Either way, both accounts should now be accessible on your device.
- Often there are additional settings within the app to govern how the apps function, and you may want to explore these options at this point.
And of course, if you have any difficulty, the helpdesk is happy to work with you. Stop by or contact them (webhelpdesk@carleton.edu or x5999) with any questions.