How To Use Google+ AND Google Apps

Sunday 10 July 2011

How To Use Google+ AND Google Apps

Hey All,

Welcome back to my Jing’s Things! Like me you have heard about Google+ and want to play around with it, BUT, you are using google apps and can’t setup a Google+ profile. Well people, I have found a work around that will let you setup a Google+ account (with an @gmail.com address) and be able to simultaneously sign in to your google apps webmail. There are actually a few ways of doing this, each I have explained below:

Stop Using Webmail

Instead of using webmail for your google apps account (or gmail for that matter) you could setup your emails with an email client like Thunderbird then set it up using IMAP - this way all your mail will remain on google servers as a backup. See the instruction guide here on how to setup IMAP with google apps.

Doing this will mean that you won’t have to be signed in to your google apps account and you can then stay logged in to your Gmail account. You can also get addons for Thunderbird that allow you to sync your google contacts and calendar.

Use Different Browsers

Having more than one browser on your computer is a good idea anyway if you ask me. Having 2 browsers on your machine means that you can use one browser for Google+ and the other for all of your Google Apps stuff. If you want to do this, I would recommend using Google Chrome (download it here) and Firefox (download it here). I personally use Chrome as my default browser.

This is what I do. You can enable dual sign in for your Gmail & Google Apps accounts. This can be done by following the instructions below:

If you use multiple sign-in, the first account you use to sign in during that browser session will be your default account for the rest of that session. If you visit other Google products that don’t support multiple accounts after you’ve signed in, you will automatically sign in to your default account for that product. If you sign out of any Google product while signed in to any account, you will be signed out of all your Google Accounts at once.

To enable multiple sign-in:

Warning: Enabling multiple sign-in will disable Offline products like Offline Gmail and Offline Calendar, as well as any browser bookmarks you’ve set to link to your accounts. If you use Offline Gmail, make sure to sync your offline mail before enabling multiple sign-in so you don’t lose any messages in your outbox. If you would like to continue using Offline Gmail, Offline Calendar, and browser bookmarks linked to your accounts, do not enable the multiple sign-in option. If you have already enabled multiple sign-in, you may disable it.

Go to the multiple sign-in settings page.
Sign in to your account.
Select On to enable the multiple sign-in feature and select the checkboxes to confirm that you understand how to use multiple sign-in. Read more about what you need to understand before using multiple sign-in.
Click Save changes.

You can check whether multiple sign-in is enabled, or disable the option for your account at any time, by visiting your multiple sign-in settings page. Also, if you have multiple sign-in enabled, you will be able to see your additional accounts by clicking on your name or email address at the top of the page.

To enable multiple sign-in on additional accounts:

Once you’ve enabled multiple sign-in for one of your Google Accounts, follow the steps below to enable multiple sign-in for additional accounts you would like to sign in to:

Sign in to a product that supports multiple sign-in, using an account that has multiple sign-in enabled.
Click your name or email address at the top of the page.
Select Sign in to another account from the drop-down menu.
On the page that opens, enter the email address and password for another account you wish to access, and click Sign in.

Features of Gmail that depend on other Google products won't work with any additional accounts you sign in to. For example, the Calendar Gadget in Gmail labs won't work with additional accounts because the Calendar Gadget does not yet support multiple accounts.

When using multiple accounts, you will have to sign in to these accounts using the multiple sign-in feature. You can not use shortcuts in a new window such as www.gmail.com to access additional accounts.

You can find more information HERE.

At the moment Google+ is by invitation only, if you don’t have a Google+ invite then email me at invites@jingaling.co.uk with your Gmail address and I will send you an invite. Addresses will NOT be passed on to anyone and will NEVER be used to spam.