Dealing with Multiple Microsoft 356 Accounts

If you have been working with Microsoft 365 and you have multiple Microsoft accounts, I highly recommend using the Chrome Browser’s Profile Manager.

It allows you to store browser cookies, history and bookmarks separately for each profile.

This is a better alternative to using multiple browsers or an incognito mode. Profile manager is a must-have tool for any work that involves multiple accounts.

If you want to switch from one account to another, now you don't have to sign out and sign in again. All we must do is choose the right profile in the Profile Manager.

Chrome: Meet Profile Manager

You can watch a quick overview here:

Creating new Chrome profile

• Click on the Avatar next to the address bar
• Manage people

• Add Person:

• Choose profile's name and an avatar:

Now you can switch from one account to another by clicking on the avatar picture. You can have multiple profiles open side-by-side:

Unfortunately, Chrome creates user profiles with internal names that do not match the ones you chose. All profiles will be called "Profile 1", "Profile 2", etc. You won't need to worry about it unless there is a need to create a shortcut to profiles. The shortcuts will look like this:

Chrome.exe --profile-directory="Profile 2"

At one point you might want to rename one of your profiles. There is no menu option anywhere in the user interface to do so. However, there is a "secret URL" that will bring you to the special page where you can do so:

chrome://settings/manageProfile

Microsoft Edge Browser

The new Microsoft Edge  is based on Chromium and was released on January 15, 2020. It is compatible with all supported versions of Windows, and macOS. If you are a dealing with multiple Microsoft 365 tenants and accounts, I highly recommend trying this browser. It has everything you love about Google Chrome including all extensions you are used to, but it offers better integration with Microsoft products.

To create a new Edge profile, click on the avatar > "Add profile".

You can also open Edge's profile directly by using the following command:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --profile-directory="PROFILE_NAME"

If the Edge profile does not exist, it will be created. Otherwise, an existing Edge profile will be opened.

Firefox

If you are a Firefox fan - you will be glad to know that there is a great built-in Profile Manager as well. The only caveat is that there is no menu option to access it via the user interface. So, run the following command:

firefox -P

This will launch Firefox Profile Manager:

Now, create a new profile by giving it a name. After you are done - you can create a shortcut that will launch Firefox with a desired account like so:

firefox -P <ProfileName> -no-remote 

Firefox Add-ons for managing multiple accounts

If you are not a great fan of command prompts or shortcuts, I highly recommend Firefox Multi-Account Containers Add-on:

Summary

Profile Managers are extremely useful for IT experts that need to test privileges or functionality by using different accounts. It is up to you if you want to use Chrome or Firefox as long as it gets your job done in an efficient manner.