Two institutions in the same computer

Question

Hello,

I work for one institution and study for another and I only use one computer. It would be incredible valuable if I could have a way to use Office and swap between institutions or at least have 2 MS Word apps installed. I'm using online vs desktop but I find the online version very limited.

Is there anything I could do?

Thanks

Answer 1

Contact the institution that is the owner to find if their license includes desktop editions of Office. If it does, ask them how to download the programs.

For Office programs, I have to stay signed in to one account, the one assigned by Microsoft. But to access online storage on OneDrive and/or SharePoint, you should be able to sign in and out to access different cloud storage.

Answer 2

Hey John,

Thanks. I'm not able to sign out and sign in again because one of the institutions is the "owner" and doesn't allow me to switch to the other email.

I believe both of them provide access to desktop applications. If they do, do you know if I can install them both? What did you end up doing to resolve this?

Thanks!

Answer 3

It's possible to have more than one Microsoft account on the same computer. I know, because Microsoft forced me to do so (it's a long story). But you have to constantly be signing out of one and signing in to the other every time you want to switch, which is a pain.

If neither institution is giving you a license that includes the desktop applications, then you would have to either buy Office 2021 or subscribe to Microsoft 365. This means you would end up with three Microsoft accounts installed.

Answer 4

Hi, Miguel_195

Thank you for using Microsoft products and posting them in the community.

Are you trying to use both accounts at the same time?

Generally it's not possible, but there are two alternatives, one is the web page and the client as you said.

Another option is to install a virtual machine and install a system and office in the virtual machine.

I hope the above information can help you. Feel free to send a message if you need further help.

Best wishes

Aiden.C - MSFT |Microsoft Community Support Specialist