Multiple Office 365 email accounts on Chromebook
Discussion
My living nightmare which is trying to use a Chromebook for productivity continues.
I have several Office 365 email addresses accounts through different workplaces, and a personal MS OneDrive account. I have been using the Android Outlook client on my Chromebook which has worked but is a bit clunky (if I want to attach a file it will only let me do it from the root directory (which you're not supposed to be able to access on a Chromebook!).
The Chromebook Outlook "app" just looks like an Office 365 web page and actually tells me that my Office365 accounts are not valid!
Using direct links to the email pages I have to log in with my credentials each time as Chrome won't let you be logged into several accounts concurrently.
I found an app called App for Outlook which is supposed to allow you multiple Outlook accounts in a container app, but it's not been updated for 5 years and as soon as you change to a different "profile" and back you have to log in again.
I have no problems using the Android Outlook client on my phone, yet nothing works properly on my Chromebook.
Has anybody managed to do it properly, and if so, how?
Getting very close to sticking it on ebay and just buying an iPad Pro with a BT keyboard instead.
I have several Office 365 email addresses accounts through different workplaces, and a personal MS OneDrive account. I have been using the Android Outlook client on my Chromebook which has worked but is a bit clunky (if I want to attach a file it will only let me do it from the root directory (which you're not supposed to be able to access on a Chromebook!).
The Chromebook Outlook "app" just looks like an Office 365 web page and actually tells me that my Office365 accounts are not valid!
Using direct links to the email pages I have to log in with my credentials each time as Chrome won't let you be logged into several accounts concurrently.
I found an app called App for Outlook which is supposed to allow you multiple Outlook accounts in a container app, but it's not been updated for 5 years and as soon as you change to a different "profile" and back you have to log in again.
I have no problems using the Android Outlook client on my phone, yet nothing works properly on my Chromebook.
Has anybody managed to do it properly, and if so, how?
Getting very close to sticking it on ebay and just buying an iPad Pro with a BT keyboard instead.
NiceCupOfTea said:
Has anybody managed to do it properly, and if so, how?
I use the "Microsoft Outlook" app and it works fine, got a few email addresses on it, all logged in, and when I press attach I get the option of attaching from "files", "device files" and "photos".Can't help if the app is telling you the addresses aren't valid, just letting you know that it does work for some people
I didn't do anything special to get it working as far as I can remember, just installed the app and logged in, they are personal accounts and not associated with a full fat Office 365 account, not sure if that would make a difference?
edit - this is on an Acer R11 Chromebook
Edited by FunkyNige on Tuesday 28th May 09:15
I can't help with the Chromebook other than to add they didn't work for me either. (Three OutLook accounts, a OneDrive account, both synced to phones.)
The OutLook Android app on a smartphone, along with OneDrive does work well though.
It came to pass that a £150 Asus Windows 10 'tough' 12" laptop was a much more versatile tool, certainly in our Windows-centric office, and that instead of faffing trying to get the ChromeBook working well with big complex documents it was easier to replace the thing.
Some of the C/books can run Linux (Mint) which has a Thunderbird client built in, but again, a Mac or Windows 10 laptop will always be much more flexible. Tablet computing doesn't work for me either, due to vast amount of wordy output needed.
Chromebooks do have their place, but then, so do other platforms.
My replacement, it updates to Windows Pro for free, has the decent Windows 10 mail client built-in, OneDrive just works, it does run Linux Mint, but it's not a Mac: £150
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-VivoBook-E201NA-GJ00...
The OutLook Android app on a smartphone, along with OneDrive does work well though.
It came to pass that a £150 Asus Windows 10 'tough' 12" laptop was a much more versatile tool, certainly in our Windows-centric office, and that instead of faffing trying to get the ChromeBook working well with big complex documents it was easier to replace the thing.
Some of the C/books can run Linux (Mint) which has a Thunderbird client built in, but again, a Mac or Windows 10 laptop will always be much more flexible. Tablet computing doesn't work for me either, due to vast amount of wordy output needed.
Chromebooks do have their place, but then, so do other platforms.
My replacement, it updates to Windows Pro for free, has the decent Windows 10 mail client built-in, OneDrive just works, it does run Linux Mint, but it's not a Mac: £150
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-VivoBook-E201NA-GJ00...
Edited by Slushbox on Tuesday 28th May 09:08
Mr Pointy said:
Stop wating time & money on the Chromebook. Ditch it & buy a proper PC & get back to working & earning money.
I agree, I love ChromeOS but if your trying to use it mainly for another ecosystem (Windows office) and its not working its going to be best using something that has office native. Thanks for all the responses guys
I have tried to use GMail before but it totally refused to work with one of the Office365 mail accounts - when I asked their Tech dept. they said that people had more success using Outlook as a mail client (has worked perfectly on my Android phone - in fact the Android app works well on my Chromebook but won't let me access the filesystem properly).
I must confess I find the Outlook "App" confusing - it just looks like a webpage is open and it doesn't seem to offer you the choice of different accounts. I must confess as to finding the whole concept of Office 365 confusing - I am provided with an account/email address at several establishments. WHetere they are set up in the same way I cannot say. They work fine with the Android app so I don't see why the same credentials shouldn't work with the Chromebook all...
The thing is, on paper it's the perfect solution - I'm not doing anything that requires a large amount of processing power - Chromebook should be the perfect solution. I am used to Android devices and am invested with GMail and Chrome. I did all the research I could and on paper it looked perfect and was going to do everything I needed. Just sad that it seems to be so poorly implemented.
Re: Linux, I am annoyed that my (relatively recent) Asus C302 seems to be exempt from running Linux apps native (you can do dual-boot Linux but I'm not about to fanny about with that).
A Windows laptop is appealing but one of the things I wanted to use the device for is for a tablet mode so I can use it to display PDFs of music on a music stand. Yes, an MS Surface will do this, but at great expense for a decent one (and my brother who has one from work reckons they aren't even nearly worth the money).
I just want a low power lightweight solution that will let me display PDFs on a flip screen, give me good Word compatibility, allow me to store locally and sync to various clouds & my NAS, have a decent battery life, etc. Chromebook in theory can do it, it is just crippled with by poorly written apps as far as I can see. As far as I can understand an iPad Pro will do the job very well, but at over a grand for the privilege and that is a platform that I'm not yet invested with...
I have tried to use GMail before but it totally refused to work with one of the Office365 mail accounts - when I asked their Tech dept. they said that people had more success using Outlook as a mail client (has worked perfectly on my Android phone - in fact the Android app works well on my Chromebook but won't let me access the filesystem properly).
I must confess I find the Outlook "App" confusing - it just looks like a webpage is open and it doesn't seem to offer you the choice of different accounts. I must confess as to finding the whole concept of Office 365 confusing - I am provided with an account/email address at several establishments. WHetere they are set up in the same way I cannot say. They work fine with the Android app so I don't see why the same credentials shouldn't work with the Chromebook all...
AJB88 said:
Mr Pointy said:
Stop wating time & money on the Chromebook. Ditch it & buy a proper PC & get back to working & earning money.
I agree, I love ChromeOS but if your trying to use it mainly for another ecosystem (Windows office) and its not working its going to be best using something that has office native. Re: Linux, I am annoyed that my (relatively recent) Asus C302 seems to be exempt from running Linux apps native (you can do dual-boot Linux but I'm not about to fanny about with that).
A Windows laptop is appealing but one of the things I wanted to use the device for is for a tablet mode so I can use it to display PDFs of music on a music stand. Yes, an MS Surface will do this, but at great expense for a decent one (and my brother who has one from work reckons they aren't even nearly worth the money).
I just want a low power lightweight solution that will let me display PDFs on a flip screen, give me good Word compatibility, allow me to store locally and sync to various clouds & my NAS, have a decent battery life, etc. Chromebook in theory can do it, it is just crippled with by poorly written apps as far as I can see. As far as I can understand an iPad Pro will do the job very well, but at over a grand for the privilege and that is a platform that I'm not yet invested with...
NiceCupOfTea said:
I must confess I find the Outlook "App" confusing - it just looks like a webpage is open and it doesn't seem to offer you the choice of different accounts. I must confess as to finding the whole concept of Office 365 confusing - I am provided with an account/email address at several establishments. WHetere they are set up in the same way I cannot say. They work fine with the Android app so I don't see why the same credentials shouldn't work with the Chromebook all...
This is the bit I don't get - on my ChromeBook the Outlook app is a standalone app that looks pretty much the same as the app on my iPhone, here's a screenshot of the left hand bar that shows 2 accounts:
(the back arrow at the top closes the app which is really annoying, but that's not the issue for the moment!)
The Gmail and Youtube apps just open their respective webpages, but Outlook opens a standalone app.
Pretty certain this is the app I use, just the standard one from Microsoft
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....
FWIW, I used Aquamail with O365 in the past because I found it much better than the Outlook app from Microsoft. I was using the 'paid for' Pro version of the Aquamail app.
Android app;
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org....
Chrome app;
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aquamail...
I've not used O365 in over a year though. And we've not established the issues with your various O365 accounts either.
Android app;
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org....
Chrome app;
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aquamail...
I've not used O365 in over a year though. And we've not established the issues with your various O365 accounts either.
Edited by Corso Marche on Wednesday 29th May 10:37
The way i do it is with multiple google accounts, as you cannot have profiles like you can on other devices, but you can sign in multiple users they just need to have a google account.
You can flip between users instantly, but you cannot copy and paste between them or have windows from different users on screen at the same time.
You can flip between users instantly, but you cannot copy and paste between them or have windows from different users on screen at the same time.
FunkyNige said:
NiceCupOfTea said:
I must confess I find the Outlook "App" confusing - it just looks like a webpage is open and it doesn't seem to offer you the choice of different accounts. I must confess as to finding the whole concept of Office 365 confusing - I am provided with an account/email address at several establishments. WHetere they are set up in the same way I cannot say. They work fine with the Android app so I don't see why the same credentials shouldn't work with the Chromebook all...
This is the bit I don't get - on my ChromeBook the Outlook app is a standalone app that looks pretty much the same as the app on my iPhone, here's a screenshot of the left hand bar that shows 2 accounts:(the back arrow at the top closes the app which is really annoying, but that's not the issue for the moment!)
The Gmail and Youtube apps just open their respective webpages, but Outlook opens a standalone app.
Pretty certain this is the app I use, just the standard one from Microsoft
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....
Corso Marche said:
FWIW, I used Aquamail with O365 in the past because I found it much better than the Outlook app from Microsoft. I was using the 'paid for' Pro version of the Aquamail app.
Android app;
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org....
Chrome app;
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aquamail...
I've not used O365 in over a year though. And we've not established the issues with your various O365 accounts either.
Thanks for this - it's not beautiful but it works with attachments just fine! Shame the outlook one doesn't seem to work... it just asks for your MS account details but not any O365 stuff...Android app;
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org....
Chrome app;
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aquamail...
I've not used O365 in over a year though. And we've not established the issues with your various O365 accounts either.
Edited by Corso Marche on Wednesday 29th May 10:37
Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Thursday 30th May 19:02
NiceCupOfTea said:
That looks like you are using the Android app, not the Chromebook one. It works just fine but presumably isn't designed to use the Chromebook filing system so attaching files is a pain.
Attaches fine, I get the options offiles - defaults to email attachments (?!)
device files - files on my ChromeBook
photos - photos on my ChromeBook
What I can't do (and I've only just noticed this, I only use it for personal stuff so don't attach to emails very often) is attach something from multiple OneDrive accounts. I can only attach from one and have to do that via the attach photos route.
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