You can easily create separate user accounts on your Mac, ensuring that everyone using it can customize their settings and keep their files separate. This tutorial shows you how to do that.
Different user accounts on Mac
The types of accounts you can create on your Mac
1. Standard accounts
Creating standard user accounts in macOS is a great idea for families who want their children or significant other to have a user account separate from theirs, all while sharing the same Mac. Other Mac users can't access the files of other accounts.
2. Guest accounts
The guest user account is designed to allow your friends and family to use your computer temporarily, and as a result, information and settings created or accessed by the guest account are deleted and/or reset each time the user logs off. This makes it feel like you're logged into a factory restored Mac every time you use it.
Important: This means that if anyone uses the guest account to create a new document, they will need to save that document to some kind of USB flash drive, Dropbox, or other storage medium before they sign out. If they don't, the file will be erased on logout.
3. Admin accounts
It can be a difficult decision to have multiple administrator accounts on your Mac. Personally, for security reasons, I don't give anyone but admin access, but there are certainly some situations where having multiple admin accounts would be beneficial. Just to list a few:
When parents need their own accounts to better manage their children's accounts.
When there is more than one official in a facility or organization, such as a school.
When some people need higher privileges than other users on your computer.
It goes without saying that you have to be very careful who you give admin rights to because someone with that privilege can cause some serious havoc if they can't be trusted.
4. For participation only
With a share-only account, you can share files with other users remotely. Share-only users can't sign in to your Mac or change its settings. This is used with the File Sharing, Screen Sharing, or Remote Management settings found in System Settings > General > Sharing.
5. The group
Finally, with Group, you can group multiple users of that Mac and give them the same privileges.
If everything looks good for you so far, you'll be happy to know that it's easy to set up a new user account. To do this, make sure you have admin right and follow the steps below.
How to create a new user account on Mac
Open System Settings on a Mac with macOS Ventura or later.
-Select Users and Groups.
-To enable a guest account, press the info button ⓘ next to the guest user and enable the toggle for “Allow guests to sign in to this computer.” Optionally, you can also block adult websites for guests and allow them to connect to shared folders.
-To create a new account, click Add Account and enter your Mac's administrator password.
-Select the account type from the dropdown menu next to New Account.
-Fill out the form with your full name, account name (keep it short with no spaces), and password. After you are done, hit Create User.
Optionally, you can set the user account profile picture to anything you like.
On macOS Monterey and earlier
-Open System Preferences and go to Users & Groups.
-Click the lock button and enter the administrator password to unlock it.
-Once unlocked, click the plus (+) button to add a new user account to your Mac.
-Now, fill in the form and click Create User.
Something to keep in mind
Unlike the guest user, another user account will actually save the data and write the data to your disk. This means that another user's account has the potential to allow someone to take up precious storage space with their own files and apps.
You will need to determine whether a guest account or a dedicated user account is appropriate for the person you are allowing to use your computer. If it's temporary, a guest account will suffice. Those you know who will use your computer more often and will be able to save data on it are likely to get their own user account.
If you don't need a specific user account on your Mac for anyone, deleting it is just as easy.
