Two Outlook accounts open in one browser

Outlook on the web can hold more than one account in the same browser, but it shows only one of them at a time. Click the profile picture at the top right, use the account manager to sign in with a different account, and Outlook switches the tab over to that mailbox. What it does not do is keep two Outlook accounts live side by side in two tabs of the same browser window. If the goal is two inboxes visible at once, the answer is to give each account its own browser storage: a second browser profile, a Firefox container, a private window, or an app that keeps each mailbox in its own session. This guide covers what Microsoft's switcher does, the cases where it is enough, and the setups that actually show both accounts together. Sources were checked on October 18, 2026.

What Microsoft's account switcher does and does not do

For years the only way to change Outlook accounts in a browser was to sign out and sign back in. Microsoft changed that with account switching in its Microsoft 365 web apps. Petri's report on the rollout describes how it works: click the account manager in the top right of the web app, then sign in with a new account or pick one already signed in to that browser. The page refreshes to show the other account's content. The report lists Outlook on the web, Word, Excel, OneDrive, PowerPoint, Office.com, SharePoint and the Microsoft 365 admin center as supported, and says the feature covers both work or school accounts and personal Microsoft accounts.

The same report records the limitation that most searchers run into. Two Microsoft 365 apps signed in with different accounts cannot both be active in the same browser instance. If a work account is open in one tab and a personal account in another, the app prompts you to refresh the tab that is not active. In other words, the switcher is a faster sign-out and sign-in, not a way to watch two inboxes.

That is fine for some people. If the second account is checked once a day, switching through the account manager is quicker than any of the alternatives below and needs no setup. The pain starts when both accounts receive mail that needs a reply within the hour.

The case that is not a second account

Before building anything, check whether the second "account" is really a mailbox inside the same organization. A shared mailbox like support@ or a manager's inbox you have been given delegate access to does not need a second sign-in at all. Microsoft's help page Open and use a shared mailbox in Outlook gives the steps for Outlook on the web: on the navigation bar, select your name, choose Open another mailbox, type the address of the other mailbox, and select Open. Another Outlook on the web session opens in a separate window with that mailbox. Mail sent from it can show the shared address by using Show From in a new message.

This only works when your account has been granted permission to the other mailbox by an administrator. It does not combine a personal Outlook.com address with a company account.

Why adding the second account inside Outlook.com is no longer an option

Many older guides say to connect the other address inside Outlook.com so that one inbox shows both. For third-party addresses, Microsoft has removed that route. Its page Connected email accounts like Gmail and Yahoo not working in Outlook.com states that Microsoft removed the ability to connect new third-party accounts, such as a Gmail account, and to sync existing connected accounts from within Outlook.com. The alternatives it lists are Outlook mobile, the desktop Outlook apps for Windows or Mac, or forwarding mail to another Outlook.com account.

Forwarding is the one option that keeps everything in the browser. It also means replies go out from the receiving account unless a send-as address is set up, and it hides which account a message originally reached. For anyone who has to answer from the right address every time, separate sessions are cleaner than forwarding.

Four setups that keep both inboxes open

Every working setup does the same thing underneath: it gives the second account its own cookie storage, so Microsoft's sign-in sees two different browsers. The differences are in how much effort each one takes and how long it lasts.

1. A second browser profile

Both Chrome and Edge support profiles that keep sign-ins apart. Microsoft's own page, Sign in and create multiple profiles in Microsoft Edge, describes the steps: select the Profile icon in the upper-right corner, choose Set up a new profile, pick Personal or Work or school, and either sign in to sync data or start without it. Each profile keeps its own settings, bookmarks, extensions and preferences.

In Chrome the steps are almost the same, according to Google's Manage Chrome with multiple profiles: select Profile at the top right, choose Add Chrome profile, then pick a name, photo and color. On a Mac, Safari also has profiles under Safari > Settings > Profiles, opened with File > New Window, as Apple explains in Create distinct browsing profiles in Safari on Mac.

Sign in to Outlook with the first account in one profile and the second account in the other. Both stay signed in, both receive notifications, and the profile color tells them apart. The cost is two full browser windows, each with its own extensions to maintain.

2. A Firefox container

Firefox can separate accounts inside one window. The Firefox Multi-Account Containers add-on, built by Mozilla, puts tabs into color-coded containers, and each container keeps its own website storage. The add-on page says this directly: cookies are separated by container, allowing use of the web with multiple accounts, with work email and home email in two different container tabs as its own example.

Create a container called Work and one called Personal, open Outlook in each, and both stay signed in as tabs in one window. Containers can also be set to always open a given site, so outlook.office.com can be pinned to the Work container. This is the lightest setup of the four if Firefox is already the main browser.

3. A private window

An InPrivate window in Edge, or an Incognito window in Chrome, starts a separate session that does not share cookies with the normal window. That makes it a quick way to read a second account once. Google's Incognito help page notes the catch: the session ends when all private windows are closed, and the cookies and site data are removed. The next day the sign-in, including any two-step verification, starts from scratch. Private windows are a stopgap, not a daily setup.

4. An app that gives each mailbox its own session

The fourth route moves Outlook out of the general browser. On a Mac, an app aggregation browser keeps each web app in its own container, so two Outlook entries, one per account, can sit in a sidebar with separate sign-ins. This is the same separation as a profile, but per app rather than per window. It suits people who also run Gmail, Slack or Teams for several clients and do not want a profile window for each.

Side by side

	Account switcher	Browser profile	Firefox container	Private window	App with per-app sessions
Both inboxes live at once	No	Yes	Yes	Yes, until closed	Yes
Stays signed in next day	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Extra windows	None	One per account	None	One	One app
Works for personal and work mix	Yes, one at a time	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cost	Free	Free	Free	Free	Often a paid tier

For most readers the choice comes down to which browser is already in daily use. Edge or Chrome users get the most from a profile. Firefox users get the most from containers.

Practical details that save trouble

Once two accounts are open side by side, a few habits stop the usual mistakes.

Name and color each profile after the account. A profile called "Person 2" in the default blue is how replies go out from the wrong address. Put the address or the client name in the profile name and use a distinct theme color.

Decide where links open. When a meeting invite or a document link is clicked in another app, macOS sends it to the default browser and its last-used profile. That may not be the account that owns the link. In Edge and Chrome, keeping the work profile as the one that opens most often reduces the misses. Firefox containers can be set to always open a given domain in a named container.

Keep notifications per account. Outlook on the web asks for notification permission per site and per profile. Allow it in both profiles, or one account will go quiet.

Watch sign-in prompts. Work accounts in many organizations require reauthentication on a schedule set by the administrator. That is separate from the browser setup, and no profile or container avoids it.

Do not mix the work account into a synced personal profile. If the personal profile syncs to a Microsoft or Google account, adding a work sign-in there sends work browsing history into personal sync. A separate profile for work, or a profile started without sync, avoids that.

Where an app with per-app sessions fits

The profile approach works well with two accounts and becomes heavy with five. Each profile is a full browser window, with its own copy of extensions and its own place in the Dock. People who handle Outlook for one employer, Outlook.com for personal mail, and Gmail and Slack for clients often end up with more windows than they can tell apart.

An app aggregation browser for macOS takes a different route: each app in the left sidebar has its own cookie container, and a second account for the same service is added as another app with a separate session. In the one described on the Workspaces page, Outlook is in the list of supported apps, and adding a second account means right-clicking the existing entry and choosing Add as Another Account (separate session). Apps can also be grouped into workspaces, such as Work and Personal, each with its own color and bookmarks. The Features page covers link routing, which opens a link in the app and account that own it.

The limits are stated plainly on the pricing page. The free plan allows 1 workspace with up to 3 apps. Multiple accounts per service are part of Pro, at $7 per month, $60 per year, or $129 as a one-time license, and every feature is open for a 14-day trial with no card. It runs on macOS 12 or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel. If only two Outlook accounts are involved, a free browser profile may be all that is needed.

What to change first

If the second account is checked rarely, keep using the account manager in Outlook on the web. If both inboxes need to stay open all day, create a second profile in Edge or Chrome, or a container in Firefox, and name it after the account. If the number of accounts across Outlook and other apps keeps growing, try SpaceDeck on its trial and compare it with the profile setup.