You can now switch between accounts in Microsoft 365 web apps without signing out

Last month, we reported that Microsoft is working on a capability that will allow customers to switch between different accounts with ease when using Microsoft 365 web apps such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and more. Today, the company has announced that this feature has started to roll out and will become available to everyone within the next couple of months.

Previously, users had to first sign out of a Microsoft 365 web app and then sign into a different one, which is an archaic experience if you use work and personal accounts in the same browser. Multi-factor authentication when signing in each time further hindered overall productivity and workflow as well.

This is no longer the case as seamless account switching has started to roll out. You can simply click on the account switcher on the top-right corner of your Microsoft 365 web app and then choose between other accounts that have previously signed into the service. The switch should be seamless, and you wouldn't have to sign out from your current account and then sign in again to the other one.

There is one important caveat to know though. You can only be active on one account per app. So, for example, if you have two browser tabs open in the same instance with Word signed into your work account and then you switch one of those tabs to your personal account, you will also be required to refresh the other tab with your personal account. So, you can't have two active apps with different Microsoft accounts running in the same browser instance.

As it stands, seamless account switching for Microsoft 365 web apps has started rolling out to Worldwide environments of Office.com, Word, Excel, PowerPoint for the web, Outlook on the web, OneDrive for the web, SharePoint, and the Microsoft 365 admin center. The company is working to expand this to more services but rollout for the current scope is expected to complete by June.

The capability is not available for Microsoft 365 operated via 21Vianet, Microsoft 365 Government, and Germany cloud environments. There are no admin controls to turn off the feature but Microsoft has assured IT admins that data integrity and privacy will be maintained.