How do I share different applications with each account on my computer?

Question

I just got an iMac and transferred my information over from my mac book. So now my iMac has my iTunes, Microsoft Office, iCal, and Address Book on my account (I am the administrator). This is the family computer so my wife needs access to the iCal and Address Book that I update. How do I get these applications to come up in the different accounts? Right now, each account only has the basic programs. For example, they all have iTunes but they are empty, mine shows all of our music and videos. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Answer 1

You need to make a shared folder in which both you and your wife have write access.
First go to System Preferences -> Accounts, click the + button, and make a new user group. Call it something like "hubbywifey". Put your and your wife's user accounts in that group.
Then make a new folder in /Users/Shared called "sharedstuff".
Then open Terminal and enter this (paste in all three lines at the same time):
chmod +a "hubbywifey allow delete,chown,list,search,add_file,\
addsubdirectory,delete_child,file_inherit,directoryinherit" \
/Users/Shared/sharedstuff
That will ensure that anything copied or saved in that folder will be readable and writable by you and your wife.
Then locate the files you need to move there. In the case of Address Book, the folder is your homefolder/Library/Application Support/Address Book. Hold down the option key while you drag the folder to the new location in sharedstuff. Once you have verified that the files have copied correctly you can delete them from the old locations.
You then need to make an alias back to the original location. Control-option-command-drag the /Users/Shared/sharedstuff/Address Book folder back to its original location in homefolder/Library/Application Support. Then log in to your wife's account and repeat the last step. You now have a completely shared address book.