Switching users on computer, without losing desktop?

I know that you can set up the MacBook to have multiple users with unique desktops. But is there anyway to switch from one user to another without losing the things you have open or are working on? I have an assistant who often wants to use my laptop when I'm away but I would like for her to not have to shut down all the programs or browsers where I am in the middle of work or research, in order to do so. Is this possible or do you always have to log off and shutdown all programs in order for another user to get on? Thanks!

Sounds to me like you want to enable Fast User Switching in System Preferences>Accounts>Login Options.
With that enabled, all you need to do is click on her username from the list in the upper-right corner. This will switch the computer to her account but should leave yours logged in.
~Lyssa

Similar Messages

  • The computer that i had been syncing my ipod to died and was unfixable. i now have a new computer. how can i back up my ipod on to my new computer without losing all my music and apps

    the windows computer that i had been syncing my ipod to died and was unfixable. i now have a new windows computer. how can i back up my ipod on to my new computer without losing all my music and apps?

    See these 2 User Tips...
    Syncing to a New Computer...
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141
    Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

  • How do I sync my iPhone with a new computer without losing all of my data?

    How do I sync my iPhone to a new computer without losing all of data?

    See this user tip for the procedure: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141

  • Sync my old iPod with a new computer without losing music

    I have an ipod that was sync'd with an old (pc) computer that died. I want to sync it with my new computer without losing my music that is already on the ipod.

    Try these 2 User Tips...
    Syncing to a New Computer...
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141
    Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

  • Export iPhoto library to a different computer, without losing the keywords

    i have about 3000 family photos on my computer, how do i export my entire library to another computer without losing the keywords/ratings?
    i am trying to copy the my iPhoto library into the iPhoto library on my dads mac pro
    cheers

    quit iPhoto on both computers and connect the two computers together (network, firewire target mode, etc) - if the target computer has an iPhoto library that you want to save rename it (Dads iphoto library maybe) ad drag the iPhoto library form the pictures folder (the default location) of your computer to the pictures folder of your dad's - to switch between two libraries on a Mac launch iPhoto while depressing the option (alt) and use the select library option - or download iPhoto Library Manager to do it on the fly - and to be able to easily move photos between libraries
    LN

  • My Ipod is synced to my old computer. How to I sync it to my new computer without losing the songs on my ipod?

    My Ipod is syncd to my old computer and I want to sync it to my new computer without losing the content on my Ipod

    Transfer iTunes purchases by:
    iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer
    Transfer other music by using on of the thirdt party programs dicsussed here:
    new PC: Apple Support Communities
    Theaftr transfering the stuff, restore the iPod to factory defaults/new iPod and then sync.
    If you can move the iPod backup file to the new computer you can restore from backup.
    The backup file is located here:
    Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
    Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
    Windows Vista and Windows 7: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

  • HT1296 Can't get my Music off of my iPhone 4. My computer died & had to get a new one, so now I cannot sync my iPhone 4 with the new computer, without losing all of my Music, because the only Music I have is on the iPhone 4 only, not on the computer. Help

    Can't get my Music off of my iPhone 4...
    My computer died & had to get a new one, so now I cannot sync my iPhone 4 with the new computer, without losing all of my Music, because the only Music I have is on the iPhone 4 only, not on the computer. No Backup anywhere : (
    If I choose to sync it tells me all of the Content that does not match the iTunes library on the computer will be erased, do you want to proceed & I have to say no.
    How do I replace the music library on my Computer with the Music on the iPhone?
    I got my pictures off because you can access them when you connect the iPhone using Windows 7 but you cannot see any of the music so you cannot access it when using windows so don't know what to do...
    Help...

    The music sync is one way - computer to iphone.  The only exception is itunes purchases.  File>Transfer Purchases
    It has always been very basic to always maintain a backup copy of your computer for just such an occasion.  Use your backup copy to move everything to your new computer.

  • How do I get music onto a phone that hasn't been backed up to new computer without losing anything??

    I just found out my incredibly stubborn teenager's iphone hasn't been backed up at all since last spring. Her old 3gs was previously synced with my computer, but I thought she was syncing her 4 with her own macbook - evidently not. It hasn't even been backed up to icloud in months because she has too much data and not enough space. She refuses to remove anything from the backup cue even though nothing is backing up now. She usually just buys her music from itunes with the phone, but recently she purchased a cd since she wanted all the songs on it. She asked me to put the songs on her phone. Well I've got them in itunes, no problem, but I can't get them on her phone because it says it is synced to another computer. The only computer it could have been synced to is my old computer which is no more. How can I get these songs on her iphone? If I back up her phone in itunes and then restore from the backup I'm afraid it will lose something and she will freak out. I mean the world will end if she loses a single text message from last year. Can it be done? And if it can, I need step by step, idiot-proof instructions so I don't mess anything up. My husband says if she will get it to back up to icloud, it will automatically sync the songs from her laptop? Is that right? Or does it still need to be synced to itunes on that computer?

    Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities
    Sync Your iOS Device with a New Computer Without Losing Data - How-To Geek

  • How can I synch my ipod to a new computer without losing all my content, purchased and my old copied albums? My PC and backup died in the same week and now I am told I could lose all my content if I synch?

    how can I synch my ipod to a new computer without losing all my content, purchased and my old copied albums?
    My PC and backup died in the same week and now I am told I could lose all my content if I synch?
    I have new purchases on my new laptop but too paranoid to synch the ipod incase I lose the thousands of tunes I copied over from my old collections.

    See these 2 Links...
    Syncing to a New Computer...
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141
    Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

  • How can i sync music from my phone onto my new computer without losing it all? my old computer's hard drive crashed so it is unusable.

    how can i sync music from my phone onto my new computer without losing it all? my old computer's hard drive crashed so it is unusable.

    If you do not have a back up of the crashed hard drive you can download an app to copy from the iPhone to iTunes on the new hard drive.
    I have used Pod2Mac.  There is also Pod2PC.
    There are numerous choices, some free, some payed.  Do a Google search.

  • How can I sync my iphone to a new computer without losing music

    I have heaps of music from my old work computer on my phone. I want to sync to my computer at home now. How can I do this without losing the music and other data???

    To sync to a new computer without losing your data follow the steps outlined by Ingo2711 in this post: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3801263?tstart=0.  However, as pointed out in this post, music not purchased from iTunes syncs only one way: computer --> phone.  (Music purchased from iTunes can always be redownloaded for free (see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519).  You will have to purchase 3rd party software in order to transfer non-purchased music from your phone to your computer, such as Touch Copy.

  • My computer crashed.    How do I sync with a new computer without losing unsaved data?

    My computer crashed.    How do I sync with a new computer without losing unsaved data?

    Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
    For items you cannot get the above way use a third-party utility such as Phone to PC

  • ITunes was on a drive destroyed by virus; how can i sync my iPod with new iTunes on new computer without losing my old library? There is no backup iTunes/iPod files available.

    how can i sync my iPod with new iTunes on new computer without losing my old library? There is no backup iTunes/iPod files available.

    If you connect your ipod to your computer then look in the hidden folder labeled "iPod_Control" . (This is on a Mac version, but i think it's the same for Windows) and in "Music" is all your music mixed up in different folders. Just drag the MUSIC folder onto itunes then BAM! It's done ;D
    Source:... This is what I did when this EXACT thing happened to me ;D

  • My old computer with all of my pictures and music that I didn't buy on iTunes got stolen. How can I transfer my media from my iPhone to my new computer without losing it?

    My old computer with all of my pictures and music that I didn't buy on iTunes got stolen. How can I transfer my media from my iPhone to my new computer without losing it?

    Third-party software, like this:
    http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/index.php

  • HT1386 I'm overseas and need to sync my iphone with itunes but I don't have my computer. How can I sync it to my friends computer without losing my music and data?

    I'm overseas and need to sync my iphone with itunes but I don't have my computer. How can I sync it to my friends computer without losing my music and data?

    Why do you need to sync your iPhone with iTunes - for what purpose?
    You can transfer iTunes content and photos from one computer only. When transferring iTunes content and photos from another computer, all iTunes content and photos transferred from a different computer will be erased from the iPhone first with a warning message provided beforehand indicating this will occur.

Maybe you are looking for

  • My iPad screen is black but the iPad itself still works. I reset the iPad but it still doesn't work. What can i do?

    When i went onto my iPad this morning it was completely fine and working but once i took it to college with me the battery had ran out, so later on tonight i plugged my charger in and left it charging for about half an hour, when i went to go back up

  • Transfer Apps from one account to another

    I'm not sure if this post is in the right area: I have about 5 apps that I purchased through my wife's account at the iTunes store. Is there a way that I can transfer these apps to my account? It sure would make updates through iTunes easier, as righ

  • Horizontal scroll bar is in JTable

    I am doing following code to set horizontal and vertical scroll bar to Table. vertical is working nicely but horizontal is not added to table and all colum of table got shrink and hardly visible. so i want to set horizontal scrollbar as needed. how c

  • Another question mark in folder only more confusing!

    So pretty much here's my problem. I turned my MacBook Pro off last night and I turned it on this morning and it makes he start up chime then nothing for a few minutes then the famous question mark inside a folder pops up. Now this happened about 2 mo

  • Mount usb disk after boot

    Hi, How can I mount automatically an usb disk after boot? Any suggestion would be appreciated. Thanks