Microsoft Teams multiple account sign-in plans get a little more nuanced

Signing in to a work and personal account is still expected to be supported by December.

What you need to know

• Microsoft Teams' multiple account sign-in feature is expected to launch in December.
• Initially, the feature will only support one work/school account and one personal account, Microsoft has clarified.
• Microsoft is looking to add support for multiple work/school accounts in the future, likely in 2021.

Microsoft recently indicated on its Microsoft Teams roadmap that support for multiple accounts was coming to Teams by December. The company has now clarified that the December target date will only cover signing into one work/school account and one personal account. The clarification comes as part of updated language added to the roadmap and spotted by ZDNet.

"We're adding support within Teams desktop to be able to add one personal account, along with one work/school account, change their profile picture, and switch between accounts and orgs through Settings," the entry now reads.

For Teams users who were hoping for an easier way to switch between more than one work or school account, that will come as a disappointment. However, Microsoft is continuing to work on adding that capability in a future update. In a message posted to a Teams Uservoice thread asking for the feature, a Teams engineer said the following:

The engineering team is continuing to work on adding support for multiple accounts on desktop clients. We will first launch support for 1 work/school account and 1 personal account so users can enjoy Teams for work and personal side-by-side. Windows and MacOS. Support for multiple work accounts is still being worked on and will come at a later date.

It's not surprising that Microsoft would push for supporting signing into and switching between work and personal accounts first. The company launched Teams for personal use earlier this year, with an initial focus on the mobile apps. The company is hoping that Teams can work as an organizing space for families and friends, in addition to its primary role as a collaboration space for companies, schools, and organizations.

Still, one of the biggest requests for Teams has been the option to easily switch between multiple work accounts. With Teams now hitting 115 million daily active users, that's likely truer than ever. For those in need of the feature, it looks like you'll have to wait until 2021.