To see how linked accounts work, click the account name/picture in the upper right of the web browser window. Microsoft will link the accounts and then show a list of the accounts you have linked to this accont. (OK, you could have navigated here directly using this link, but I think it’s a good idea to understand the Microsoft Account management portal and what’s available there.)įrom here, enter the password for your currently signed-in Microsoft account and then the user name and password for the account you’d like to link. Under “Switch between Microsoft accounts quickly on the web,” click the link, Manage linked accounts. This is especially true if you’re signing in to one of these accounts with Windows 8, or using one of them for other online services, such as Messenger.įrom your web browser, navigate to the Microsoft Account management portal and sign in to one of the accounts you'd link to link. In the meantime, linking Microsoft accounts-like a Hotmail account and a new account-does make sense, since it’s otherwise quite ponderous to switch between these accounts on the web.

And it doesn’t answer what is increasingly the number one need of those who rushed to acquire favorite addresses as soon as possible: It doesn’t provide a way to merge an old Hotmail account into a new account. To be clear, this capability is limited to the web interface. And while Microsoft offers no way to merge these accounts, it does at least offer one useful convenience: You can link multiple Microsoft accounts together in, so you don’t need to keep signing in and out to access the information in the different accounts. Like many of you, I have multiple Microsoft accounts, or what we used to think of as Windows Live IDs, or more generically, as Hotmail and accounts. Please read Microsoft Drops Linked Accounts Feature for more information.

UPDATE: Microsoft no longer supports account linking, so this tip is no longer valid.

Microsoft to do multiple accounts