Google makes its money by tracking all of your data, the ethics of which we will set aside for the moment. For our purposes, the practical application is that it can be very difficult to truly sign out of your Personal Google Account (PGA). This is the case even if you (a) are also signed into your IU Google Account (IUGA) and (b) actively try to sign out of your PGA.

There is, unfortunately, no easy way to deal with this, at least that I have discovered. The critical thing is to be aware that this is a potential problem, so you can troubleshoot when it arises. If you are denied access to anything Google that you think you should be able to access, your computer is probably trying to use your PGA, when you only have access through your IUGA.

If you think this is what is happening, you can try several options to login to your IUGA only (presented in escalating complexity):

• use a new tab where you are not already signed in through your PGA. This is simple, intuitive, and rarely works.
• sign out of your PGA and close your browser window
  • What’s a browser window?
• use an incognito (private) browser
  • What’s an incognito browser and how do I use one (PC + Mac)?
• use an entirely different browser than the one that you use to sign into your PGA