Why can't I have both Exchange and Google accounts with the same username?

[Android Central Question]

I have a Google Apps account and an Office 365 account that both have the same username -- my primary email address. Long story short, I used to use Google Apps for email and all other Google services, but eventually switched for a variety of non-negotiable reasons to Office 365. I kept the Google Apps account and simply turned off email services by changing out my MX, SPF, etc. records. Kept the Google account because there's a lot of other data from Google's other services that are associated with that account which I'd like to keep, and because that Google login is the openid associated with scores of other websites.

So on a new Google Pixel, migrating from iPhone, I set it up to login to the Google account. In the OS settings, I also added my Office 365 exchange login, which uses an identical username even if they are totally different services. Android does not allow this and is quite clear with its error -- can't have two accounts of the same username.

I could install the Microsoft Outlook app and connect directly through that. However, I want my exchange contacts and calendar data exposed to the whole OS, not just inside Outlook -- as such, I need to login at the OS/settings level.

I believe this to be an Android limitation because, (A) iOS has never had an issue logging into both Google and Exchange accounts at the OS level with the same username; (B) the same problem also manifested in exactly the same way on other Android phones, including an HTC and a Samsung Galaxy, both of which had their own overlays over Android and had the same underlying problem.

Can anyone help me understand the rationale for this? I returned the Pixel, but am dying to migrate away from iOS. But this is a show stopper unless I can figure out how to fix it.

I thought about changing the username/primary email address of the Google Apps account, and tried it for a brief second before realizing it broke the openid login for dozens of other sites that login through Google.

 

[chanchan05]

Is it possible to use Outlook aliases for your exchange account? I have my outlook account and Gmail account with the same initial name except for the domains and Android accepts that. If possible, make an alias for your Exchange account on Outlook.

 

[Rukbat]

First, the Google account and the email account on Android phones are completely different things. The account you're setting up in your GMail or Outlook app is not the same as the account you're setting up in Settings/Accounts/Google - even if the name and domain are the same. Your Google account is used on Google - Google Play, Google Voice, etc. It has nothing to do with email, which you set up in Outlook, GMail or some other email app,

Second, myname@gmail.com and myname@myexchangeserver.com are different email accounts. One runs on Google servers (they maintain multiple servers for each service), the other runs on an exchange server (which is most likely where your "Outlook account" runs). If you're using Outlook to handle a Microsoft email account that you signed up for on the web, not on your company's Exchange Server, you might as well keep that account on your GMail app (or whichever email app you decide you like best). All the account is handling is email, and any email app can handle all your email accounts.

As for keeping them separate, even if the part to the left of the @ is the same on all your accounts, the part on the right has to be different. Joe@gmail.com and Joe@gmail.com can't be different accounts. Joe@gmail.com and Joe@Nicrosoft.com can be. And, in most email apps, you can name the email accounts, so you can name one GMail and the other one Exchange. That doesn't show anywhere but in your email app - it's for you to keep track of which account is which. Loading your storage up with 2 email apps just to receive email from 2 different servers is wasting space.

I set it up to login to the Google account. In the OS settings, I also added my Office 365 exchange login, which uses an identical username even if they are totally different services. Android does not allow this

You can't have 2 gmail.com accounts with the same username, but your exchange mail account isn't @gmail.com, it's at some other domain. And it's not set up in the operating system (or in Android, which isn't the operating system), it's set up in the email app. So open the email app you prefer (probably one designed for Exchange Server, because that should also support your Outlook (as in the program on your PC) contacts and calendar, and add your gmail account as an additional account in the Outlook program, not in the Android Settings app accounts section. (Yes, it's confusing because iPhones don't seem to make any difference between email accounts and other accounts, yet allow you to seemingly add 2 different email accounts with the same username, while Android seems not to. But the Google account in Settings isn't an email account, it's a Google account - which you didn't have in an iPhone.)

 

[dgtsf]

First, the Google account and the email account on Android phones are completely different things. The account you're setting up in your GMail or Outlook app is not the same as the account you're setting up in Settings/Accounts/Google - even if the name and domain are the same. Your Google account is used on Google - Google Play, Google Voice, etc. It has nothing to do with email, which you set up in Outlook, GMail or some other email app,

Second, myname@gmail.com and myname@myexchangeserver.com are different email accounts. One runs on Google servers (they maintain multiple servers for each service), the other runs on an exchange server (which is most likely where your "Outlook account" runs). If you're using Outlook to handle a Microsoft email account that you signed up for on the web, not on your company's Exchange Server, you might as well keep that account on your GMail app (or whichever email app you decide you like best). All the account is handling is email, and any email app can handle all your email accounts.

As for keeping them separate, even if the part to the left of the @ is the same on all your accounts, the part on the right has to be different. Joe@gmail.com and Joe@gmail.com can't be different accounts. Joe@gmail.com and Joe@Nicrosoft.com can be. And, in most email apps, you can name the email accounts, so you can name one GMail and the other one Exchange. That doesn't show anywhere but in your email app - it's for you to keep track of which account is which. Loading your storage up with 2 email apps just to receive email from 2 different servers is wasting space.

You can't have 2 gmail.com accounts with the same username, but your exchange mail account isn't @gmail.com, it's at some other domain. And it's not set up in the operating system (or in Android, which isn't the operating system), it's set up in the email app. So open the email app you prefer (probably one designed for Exchange Server, because that should also support your Outlook (as in the program on your PC) contacts and calendar, and add your gmail account as an additional account in the Outlook program, not in the Android Settings app accounts section. (Yes, it's confusing because iPhones don't seem to make any difference between email accounts and other accounts, yet allow you to seemingly add 2 different email accounts with the same username, while Android seems not to. But the Google account in Settings isn't an email account, it's a Google account - which you didn't have in an iPhone.)

Thank you for taking the time, but I think you've misunderstood several parts of my question. I said Google Apps (aka GSuite), not gmail.com. I setup a Google Apps account on my own domain with name@mydomain.com and later decided to migrate to Office 365. name@mydomain.com is now Office 365, but I still have the old Google Apps account because I never bothered to close the account - I just disconnected the MX record so it went to Office instead of Google. Also, the information about where you setup an email account is not accurate.

Thanks again. If anyone else has suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

 

[chanchan05]

Thank you for taking the time, but I think you've misunderstood several parts of my question. I said Google Apps (aka GSuite), not gmail.com. I setup a Google Apps account on my own domain with name@mydomain.com and later decided to migrate to Office 365. name@mydomain.com is now Office 365, but I still have the old Google Apps account because I never bothered to close the account - I just disconnected the MX record so it went to Office instead of Google. Also, the information about where you setup an email account is not accurate.

Thanks again. If anyone else has suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

Have you checked my suggestion?

 

[dgtsf]

I can do aliases on both Google Apps and Office 365. It will create some complexities with 365 since that's the account I actually use for email, but I hadn't thought about doing an alias on G...it would seem that might allow me to still keep all my OpenID logins tied to my original username/domain on Google Apps, but still be able to login on the phone with the alias. Hmm. Interesting idea. I returned the Pixel so I can't test it. Maybe it's time to buy another.