THE WORKAROUND FOR REAL MULTIPLE-USER ACCESS

If you have multiple users sharing the same Mac (and with Mac OS X's fast user switching, it's a breeze), you're going to run into a snag when you share files among users. If you've created a file and you want the other user (or users) on your Mac to be able to open and view this fileno problemjust put it in the Shared folder (found in the Users folder). However, they don't have permission to edit or delete this original file (it's built that way by default). But what if you want them to be able to edit and delete? Or what if you're the only person using your Mac, but you've set up multiple users so your Mac is configured differently for different tasksyou can only edit or delete your own files in the Shared folder. So how do you get around this? Just attach an external drive (like a FireWire or USB drive), then when it mounts on your desktop, click on it, then press Command-I to bring up the Info dialog. Go to the Ownership and Permissions panel and choose Ignore Ownership on This Volume. Now, anything you put on this external drive will be available to all users. Also, if you don't want to use an external drive, you can do the same thing by partitioning your startup drive, using Apple's Disk Utility.