Merging User Accounts

macOS is specifically designed to keep User Accounts separate. As such they cannot be merged.

You can delete the redundant one: Delete a user or group on Mac - Apple Support

You can also rename the one you want to keep: Change the name of your macOS user account and home folder - Apple Support

Follow those instructions with care and always have a contingency plan: Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support

You can use the Shared folder in the Users folder to transfer data from one account to another. It's one of the reasons it's there. Depending on how much data there is in one account you may be able to do it in one go? If I was you I would do it bit by bit. You can easily switch from one account to another as you work your way through.

Before doing anything that involves deleting data I would make a full-backup of everything first.

For example let's call your transferred PC account "old" and the one you created when you first purchased your Mac "new".

Transfer any photos first. Once you're happy delete it from the account you transferred it from. Move onto music and so-on. When done and you're satisfied you have everything and it's all performing as it should you can delete the "old" account. You have to delete that account when you're logged into your new account.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlp1557/mac

Good luck.

Why don't you just use the migrated account as your account?

Or you can change the permissions on the account so you can see the data from your other account. Once you can see it you can change the permission to read/write. [ diy since I've done enough for one day. ]

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250003046

Robert

could you further define:

now I have two user accounts on the laptop. How do I merge them?

can you define how and when you created these ids?

You have a machine account created when you configured your mac. This is private to your mac. They don't need to be the same among machines. [ Well, there is always exceptions in the world of computing. This would be advanced stuff for specialists doing complex networking. ]

You you may have created an apple id for the cloud. You may be using that apple id to post here. You cannot merge apple ids. You can switch to the same apple id you used on your pc. This will allow you to get to any music you purchased. You need an apple id to purchase music and software. You would only have an apple id if you purchased apple music on your pc or downloaded itunes on your pc.

R

I understand you now have two accounts on your machine.

Have you figured out how to login to both accounts? You can have as many accounts as your wish.

To logout, apple icon > log out < your id > ...

You could:

-- just pick the account where you data is and use it. The downside could be the second account isn't an administrator. Some people say it's safer to have two accounts. To do admin tasks you will need to be logged on as admin. You could on the admin account system preferences > Accounts > click the lock icon. Pick the acount without admin and check the admin box.

-- This is a low powered hack but it's painless. The easiest way to proceed is going to be to logon to one of the accounts. Copy the data to a flash drive or external drive [ this is important and why this hack works. ] log out of the account. Log into the account you want to move the data too. copy the data to this account.

To logout, apple icon > log out < your id > ...

when you figure out which account to use, you can go here to can set up auto login for whatever account you want.

at some point, you will have to delete the duplicate data.

If you have a massive amount of data, we can take another approach. This is just the easiest.

R

You are getting some excellent advice from the others, but I just wanted to add a bit of information so that you don't come across this issue again in the future when using the Migration Assistant.

... and that is: When first setting up a new Mac, do NOT name the initial user account with the same name as the one you will be migrating from another computer. Migration Assistant "saw" this, and why you now have two "identical" accounts. Instead, use the Startup Assistant to create the initial Administrator-level account. Once that has been completed, log in with that account, and then, use Migration Assistant to move your old computer's user account to the new device. The end result is you will have two accounts, but one with be Administrator (or whatever you called it) and the other will be the migrated account avoiding the account duplication.