Change primary iCloud account to another iCloud account?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4020 says:

To change a secondary account to a primary account

1. Choose Apple () menu > System Preferences > Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
2. Delete the secondary account.
3. In System Preferences > iCloud, sign out of your primary account.
4. Log in with the secondary account that you want to be your primary account.

Note: These steps will not change any of the data stored in your iCloud account.

Additional Information

Because many iCloud services only work on the primary account, it is recommended that you use the same primary account on all devices you use with iCloud. If you have different accounts logged in as the primary account on different devices, those services will not push data between your devices.

It's better to post your questions in a new thread rather than tack onto an old one which isn't even on the same problem.

However, to answer your question: once you have created an iCloud account and chosen an @icloud.com address to go with it you can't change the address (short of creating an entirely new account).

However, all is not lost. You can add up to three 'email aliases' - these are additional addresses (not accounts) which deliver into the same inbox as the main account. (In fact it's a good idea to give out alias addresses, rather than the main address, because if they attract spam you can easily change them.) (New aliases can only be @icloud.com ones; @me.com addresses cannot now be created.)

You should be aware before you start that once you've created an alias you cannot turn that address into a full iCloud account, move it to another account, or reactivate it if you delete it.

More information on aliases here:

http://help.apple.com/icloud/#mm6b1a490a

There is a contact link.

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Apple Support by e-mail or chat Select your device, Battery, Power and Charging, then Power adapter not working to get a chat option.

right, I have my wifes full mobile me accont and I have an email only mobile me account.

I need to move to icloud and have the wifes as the primary account. So your post is so helpful.

if I my ask does having two accounts on the same computer cause probelms or are the two accounts separate. For example my wifes iphoto and itunes has all are pictures and music. I do not need any of it to get shared with my account..

Ugh. I have the same problem. My husband has the primary account (apple ID using his @yahoo) and hasn't created an @me account yet. He's eventually going to convert over. But I created my @me account at icloud.com and when I got home to get everything synced to my mac it said that the 'primary' is the only one to have full functions of the icloud. He doesn't care for all of the functions, only his email, contacts and calendars. I'm the one who wants full access to icloud so how can I switch my @me (secondary account) to be linked to the 'primary' (apple ID is @yahoo). Or even better...how can I make my @me account the primary apple ID without having to loose any of our content that is connected to the original apple ID (@yahoo)?

But yes, if you want full access to icloud be sure you create your @me account to the primary first. I didn't know this and now stuck. :-/

Roger, thanks for you information. When I try to delete my account in icloud, it tells me my calendar & contacts will be deleted from my Mac. What do I do about that? Do I need to back up anything first? Please help.

Your data will be deleted from the Mac but not from the iCloud server. However you should back up everything anyway: and remember that only the primary account can sync with your Mac. If you make another account your primary one you won't be able to sync with the original account.

I have tried this, but when I go to System Preferences > iCloud there is no option to sign out of my primary account, just a log in option. When I log in with my secondary account, I am told it is not my primary account.

What am I doing incorrectly?

Thanks!

Just to be clear, my goal is to swap two mobile me accounts to make the now secondary account the primary and vice-versa. I still need them both.

So, after I have done what Apple's instructions say to do, I then need to go back into Mail, Contacts,Calendars and add back what used to the primary to now make it secondary.

Correct?

And by doing so the data will reappear on my mac because that data resides on iCloud, yes?

It scares the heck out of me to be deleting then re-adding those accounts as I foresee headaches like duplicate cards in addressbook, duplicates in calendar etc. if/when the syncing doesn't work perfectly...

Hi

Following situatioin here. I have a new primary account on my iPhone ( not on my imac because haven't got Lion yet). How can I transfer my calendar entries from my secondary account to the primary? And what will happen (still on the iPhone) when I've setup primary and secondary accounts and have both Adressbooks ON to sync with iCloud, will I be able to distinguish between them on my phone within the adressbook?

Thanks for any help

Nicolas

everytime i try and log onto my account that i would like to become my primary account it always says "to use this apple id as your primary icloud account, delete it from mail,contacts and calenders and sign in again" how do i do this its soo frustrating?

please help!

hi, this is happening with me as well. but i have no option to sign out of the i cloud account and at the top it just says this is not your primary account.

ive seen the picture added to this forum but i dont have that sign out option on mine. im running off 10.8.2 and only have the one mac, i got rid of my old one so just want this as my primary account!!

doing my head in now cause apple cant seem to help with it unless i go into the genius bar

Do what? You've tacked onto an old thread with several different questions in it, where some of the answers may well by now be out of date. Please start a new thread and explain exactly what it is you want to do.