You cannot switch the user account in SharePoint Designer 2013

SharePoint Designer is a powerful application that enables the rapid creation, editing and deployment of content on the SharePoint platform.

Microsoft has already published a document on this issue and here is the KB article for this:

Microsoft KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2738178

Additional references:

Please refer the following error messages:

1.      Indexer process doesn’t free up old memory after repartitioning

2.      New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent checks the existence of RootDirectory in the wrong server

3.      PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer Help doesn’t open as expected

4.      PowerPoint intent isn’t shown

5.      Repair operations on SharePoint Standalone can delete your content database

6.      WSS Sync failed to run in because of a lack of profile database permission

7.      Cannot process argument because the value of argument"implementingType" is null. Change the value of argument "implementingType" to a non-null value.

8.      "Error occurred in deployment step 'Add Solution': Cannot start service SPUserCodeV4 on computer ..."

9.      Unable to retrieve topology component health states. This may be because the admin component is not up and running.

If you are facing any error messages which are listed above then please refer the following Microsoft article for the details workaround information:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/sharepoint-server-2013-known-issues-HA102919021.aspx

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. Thank you.

SharePoint Designer permission requirements

SharePoint Designer is a powerful application that enables the rapid creation, editing and deployment of content on the SharePoint platform. As such, certain mandatory permission levels are required.

Detail Information:

As outlined in the article at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-designer-help/managing-sharepoint-designer-2010-HA101838275.aspx

After enabling SharePoint Designer at the web application level and site collection level, the next steps are to select the users that will be enabled to access, create, and modify SharePoint content through SharePoint Designer.

SharePoint Designer is designed to request and use SharePoint permissions that grant the rights of managing & designing at the SharePoint site level it is not design to use the permission at a smaller granularity level such as list item level permissions..

Reference Documents:

1.      http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262939.aspx

2.      http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721640.aspx

Conclusion:

To be able to use SharePoint Designer and modify SharePoint content, an user needs to be a member of one of the following groups at the site collection level:

1.      Site Collection Administrators group

2.      The Designers group

3.      Owners group

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. Thank you.