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How do I maintain a work and home profile for firefox and access both wihtout casuing a headache?

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  • Last reply by FredMcD

MichaelHorowitz
MichaelHorowitz
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I have created a Home profile and a Work profile in Firefox and use the add-on ProfileSwitcher to switch on the fly, so when I am at work I can access the history and bookmarks (bookmark bar menu) I use at home, and vice versa. But I keep them separate. I keep extensive bookmarks in folders on the bookmark bar menu to aid in productivity.

The problem is that recently my Firefox at work exhibited a "glitch" of some kind and Firefox lost both profiles. I thought this was no problem. Sync. The next time I did a sync, both the histories and bookmarks from home and work became combined into one "default" profile on my work machine. I was worried about syncing my home computer lest the same thing happen

I created matching profiles again, did a sync, and manually removed my bookmarks (from the graphical bookmark menu bar) from each profile. I am afraid I have lost any new bookmarks I have created over the last few days at home and I am afraid to sync my home Firefox. I do not understand how sync works when the two profiles do not match. Does it "add?" Does it "delete?" How does it decide which profile is newer, and how do I prevent a "glitch" from ruining the profile in the other location when the next sync occurs?

I have created a Home profile and a Work profile in Firefox and use the add-on ProfileSwitcher to switch on the fly, so when I am at work I can access the history and bookmarks (bookmark bar menu) I use at home, and vice versa. But I keep them separate. I keep extensive bookmarks in folders on the bookmark bar menu to aid in productivity. The problem is that recently my Firefox at work exhibited a "glitch" of some kind and Firefox lost both profiles. I thought this was no problem. Sync. The next time I did a sync, both the histories and bookmarks from home and work became combined into one "default" profile on my work machine. I was worried about syncing my home computer lest the same thing happen I created matching profiles again, did a sync, and manually removed my bookmarks (from the graphical bookmark menu bar) from each profile. I am afraid I have lost any new bookmarks I have created over the last few days at home and I am afraid to sync my home Firefox. I do not understand how sync works when the two profiles do not match. Does it "add?" Does it "delete?" How does it decide which profile is newer, and how do I prevent a "glitch" from ruining the profile in the other location when the next sync occurs?

All Replies (2)

Wesley Branton
Wesley Branton
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You should be able to run multiple Firefox profiles without any issues. For example, I currently have 5 different profiles on my system.

If you are using the Sync feature, it is important that you do not use the same Firefox account to sync the profiles or else the data from each profile will be merged together. The Sync feature should work both ways, so no bookmarks should be removed during the Sync process.

You will need a separate Firefox account for each profile in order to use the Sync feature without the data being combined.

FredMcD
FredMcD
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These add-ons can be a great help by backing up and restoring Firefox

FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) {web link} FEBE allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions, history, passwords, and more. In fact, it goes beyond just backing up -- It will actually rebuild your saved files individually into installable .xpi files. It will also make backups of files that you choose.

OPIE {web link} Import/Export extension preferences