How To Import Firefox Data Into Google Chrome

After last week’s news that Google Chrome has overtaken Firefox as the world’s second most popular web browser, it seems a good time to look at how to import your saved Firefox data into Google Chrome if you want to switch to Chrome (or use both).

The most common things to import from Firefox into Chrome are your Bookmarks, Saved website logins/passwords, Browsing History and perhaps your list of Search Engines. Fortunately, Chrome makes it really easy to import Firefox data but there is one ‘gotcha’ to look out for:

If you do not use a Master Password in Firefox to secure your saved passwords, skip to the ‘Import Firefox Data’ section below.

If you do use a Master Password, you can’t import your saved passwords immediately – the website names and usernames would be imported but the saved passwords would all be blank i.e. you won’t be able to log into your saved websites automatically. The solution is to remove your Master Password in Firefox before trying to import data into Chrome (you can add a Master Password back again afterwards).

Remove A Firefox Master Password

  • Open Firefox and in the Menu bar click ‘Tools’ then ‘Options’ then the ‘Security’ tab
  • Untick the ‘Use a master password’ checkbox – when prompted, type in your current Master Password to proceed and then click ‘Remove’
  • A ‘Password Change Succeeded’ message appears confirming that you have deleted your master password – press OK then OK again to close the Options window

Remember to add a Master Password back again after importing your data.

Import Firefox Data

1. Close Firefox and then open Google Chrome
2. In Chrome, click the ‘wrench’ (spanner) icon then click the ‘Options’ menu item
3. Click the ‘Personal Stuff’ option in the left panel to open the Personal Stuff page
4. Ensure that the ‘Offer to save passwords’ radio button is selected if you want to save login passwords in future
5. Now click the ‘Import data from another browser…’ button to open the Import Bookmarks and Settings window as shown below:

FFimport

6. In the ‘From’ menu select Mozilla Firefox
7. Tick all the items you wish to import – by default all 4 are selected
8. Click the Import button to begin the process – you should see a Success! message confirming the items have been imported into Chrome
9. Leave the option to show the Bookmarks bar ticked if you want to see the Bookmark bars at the top of Chrome then press OK to finish and then close Chrome

Where Is The Imported Data Stored In Chrome?

Firefox bookmarks are stored in the Bookmarks \ Imported from Firefox folder – accessible from ‘wrench’ icon \ Bookmarks (or directly in the Bookmarks bar if you have it displayed)

Browsing history is accessible from ‘wrench’ icon \ History (or use the shortcut CTRL+H)

Saved logon passwords are stored in the ‘wrench’ icon \ Options \ Personal Stuff window you accessed earlier to import your data – click the ‘Manage Saved Passwords’ button to display or delete them

Firefox search engines are stored in the ‘wrench’ icon \ Options \ Basics window – click the ‘Manage Search Engines’ button to display or delete them (or change the default)

Add A Master Password to Firefox

Unless you are uninstalling Firefox completely you should now add a Master Password for best security – even if you never had one before.

A Master Password secures your saved passwords – see our article on protecting Firefox with a Master Password.

10 thoughts on “How To Import Firefox Data Into Google Chrome”

  1. ” ‘Personal Stuff’ option” does not appear on left side of settings in current version of chrome…… :(

    • @Dee, it’s changed a bit – in Chrome 25+, click the Menu (3 lines) icon at top right then click ‘Settings’. In the Settings window, under ‘Users’ section select the ‘Import bookmarks and settings…’ button then the rest is the same as before
      .

  2. Your technique is awesome , just type in Google Chrome address bar “chrome://chrome/settings/importData” and you can easily import data from firefox and internet explorer.

    • Just tested with new Firefox 12 and Chrome 18.0.1025.162 (latest stable version) and Firefox shows up ok for me in the import menu, along with IE – the actual import worked too.

      Perhaps double check that you are using the latest stable (not beta) versions – Firefox 12 should be the Release channel and Chrome should be version 18. As you had Firefox 12 yesterday before it was officially released are you sure you don’t have a beta version?

      Only other thing I can think of is that your Firefox profile (database and settings) is not stored in the standard location in your user account – maybe not on C: drive or you moved it to somewhere else so Chrome can’t find it?

      Won’t work on LInux either for the same reason – see comment 1 above

  3. I’ve been attempting to do exactly this on a Linux system running Firefox 10 and up to date Google Chrome. I’ve removed my master password from Firefox, but Google Chrome tells me that there is no supported browser from which to import settings. Is the problem that Google Chrome doesn’t yet no how to import from Firefox 10 or does this just not work at all under Linux?

    • Works fine with Firefox 10 and latest Chrome on Windows so looks like the problem is just Linux.

      I suspect it can’t import on LInux because the Firefox password database and settings are not stored in the same location as they would be on Windows and Google haven’t included Linux default storage locations as an option.

Comments are closed.