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Time and time again I try to switch to Firefox. But it always seems to fall short (for me at least). I rely too much on separate profiles to disconnect work-re

Time and time again I try to switch to Firefox. But it always seems to fall short (for me at least). I rely too much on separate profiles to disconnect work-related browsing from personal browsing. Separate bookmarks, sessions, browser plugins, sync preferences etc... A UI that's as powerful is literally all that is needed for me anyway. Its such a shame they've neglected the Profile Manager.

freediver 5y ago
Firefox has containers that achieve the same purpose. Have you tried using them?
detaro 5y ago
What exactly are you missing from the profile feature in Firefox? It's barebones to setup, but I used it for similar purpose a while back and thought it was ok enough.
yuvadam 5y ago
You can still manage profiles in FF via about:profiles, but I 100% agree it's not accessible enough.
- y4mi 5y ago
  the portable version is also an option if the user passes a location as the profile path. This can be made more convenient by adding shortcuts for each profile. The UX could definitely be improved, but it's manageable in my opinion
  - bugmen0t 5y ago
    The "portable version" is not maintained pr built by Mozilla and breaks/disables the sandbox. Don’t use it.
- abyssin 5y ago
  You can add a bookmark shortcut button with the address about:profile and that makes it more accessible. I added a key shortcut to the bookmark itself. Then I can use cmd + L to focus the address bar, type the letter p, and hit Enter. That opens the profiles page and it’s reasonably fast. I also created a similar bookmark with a JavaScript snippet that removes fixed elements from the page, typically top bars. I now have it in my muscle memory.
  - muxator 5y ago
    Until Mozilla disables bookmark keywords on the desktop browser, too (on the android version they have been nuked already).
ComodoHacker 5y ago
What exactly prevents you from using Firefox profiles? They are working fine, for me at least. I can't see a reason for Firefox devs to be ashamed.
- bravetraveler 5y ago
  Similarly confused, I use profiles heavily every day It may be due to my workflow; I simply hit a key combination to either open my personal profile or the one for work, for example. Nothing fancy... The -P option for Firefox along with the usual key bindings for my window manager
- staticassertion 5y ago
  Personally it's the integrations. I have a Chromebook, which integrates with GSuite, and integrates with Android. I can manage extensions, permissions, etc, all from there. This is important since I use this Chromebook for work, but it would be cumbersome to run Firefox and Chrome simultaneously. With Firefox I get just-a-browser, and I need more than that. If Firefox had a way for me to manage the browser across devices it would be more viable for me.
  - zwaps 5y ago
    First, you can sync your browser with your Firefox account, so this is I guess what you want? Second, for the Google (Gsuite, Android) integration, you could just use a work browser (aka Chrome). Third, if you use all that Google stuff in your private life, I don't really see why you would be worried about Manifest 3-related privacy and ads/tracking matters anyway. I mean, Google already has your data.
    - staticassertion 5y ago
      > First, you can sync your browser with your Firefox account, so this is I guess what you want? Maybe? Probably not though. For example, with GSuite I can manage the settings via the web UI and then have policies that enforce that those settings are verified correct. > Third, if you use all that Google stuff in your private life, I don't really see why you would be worried about Manifest 3-related privacy and ads/tracking matters anyway. I mean, Google already has your data. I opt into Google having my data, but I want to be able to opt out of running arbitrary content in my browser. uBlock and uMatrix give me that, Manifest v3 takes that away.
OOPMan 5y ago
So, just switch to Vivaldi. Same renderer and JS engine as Chrome but the devs have drawn a line in the sand about stuff like manifest v3: https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-brave-vivaldi-to-ignore-chromes-anti-ad-blocker-changes-despite-shared-codebase/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-brave-vivaldi-to-ignore-...
Jiejeing 5y ago
about:profiles is good enough for me, although as barebones as ever.
Schinken_ 5y ago
But Firefox has Tab Containers? They are (afaik) not fully fledged profiles but rather separated containers (cookies, history etc)
- judge2020 5y ago
  None of the ‘etc’ includes things that would properly support separate work vs personal profiles to the point that your company doesn’t need to access your personal data to inspect it in case of discovery requests / court order. Having proper separate profiles also allows sync so that an office PC can use the work profile only, while at home you have access to both work + personal and your work profile syncs with that of your office pc.
  - kadoban 5y ago
    I can't imagine discovery requests are going to be written in such a way that they're friendly to whatever browser separation you're using.
    - krinchan 5y ago
      Yes. Discovery requests are going to be based on device, not browser profiles. If you use a personal computer to access work things that computer is going into discovery. Do not pass go. Do not whine about your browser profiles. End of argument.
- anonymousab 5y ago
  History is not separated by containers. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Project/Containers#What_is_.28and_isn.27t.29_separated_between_Containers https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Projec...
dcormier 5y ago
I know this doesn't address all of the points you brought up, but I heavily use Multi-Account Containers[1] to isolate social, work, shopping, etc. It works well, for me. I don't miss Chrome profiles. [1]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers
- unbanned 5y ago
  And the experience is absolutely awful.
  - eitland 5y ago
    Would you mention what you don't understand so that someone can help you instead of just talking bad about a very nifty piece of software?
    - ayushnix 5y ago
      The last time I tried the Multi Account Containers add-on, it randomly wiped my list of websites after browser restarts and upgrades and there was no way to export the list of websites I had containerized. IIRC, there still isn't a way to do it unless I use Firefox Sync, which I don't. The addon was also basically abandoned for quite some time with lots of bugs all over the place and was revived only recently. It was an extremely painful experience, to say the least. I still use the Containerise addon instead because of that unpleasant experience.
      - pleb_nz 5y ago
        That's a shame you've had a bad experience. I've covered many people over to it with most using it extensively with no major issues. I wonder if your issue had been resolved?
        ayushnix 5y ago
        > I wonder if your issue had been resolved? Maybe. However, I have no reason to switch to the Multi Account Containers addon now considering the Containerise addon works well.
sanchopanca 5y ago
Have you tried Firefox containers[1]? Or another alternative could be two Firefox versions installed, regular and the developer edition. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...
Dudemeister_ 5y ago
You can run the profile manager from the terminal with `firefox --profilemanager` and manage the profiles from there Then you can create separate 'shortcuts' for each profile with this `firefox --profile [path to the profile]`
- foepys 5y ago
  I have been using this workflow for years now. It separates literally everything: cookies, site settings, window size and position, configuration, add-on settings, etc. This way I can emulate a fresh profile, a restricted profile with tracking protection, and a completely locked down profile with more or less everything disabled. My private Firefox in completely unaffected by my development profiles and I can open multiple profiles at once, theme them differently, and I know exactly which kind of instance I'm using. It's excellent and works flawlessly for over a decade now.
  - forty 5y ago
    How do you choose in which profile links from outside of the browser should open?
    - Dudemeister_ 5y ago
      This depends on what profile you make the the default startup profile in the profile manager
      - forty 5y ago
        Do you know if there is a way to be prompted each time?
        sp332 5y ago
        You could find where in your desktop environment it decides which app to open, and replace "firefox" with "firefox --profilemanager".
    - 5y ago
tut-urut-utut 5y ago
I worked around it that I always use Chrome for work and Firefox privately. As opposed to private browsing I don't care if my work related browsing is tracked, slower, less secure or use more bandwidth. Let the company that mandates Chrome or Edge pay for the consequences.
jmuguy 5y ago
I use “regular” Firefox for personal stuff and the developer edition for work. After trying a lot of approaches for that separation, it’s what’s worked best for me. Also the developer edition has a cool/different icon
tomohawk 5y ago
firefox -P [profile name] -no-remote EDIT: or, to bring up the profile manager: firefox -P -no-remote
- oauea 5y ago
  Do that twice, running two firefoxes using two profiles, then click a link in a third application. This tends to try to launch a third firefox process which hangs for a while then says "application already running". Okay, so you run one of them without no-remote. I had some issues with that, but it mostly works. Now how do you change the default profile? You completely stop firefox, update your shortcuts and finally, in my case, give up on using multiple profiles with firefox on a day to day basis.
  - db48x 5y ago
    Navigate to about:profiles and click “Set as Default Profile” for one of them.
    - oauea 5y ago
      That button grays out when both profiles are running. Try it. Also if the firefox instance is launched with no-remote, this won't even work as expected. Instead it'll start another firefox instance with remoting enabled, which will fail to start because the profile is already in use.
  - magicalhippo 5y ago
    I agree this is a pain point when using multiple profiles, and something Firefox should improve. However it's not a huge issue. Mostly just copy-pasting links from mails etc instead of clicking, which gives the nice benefit of observing which site exactly you're about to visit.
    - oauea 5y ago
      Sure, all it does is it breaks left clicking hyperlinks in all other applications.
oauea 5y ago
Agreed. While I love containers, they are not an equivalent because they do not separate out the bookmarks, history and sync profile. With Chrome I was able to have a Chrome Profile on my work laptop that syncs to one of the profiles on my desktop computer. The desktop computer had a separate profile for my personal browsing. It worked really well. The firefox profiles work, but they're too bare bones to ACTUALLY be usable. A few major problems I've had are: * No easy way to start firefox twice in two separate profiles, while having separate task bar icons (which can optionally be pinned) in Windows 10. I did eventually get it to work by mucking about with creating my own shortcuts, photoshopping the firefox icon, using separate themes on both, etc. On Chrome you can just click the profile manager icon and you're pretty much done. * When firefox is running twice with separate profiles you can't easily change the default profile. So it's awkward to get links from other applications to open in the firefox instance you want. * Speaking of, sometimes firefox would just give me the "Firefox is already running" dialog when clicking a link. Only fix I found was to terminate all firefox processes, start my two profiles again and then click the link again. It would be lovely if firefox made the profiles easier to manage and switch between.
vorpalhex 5y ago
You can launch Firefox with a given profile from the CLI. Just make your own shortcuts.
account-5 5y ago
Open Firefox, type 'about:profiles' in address bar... Is that what you're after?
- trts 5y ago
  It’s odd to me that FF has not exposed this function more readily to the user but it indeed works just the same as Chrome
clairity 5y ago
what is deficient with firefox’s profile manager in that regard? last time i used it, it completely isolated every part of the browser experience, which seems to be what you want. in any case, if containers don’t work for you, you can run developer edition for work and standard edition for personal. this is what i do, and the added advantage is that you can use containers on top of it for more granular isolation within each context.
pleb_nz 5y ago
There are profiles. I run multiple profiles in Firefox daily. I also use multi-account containers and temp containers inside each profile for further granulation.
karmakaze 5y ago
Why do so many think it has to be all or nothing. I'm completely happy to use Chrome for work as some things require it, and Firefox for personal use. It even has the benefit of the visual differences being a cue as to what 'mode' I'm in for keeping mental context separated.

freediver 5y ago

Firefox has containers that achieve the same purpose. Have you tried using them?

detaro 5y ago

What exactly are you missing from the profile feature in Firefox? It's barebones to setup, but I used it for similar purpose a while back and thought it was ok enough.

yuvadam 5y ago

You can still manage profiles in FF via about:profiles, but I 100% agree it's not accessible enough.

y4mi 5y ago
the portable version is also an option if the user passes a location as the profile path. This can be made more convenient by adding shortcuts for each profile. The UX could definitely be improved, but it's manageable in my opinion
- bugmen0t 5y ago
  The "portable version" is not maintained pr built by Mozilla and breaks/disables the sandbox. Don’t use it.
abyssin 5y ago
You can add a bookmark shortcut button with the address about:profile and that makes it more accessible. I added a key shortcut to the bookmark itself. Then I can use cmd + L to focus the address bar, type the letter p, and hit Enter. That opens the profiles page and it’s reasonably fast. I also created a similar bookmark with a JavaScript snippet that removes fixed elements from the page, typically top bars. I now have it in my muscle memory.
- muxator 5y ago
  Until Mozilla disables bookmark keywords on the desktop browser, too (on the android version they have been nuked already).

ComodoHacker 5y ago

What exactly prevents you from using Firefox profiles? They are working fine, for me at least. I can't see a reason for Firefox devs to be ashamed.

bravetraveler 5y ago
Similarly confused, I use profiles heavily every day It may be due to my workflow; I simply hit a key combination to either open my personal profile or the one for work, for example. Nothing fancy... The -P option for Firefox along with the usual key bindings for my window manager
staticassertion 5y ago
Personally it's the integrations. I have a Chromebook, which integrates with GSuite, and integrates with Android. I can manage extensions, permissions, etc, all from there. This is important since I use this Chromebook for work, but it would be cumbersome to run Firefox and Chrome simultaneously. With Firefox I get just-a-browser, and I need more than that. If Firefox had a way for me to manage the browser across devices it would be more viable for me.
- zwaps 5y ago
  First, you can sync your browser with your Firefox account, so this is I guess what you want? Second, for the Google (Gsuite, Android) integration, you could just use a work browser (aka Chrome). Third, if you use all that Google stuff in your private life, I don't really see why you would be worried about Manifest 3-related privacy and ads/tracking matters anyway. I mean, Google already has your data.
  - staticassertion 5y ago
    > First, you can sync your browser with your Firefox account, so this is I guess what you want? Maybe? Probably not though. For example, with GSuite I can manage the settings via the web UI and then have policies that enforce that those settings are verified correct. > Third, if you use all that Google stuff in your private life, I don't really see why you would be worried about Manifest 3-related privacy and ads/tracking matters anyway. I mean, Google already has your data. I opt into Google having my data, but I want to be able to opt out of running arbitrary content in my browser. uBlock and uMatrix give me that, Manifest v3 takes that away.

OOPMan 5y ago

So, just switch to Vivaldi. Same renderer and JS engine as Chrome but the devs have drawn a line in the sand about stuff like manifest v3: https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-brave-vivaldi-to-ignore-chromes-anti-ad-blocker-changes-despite-shared-codebase/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-brave-vivaldi-to-ignore-...

Jiejeing 5y ago

about:profiles is good enough for me, although as barebones as ever.

Schinken_ 5y ago

But Firefox has Tab Containers? They are (afaik) not fully fledged profiles but rather separated containers (cookies, history etc)

judge2020 5y ago
None of the ‘etc’ includes things that would properly support separate work vs personal profiles to the point that your company doesn’t need to access your personal data to inspect it in case of discovery requests / court order. Having proper separate profiles also allows sync so that an office PC can use the work profile only, while at home you have access to both work + personal and your work profile syncs with that of your office pc.
- kadoban 5y ago
  I can't imagine discovery requests are going to be written in such a way that they're friendly to whatever browser separation you're using.
  - krinchan 5y ago
    Yes. Discovery requests are going to be based on device, not browser profiles. If you use a personal computer to access work things that computer is going into discovery. Do not pass go. Do not whine about your browser profiles. End of argument.
anonymousab 5y ago
History is not separated by containers. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Project/Containers#What_is_.28and_isn.27t.29_separated_between_Containers https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Projec...

dcormier 5y ago

I know this doesn't address all of the points you brought up, but I heavily use Multi-Account Containers[1] to isolate social, work, shopping, etc. It works well, for me. I don't miss Chrome profiles. [1]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers

unbanned 5y ago
And the experience is absolutely awful.
- eitland 5y ago
  Would you mention what you don't understand so that someone can help you instead of just talking bad about a very nifty piece of software?
  - ayushnix 5y ago
    The last time I tried the Multi Account Containers add-on, it randomly wiped my list of websites after browser restarts and upgrades and there was no way to export the list of websites I had containerized. IIRC, there still isn't a way to do it unless I use Firefox Sync, which I don't. The addon was also basically abandoned for quite some time with lots of bugs all over the place and was revived only recently. It was an extremely painful experience, to say the least. I still use the Containerise addon instead because of that unpleasant experience.
    - pleb_nz 5y ago
      That's a shame you've had a bad experience. I've covered many people over to it with most using it extensively with no major issues. I wonder if your issue had been resolved?
      - ayushnix 5y ago
        > I wonder if your issue had been resolved? Maybe. However, I have no reason to switch to the Multi Account Containers addon now considering the Containerise addon works well.

sanchopanca 5y ago

Have you tried Firefox containers[1]? Or another alternative could be two Firefox versions installed, regular and the developer edition. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...

Dudemeister_ 5y ago

You can run the profile manager from the terminal with `firefox --profilemanager` and manage the profiles from there Then you can create separate 'shortcuts' for each profile with this `firefox --profile [path to the profile]`

foepys 5y ago
I have been using this workflow for years now. It separates literally everything: cookies, site settings, window size and position, configuration, add-on settings, etc. This way I can emulate a fresh profile, a restricted profile with tracking protection, and a completely locked down profile with more or less everything disabled. My private Firefox in completely unaffected by my development profiles and I can open multiple profiles at once, theme them differently, and I know exactly which kind of instance I'm using. It's excellent and works flawlessly for over a decade now.
- forty 5y ago
  How do you choose in which profile links from outside of the browser should open?
  - Dudemeister_ 5y ago
    This depends on what profile you make the the default startup profile in the profile manager
    - forty 5y ago
      Do you know if there is a way to be prompted each time?
      - sp332 5y ago
        You could find where in your desktop environment it decides which app to open, and replace "firefox" with "firefox --profilemanager".
  - 5y ago

tut-urut-utut 5y ago

I worked around it that I always use Chrome for work and Firefox privately. As opposed to private browsing I don't care if my work related browsing is tracked, slower, less secure or use more bandwidth. Let the company that mandates Chrome or Edge pay for the consequences.

jmuguy 5y ago

I use “regular” Firefox for personal stuff and the developer edition for work. After trying a lot of approaches for that separation, it’s what’s worked best for me. Also the developer edition has a cool/different icon

tomohawk 5y ago

firefox -P [profile name] -no-remote EDIT: or, to bring up the profile manager: firefox -P -no-remote

oauea 5y ago
Do that twice, running two firefoxes using two profiles, then click a link in a third application. This tends to try to launch a third firefox process which hangs for a while then says "application already running". Okay, so you run one of them without no-remote. I had some issues with that, but it mostly works. Now how do you change the default profile? You completely stop firefox, update your shortcuts and finally, in my case, give up on using multiple profiles with firefox on a day to day basis.
- db48x 5y ago
  Navigate to about:profiles and click “Set as Default Profile” for one of them.
  - oauea 5y ago
    That button grays out when both profiles are running. Try it. Also if the firefox instance is launched with no-remote, this won't even work as expected. Instead it'll start another firefox instance with remoting enabled, which will fail to start because the profile is already in use.
- magicalhippo 5y ago
  I agree this is a pain point when using multiple profiles, and something Firefox should improve. However it's not a huge issue. Mostly just copy-pasting links from mails etc instead of clicking, which gives the nice benefit of observing which site exactly you're about to visit.
  - oauea 5y ago
    Sure, all it does is it breaks left clicking hyperlinks in all other applications.

oauea 5y ago

Agreed. While I love containers, they are not an equivalent because they do not separate out the bookmarks, history and sync profile. With Chrome I was able to have a Chrome Profile on my work laptop that syncs to one of the profiles on my desktop computer. The desktop computer had a separate profile for my personal browsing. It worked really well. The firefox profiles work, but they're too bare bones to ACTUALLY be usable. A few major problems I've had are: * No easy way to start firefox twice in two separate profiles, while having separate task bar icons (which can optionally be pinned) in Windows 10. I did eventually get it to work by mucking about with creating my own shortcuts, photoshopping the firefox icon, using separate themes on both, etc. On Chrome you can just click the profile manager icon and you're pretty much done. * When firefox is running twice with separate profiles you can't easily change the default profile. So it's awkward to get links from other applications to open in the firefox instance you want. * Speaking of, sometimes firefox would just give me the "Firefox is already running" dialog when clicking a link. Only fix I found was to terminate all firefox processes, start my two profiles again and then click the link again. It would be lovely if firefox made the profiles easier to manage and switch between.

vorpalhex 5y ago

You can launch Firefox with a given profile from the CLI. Just make your own shortcuts.

account-5 5y ago

Open Firefox, type 'about:profiles' in address bar... Is that what you're after?

trts 5y ago
It’s odd to me that FF has not exposed this function more readily to the user but it indeed works just the same as Chrome

clairity 5y ago

what is deficient with firefox’s profile manager in that regard? last time i used it, it completely isolated every part of the browser experience, which seems to be what you want. in any case, if containers don’t work for you, you can run developer edition for work and standard edition for personal. this is what i do, and the added advantage is that you can use containers on top of it for more granular isolation within each context.

pleb_nz 5y ago

There are profiles. I run multiple profiles in Firefox daily. I also use multi-account containers and temp containers inside each profile for further granulation.

karmakaze 5y ago

Why do so many think it has to be all or nothing. I'm completely happy to use Chrome for work as some things require it, and Firefox for personal use. It even has the benefit of the visual differences being a cue as to what 'mode' I'm in for keeping mental context separated.