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The way profiles (or tab containers) work in Firefox sucks compared to Chrome honestly. I could never find a way to open in the correct profile from external a

The way profiles (or tab containers) work in Firefox sucks compared to Chrome honestly. I could never find a way to open in the correct profile from external applications.

Semaphor 3y ago
Containers are amazing imo. And profiles? -P "profile name" is not that hard.
- cpeterso 3y ago
  You can also create and switch between multiple Firefox profiles by entering about:profiles in the Firefox address bar.
- _cenw 3y ago
  It's pretty much impossible to have them show up as separate taskbar/dock items. The workaround has always been to run Developer Edition, but that's still not great OS integration. Edge even allows you to pin profiles, and adds the profile icon in the corner.
kemotep 3y ago
You can set up specific domains to open up in specific tab containers. Obviously for sites that you have never visited before this complicates things unless you have the default tab container be your “throwaway” or not personally identifying profile. The experience there isn’t perfect and requires some effort to setup but how is that different than getting certain sites to open in specific chrome profiles automatically?
- eloisant 3y ago
  Yes but that doesn't help for domains that I use for both profiles. Typically Google, when I click on a Google Doc I need to be able to decide to open it in my personal or pro account. With Chrome it goes to the last focused window so it will usually match what I'm currently doing, otherwise all I have to do is focus the right Chrome window before going back to the external app and click the link.
  - ghusto 3y ago
    > Yes but that doesn't help for domains that I use for both profiles Why not? Since Google's multiple-account handling is awful, I use Container Tabs for keeping my accounts separate. In this case I'm asked if I want to use the container profile I've explicitly set for Google (my work account), or the one I'm currently in.
mort96 3y ago
I find it annoying how I need a separate window for each profile in Chrome, I like that I can have one window and some windows are in the work container and some are not. You do need the (official) containers extension though.
- sethammons 3y ago
  I had to use chrome at work and the different windows for different profiles really pissed me off (like, more than is reasonable). I eventually discovered you can have multiple profiles in the same window, it just wasn't the default.
  - avarun 3y ago
    Wait how?
  - ghusto 3y ago
    Try Container Tabs instead, it solves that use-case in a much nicer way.
- bdd8f1df777b 3y ago
  I feel the opposite. Separate windows for each profiles make it much harder to accidentally mix the profile.
- jklinger410 3y ago
  > I find it annoying how I need a separate window for each profile in Chrome I find it way more useful to have a completely unique profile rather than bash everything together in Firefox. Profile specific extensions, for instance, don't work with container tabs. It's a non-starter for me.
ghusto 3y ago
You don't need profiles in Firefox, there's a much better solution called Container Tabs. If you're using profiles to keep things like work and play separate, check it out and thank me later ;)
- Moldoteck 3y ago
  Afaik it's better in some ways, worse in others(addon management for example)
  - ghusto 3y ago
    Yes, addons are shared, along with their configuration. Not an issue for me, since that's what I want, but I've heard others complain about that.
- eloisant 3y ago
  Yes I checked container tabs, but they still don't fix my issue. - I click on a Google Doc work link from Slack, I want it to open in my work profile - I click on a Google Doc link from the WhatsApp desktop app, I want it to open in my home profile With Chrome I just need to make sure that the last focused Chrome window is from the right profile. I really want to switch back to Firefox but that's blocking me.
  - ghusto 3y ago
    > With Chrome I just need to make sure that the last focused Chrome window is from the right profile. There's a setting to always open a tab in the same container profile you click on them from. So as long as you open the page with the link in the target profile, it will open in that profile too — same as what you're saying above, I think? There's also an easy "open in new container tab" option when right clicking a tab, and "re-open this site in ..." option when clicking on the container tabs extension button.
- idonotknowwhy 3y ago
  I stopped using that feature because I have a personal and work Gmail, and I wanted them isolated. But there was some bug whereby every time I'd click any Google link, I'd prompt me to switch to the work container. Others online had the same issue and nobody had a solution

The way profiles (or tab containers) work in Firefox sucks compared to Chrome honestly. I could never find a way to open in the correct profile from external applications.

Semaphor 3y ago

Containers are amazing imo. And profiles? -P "profile name" is not that hard.

cpeterso 3y ago
You can also create and switch between multiple Firefox profiles by entering about:profiles in the Firefox address bar.
_cenw 3y ago
It's pretty much impossible to have them show up as separate taskbar/dock items. The workaround has always been to run Developer Edition, but that's still not great OS integration. Edge even allows you to pin profiles, and adds the profile icon in the corner.

kemotep 3y ago

You can set up specific domains to open up in specific tab containers. Obviously for sites that you have never visited before this complicates things unless you have the default tab container be your “throwaway” or not personally identifying profile. The experience there isn’t perfect and requires some effort to setup but how is that different than getting certain sites to open in specific chrome profiles automatically?

eloisant 3y ago
Yes but that doesn't help for domains that I use for both profiles. Typically Google, when I click on a Google Doc I need to be able to decide to open it in my personal or pro account. With Chrome it goes to the last focused window so it will usually match what I'm currently doing, otherwise all I have to do is focus the right Chrome window before going back to the external app and click the link.
- ghusto 3y ago
  > Yes but that doesn't help for domains that I use for both profiles Why not? Since Google's multiple-account handling is awful, I use Container Tabs for keeping my accounts separate. In this case I'm asked if I want to use the container profile I've explicitly set for Google (my work account), or the one I'm currently in.

mort96 3y ago

I find it annoying how I need a separate window for each profile in Chrome, I like that I can have one window and some windows are in the work container and some are not. You do need the (official) containers extension though.

sethammons 3y ago
I had to use chrome at work and the different windows for different profiles really pissed me off (like, more than is reasonable). I eventually discovered you can have multiple profiles in the same window, it just wasn't the default.
- avarun 3y ago
  Wait how?
- ghusto 3y ago
  Try Container Tabs instead, it solves that use-case in a much nicer way.
bdd8f1df777b 3y ago
I feel the opposite. Separate windows for each profiles make it much harder to accidentally mix the profile.
jklinger410 3y ago
> I find it annoying how I need a separate window for each profile in Chrome I find it way more useful to have a completely unique profile rather than bash everything together in Firefox. Profile specific extensions, for instance, don't work with container tabs. It's a non-starter for me.

ghusto 3y ago

You don't need profiles in Firefox, there's a much better solution called Container Tabs. If you're using profiles to keep things like work and play separate, check it out and thank me later ;)

Moldoteck 3y ago
Afaik it's better in some ways, worse in others(addon management for example)
- ghusto 3y ago
  Yes, addons are shared, along with their configuration. Not an issue for me, since that's what I want, but I've heard others complain about that.
eloisant 3y ago
Yes I checked container tabs, but they still don't fix my issue. - I click on a Google Doc work link from Slack, I want it to open in my work profile - I click on a Google Doc link from the WhatsApp desktop app, I want it to open in my home profile With Chrome I just need to make sure that the last focused Chrome window is from the right profile. I really want to switch back to Firefox but that's blocking me.
- ghusto 3y ago
  > With Chrome I just need to make sure that the last focused Chrome window is from the right profile. There's a setting to always open a tab in the same container profile you click on them from. So as long as you open the page with the link in the target profile, it will open in that profile too — same as what you're saying above, I think? There's also an easy "open in new container tab" option when right clicking a tab, and "re-open this site in ..." option when clicking on the container tabs extension button.
idonotknowwhy 3y ago
I stopped using that feature because I have a personal and work Gmail, and I wanted them isolated. But there was some bug whereby every time I'd click any Google link, I'd prompt me to switch to the work container. Others online had the same issue and nobody had a solution