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I would like to sign into Chrome at work. The computers don't save information and it's really helpful to have bookmarks, history and tabs saved. I'm wondering what's the safest way to do this, as to divide my personal email etc. from what I do at work? I think what I want to do is create another profile in Chrome, but when I tried to it said that username (my Gmail address) is already used. Is there another way to create a profile without needing new login credentials? I have two factor authentication enabled in my Gmail so I would like to login using it (for both profiles).

Is this possible?

Jaime Santa Cruz
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JohnD
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5 Answers5

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I'm assuming you want to do basically a work and personal google chrome setup. With bookmarks / historical information different on each account.

Google doesn't allow this. You would be better off having a work email and a personal email setup. I hope they change this, as I use chrome the same way.

I would put down as a comment, but I don't have the 50 point rep.

JustAGrump
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At the time of writing, May 2021, actually you can create multiple profiles for the same google account, it's just that you can't sync them all. One google account can only sync one of the profiles. (See https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824)

You can create different profiles (such as Work, Personal, etc.) using the same google account. Different profiles do not share bookmarks, history, and plugins. For most people working from home with the need to share their screens, this is the most convenient choice to separate work/life contents without switching accounts all the time. If you use any password manager plugin such as LastPass, it would be even smoother because the application data can be shared.

However, among the profiles with the same google account, there is only one profile can be used for sync, which means some profiles will have to stay local, kind of annoying.

Edward Luo
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You can download a portable version of chrome and use the two browsers in parallel. Is not the same thing I know, but it can solve the problem.

more info:

Is it possible to have two separate installations of Chrome on one computer?

Filipe Teixeira
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First, I admit that this answer might not be acceptable on a work computer, if you can't install other versions of Chrome.

The answer is to install Chrome Beta and/or Chrome Canary, if necessary, in addition to Chrome Stable. I just tested, and I was able to use and sync the same Google account with a profile in Chrome Beta while also having it sync in my already installed Chrome Stable.

For those wondering, this isn't for work, this is all for personal use.

If you want details of the why, since Chrome got rid of the option to present a prompt when closing a window that has multiple tabs open on it, this is how I can always keep a window to the far left of all other Chrome windows, with my GMail/Google Voice/Chat, and some other tabs, open on it.

I'll only use this profile for that, and for opening links given in email, when it's convenient.

When I accidentally close that window (without using a separate browser profile), I can right-click and re-open the closed window, but it then appears to the far right of my existing tabs. Through third-party tweaks, I can move the window, but each time Chrome is completely closed and re-opened, it becomes necessary to re-move that window. It's very annoying for my workflow. There is another group of multiple windows and tabs I want to keep together that I'll now install Chrome Canary for.

Not an optimal workaround, but the best idea I've had recently.

I do use Hyper-V virtual PC extensively, but I don't want to have to do that for this purpose.

roirraW 'edor' ehT
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The most easiest way is to start a separate chrome instance by using the --user-data-dir command line parameter. By using this parameter you can have as many separated instances as you like, however you can use the same google account to sync. For convenience I'd suggest to create a shortcut for every user data directory you use.

see https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/docs/user_data_dir.md#overriding-the-user-data-directory

qoomon
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