How to Copy Chrome Extensions Between Profiles or Accounts

Chrome Sync carries your browser data across devices, and extensions are part of that. This guide shows you how to move them between Chrome profiles and between two Google accounts.

Turn sync on and Chrome pushes your bookmarks, passwords, settings and extensions to every device signed in with that account.

Say you use an extension that stores email templates. Those templates follow you to any device on the same account.

However, you cannot automatically sync the Chrome extensions among different Google accounts. Thug, you can easily sync your media across using Chrome sync, but it does not work well when it comes to switching accounts. To do so, you will need to follow some extra steps.

What is Google Chrome Sync to Import Chrome Extensions?

Chrome Sync keeps your settings, history, passwords and extensions the same on every device. You open Chrome anywhere and your setup is already there.

If you don’t know how, you can manage the raw folder of Chrome extensions and learn how to load an unpacked Chrome extension.

Moving to a new computer without sync means rebuilding the browser from scratch. Turn sync on before you make the switch, not after.

Chrome then saves your extensions, bookmarks and settings to your Google Account. You reach them from any device you sign in on.

Turn sync off and everything already on the device stays put. What stops is the saving. Any change you make after that point lives only on that machine, and your other devices never see it.

Although there is no direct step to import Chrome extensions from another Google account, you can easily transfer the extensions among different Chrome profiles.

Set Up Your Profile to Import Chrome Extensions

Here are a few steps on how you can easily set up the Chrome profiles to import Chrome extensions.

1. Set Up Multiple Profiles in Chrome

You can easily customize your browsing experience for different people working on the same device using Chrome profiles. In each profile, you can keep your settings, bookmarks, extensions, and history so that every user can have a personalized experience. Also, the moment you sign in with your Google Account, your data gets synced across all your devices.

• Open your Google Chrome browser and look at the top-right corner of the window.
• Then click on the current user icon. It might appear with your name, email, or an icon saying Sign in.
• After that, select the Switch Person option from the dropdown.
• At the bottom of the window you will find Add Person. Click it and Chrome creates the new profile.
• Then sign in with the Google Account you want to sync extensions from. This step will allow all your extensions, bookmarks, and other browsing data to sync to the new profile that you recently created.

2. Enable Sync on Both Profiles

Chrome syncs every profile by default, but each profile has its own settings, so you can choose what it shares. Turn sync on in both profiles and they stay in step.

• Open your Chrome browser and simply click on the three dots in the top-right corner of your Chrome Window.
• From there, click on Settings.
• Under the You and Google section, click on the Turn On Sync option to enable syncing on both profiles.
• Then, you will be redirected to sign in to your Google account.
• Also, make sure that the option to sync Extensions is turned on for both profiles.

How to Import Chrome Extensions from Another Google Account

Here are a few steps on how you can easily import Chrome extensions from one profile to another. 

• Simply first open your Chrome browser on Profile 1 and ensure that you have all the extensions you want to transfer to another profile. Also, check that they are all enabled and set up properly.
• Then, ensure that the Chrome Sync is enabled. This will make sure your extensions can easily sync between the profiles.
• In case you are using the same Google account for both profiles, you will also need to sign out of Profile 1. You will not be able to sync the extensions unless you are logged in.
• Once you sign out of Profile 1, simply switch to Profile 2. In Profile 2, sign in with the same Google account you used in Profile 1. Chrome Sync needs a Google account, so an Outlook or Microsoft address will not work here.
• Then, Chrome will automatically start syncing all your data, including your extensions, to Profile 2. This might take a few minutes.
• Once your data is synced, switch to Profile 2 and check if the extensions from Profile 1 have been installed. Also, make sure that all your extensions are installed properly on Profile 2.
• Once you are assured that your extensions are synced, you can sign out of Profile 2. However, you need to be careful not to uncheck the options related to sync or extensions.
• Then, sign in to Profile 1. You do not need to worry; the sync will be restored, and your extensions will remain in place.
• If, in the future, you go back to Profile 2, you will see that all the extensions from Profile 1 are there.

How to Copy Chrome Extensions from One Profile to Another

Chrome has no button for this. Sync moves your extensions between devices on the same Google account. It does not copy them sideways into a second profile signed in as someone else.

So there are two honest routes, and which one you want depends on whether the profiles share an account.

If both profiles use the same Google account

Sign in on both and turn on sync. Chrome installs your extensions in the second profile within a minute or two. Nothing else to do.

If the profiles use different Google accounts

You rebuild the list by hand. It takes about five minutes:

1. Open chrome://extensions in the profile you are copying from.
2. Turn on Developer mode in the top right so each extension shows its ID.
3. Write down the name of every extension you want to keep, or take a screenshot of the page.
4. Switch to the other profile and open the Chrome Web Store.
5. Search each name and install it. Pinned toolbar order does not carry across, so set that again.

What does not carry over: extension settings, saved logins inside an extension, and any local data it stored. Those live in the profile folder, not in your Google account. Check each extension for its own export or backup option before you switch.

Copying the Extensions folder out of the Chrome user data directory works on paper. In practice Chrome often disables the pasted extensions on next launch, because their keys do not match the new profile. Reinstalling from the store is slower to start and faster to finish.

Conclusion

Chrome has no one-click way to move extensions between Google accounts. Multiple profiles get you there instead, and it takes minutes.

You just need to create a new profile and turn on sync for both accounts. Your extensions will sync across the profiles.

After signing out of one profile and into the other, Chrome will automatically transfer the extensions. This way, you can easily import Chrome extensions from your different accounts.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)