It is likely that the majority of Firefox users are using only one profile in the browser. Profiles are basically separate identities with their own sets of bookmarks, settings and customizations. This makes them very interesting for users who use the browser for unrelated tasks, for instance for work and free time, or for SEO and normal browsing. The basic idea is very simple: Analyze what you need the browser for to see if multiple profiles make sense. Lets look at how I make use of multiple profiles. As a blogger, I often have to create screenshots. I could create screenshots in my main Firefox profile, or create a secondary blank profile for that purpose. The blank profile would run the default Firefox theme and layout without extension icons and customizations.
The Firefox Profile Manager Software
Mozilla some time ago made it clear that they would drop support for the built-in profile manager in favor of an external program conveniently called the Profile Manager. The Profile Manager is available for all operating systems that the Firefox web browser runs on. While it is still possible to use the built-in profile manager with the current versions of Firefox, it is likely that it won’t be there forever. So, download the Profile Manager software to create and manage Firefox profiles.
The profile manager is offered as a portable version which displays all existing Firefox profiles on startup. One of the first things that you may need to do is to manage the Firefox versions if multiple versions are installed or available on the system. You may also need to do that if you have installed a beta, aurora or nightly build of Firefox.
You create new profiles with a click on New which opens the create profile window. Here you can add a name, location to save the profile and Firefox version the profile is for.
Once you are done creating all the profiles that you plan to use, you are ready to configure the launch options for the Firefox web browser.
It is alternatively possible to launch one of the profiles with a click on the Start Firefox button after selecting the profile in the upper half of the interface. It is possible to have different profiles running at the same time on the computer.
All new profiles start as default Firefox installations which means that you need to customize them on first run. Install add-ons, customize the layout and settings to streamline the profile for the job at hand.
What are the major benefits of running different profiles for different work related tasks?
- Customization: You can use a different set of bookmarks, toolbar buttons and settings for each profile.
- Memory usage: You can install add-ons only in some profiles and not in all, to save memory.
- Sync and Backup: You can sync and backup the profiles independently.
- Multiple Firefox Instances: You can run multiple instances of the Firefox browser at the same time. It is furthermore possible to run multiple versions of the browser as well.
Are you working with profiles?
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Working with several Firefox profiles
so, mozilla will stop the profile manager ? when will they stop making stupid decisions? , what was wrong with the build in one ?
Bug 214675 – Remove Profile Manager UI
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=214675
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=10275581#p10275581
Bug 539524 – A standalone “Profile Manager” application
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=539524
Hope it helps;
Sina
ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/utilities/profilemanager/
14mb for the profile manager? That’s larger than the Firefox download itself.
Not sure, but it seems to run as Portable App and not compressed like “Firefox Installer”.
You don’t need a profile manager. Just copy an existing profile to a new directory and create a shortcut to the corresponding version of Fx you want to run, using the “-profile” switch in the shortcut command line to point to the appropriate profile.
My only worry is that this switch may disappear when the manager does – which will very much decrease the convenience of using multiple profiles.
As to the larger question, yes, I do use several: I’m working in Google Web Toolkit at work, for instance, so it’s nice to have the needed extension for that but not have it bog down my usual profile.
2 thumbs up on the Profile Manager.
I have been testing/using since it was alpha.
1000 times more useful than Mozilla’s original profile manager.
Might be more useful than the built in version, but why remove the built in version? and ;….. i was gonna say why not integrate, but then firefox will have double the size and most of the users won’t know why.
well, I’m not against the new profile manager. I’m against removing the built in one
Great article.
I currently have 12 Firefox profiles. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I’ve been using multiple profiles for just about as long as I’ve been using Firefox.
This new(er), standalone profile manager is awesome and like someone said, much better than the current one.
For the record, you can add -no-remote -p to (just about) any Mozilla, and/or Mozilla powered software (Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, etc) to run multiple profiles and instances simultaneously.
It’s great for trying out new versions, Nightly, Beta’s, testing add-ons, etc without affecting your default profile.
@Pete It’s actually 34.4 MB’s unpacked, but so what.
Memory usage isn’t massive, and it isn’t something that you need to leave running.
Forgot to add an example,
(Windows) Right click on a Mozilla program shortcut > Properties > Shortcut (tab) > Target (field) “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -no-remote -p
or
“C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe” -no-remote -p
I’ve done in on Fedora too, but don’t remember the exact path off hand
A small addition to this: you can actually run the local profile manager with the same switch (-no-remote) and pick which profile you want to run simultaneously on-the-fly.