How can I use multiple profiles and get links to open on the last used window?
I use multiple profiles for work and personal browsing, and it's very important that I know which window will open a link when I click it.
I do this today on Chrome by focusing on the browser I want to receive the link before clicking it. Otherwise you have to constantly copy/paste a link from one window into another, which is a huge time waste.
This is today, the only thing that is stopping me from moving from Chrome to Firefox. Perhaps I missed something when I tried doing this in the past. Is there a setting or something else that can get Firefox to have a similar behavior?
All Replies (7)
Hi Draiken, do you mean links external to the browser that you are launching through whatever mechanism your OS uses to direct links to a default browser?
Note that Firefox may work differently on Linux than it does on my platform, which is Windows.
In Firefox 67, unless directed otherwise, Firefox opens external links in your default profile, which may be different from any profile that is currently open. This is a recent change, so support forum volunteers are still getting a handle on how to work with and/or around it.
I don't know whether anyone has proposed to have links open in the profile associated with the most recently active Firefox window as you describe for Chrome.
If you make it a habit to have an empty tab open in this Firefox window then you can drag the link to this window and drop it in the empty tab.
jscher2000 said
Hi Draiken, do you mean links external to the browser that you are launching through whatever mechanism your OS uses to direct links to a default browser?
Yeah external links. A common use-case for me is opening a link from Slack, Discord or Skype.
When I click work-related links (normally with associated sessions) I use the work profile. The problem is, for example, if I click a work link and it opens on my personal profile, it might redirect me to a login screen or even give a 404, so I can't even copy the link from the browser. I have to copy the link from the external application into the work window.
I know it might sound like a small thing, but it's a core part of how I use the browser every day.
Hello!
I wanted to come and say that I have the same workflow as Draiken thus I have this problem too.
Everyday I find myself using two profiles, Personal and Work. Each profile with its own bookmarks, settings, customization and sessions in multiple services. When I'm working I always use a external application for comunications like Slack/Hangouts/Mattermost/Zoom and people is constantly sharing links (I believe this is quite common these days). So when I click on them I expect them to be opened in my last recently used firefox profile but they are opened in the default one which is my Personal profile. Then it is a bit annoying that I have to manually copy the link and open it in the right profile. Most of the times I'm even forced to do this because the links might require being authenticated...
If you want to replicate this behaviour you can try this in chrome and you'll see how the link is opened in the last recently used profile.
Without this feature I can't really migrate to firefox (which is something I've been trying for a long time).
If the firefox binary knew whats the last recently used profile I could probably set this up myself in linux with something like `firefox --last-profile-used <link>` or `firefox -P $(firefox --last-profile-used)` and configure this in `xdg-open` or any other launcher.
Modified by JesusV
Hi guys, the only additional thing I know since my last replay is if you turn off the setting to automatically re-use the last profile at startup, that Firefox provides the opportunity to select a different profile for launching links rather than using one automatically. However, that still doesn't provide easy switching among two running profiles.
Is there anything I can do to give this visibility or try pushing this new feature into mozilla's plans?
Hi Draiken, you can file a bug in Bugzilla and see what feedback you get. It could be that a bug is already on file, or that is needs to go to UX/UI people first.