Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

How to move tabs between two concurrently running profiles?

metaphysical-mozilla
metaphysical-mozilla
more options

Hi, I have two simultaneously running Firefox profiles (using the -no-remote command line switch), call them profile-A and profile-B. In a given profile, such as Profile-A, I can have multiple windows open. I can drag tabs from one window to another window in the same profile. If, however, I am trying to drag a tab between a Profile-A window and a Profile-B window, then nothing happens.

1) Can't drag a tab between windows of different profiles... and certainly can't drag a group of tabs between different profiles. 2) Can drag a bookmark between windows of different profiles, but can't drag a bookmark-folder between different profiles. 3) I can copy a url from one profile and paste it into the url-bar of another profile, which is slooow. I could bookmark a file temporarily, drag it to the other profile's tabbar, and then go back to the previous profile and delete the temporary bookmark, also very slooow, just less keypresses. 4) One can bookmark a group of tabs fairly easily in a temporary folder, COPY that folder (not drag) and paste it into the other profiles bookmark-bar or such, then click "open all bookmarks in tabs"... then go back to the previous profile window and delete the temporary folder. This is quite a bit faster, but not quite ideal.

Some of these are bugs (by my definition)... as why not be able to drag a tab from one profile window to another profile window? And others are just a lack of features. Here is what I think should be offered...

Drag a single tab or a group of tabs from one profile-window to another... voila, simple. done. no cleanup involved. This would ideally preserve tab-history, webform input, webpage scroll position, and tab-grouping. All of which bookmarks do not preserve.

Anyway, I am wondering if there is a faster or simpler workaround than the one I found... which took me quite awhile to find (labeled as the 3rd and especially 4TH points above).

Hi, I have two simultaneously running Firefox profiles (using the -no-remote command line switch), call them profile-A and profile-B. In a given profile, such as Profile-A, I can have multiple windows open. I can drag tabs from one window to another window in the same profile. If, however, I am trying to drag a tab between a Profile-A window and a Profile-B window, then nothing happens. 1) Can't drag a tab between windows of different profiles... and certainly can't drag a group of tabs between different profiles. 2) Can drag a bookmark between windows of different profiles, but can't drag a bookmark-folder between different profiles. 3) I can copy a url from one profile and paste it into the url-bar of another profile, which is slooow. I could bookmark a file temporarily, drag it to the other profile's tabbar, and then go back to the previous profile and delete the temporary bookmark, also very slooow, just less keypresses. 4) One can bookmark a group of tabs fairly easily in a temporary folder, COPY that folder (not drag) and paste it into the other profiles bookmark-bar or such, then click "open all bookmarks in tabs"... then go back to the previous profile window and delete the temporary folder. This is quite a bit faster, but not quite ideal. Some of these are bugs (by my definition)... as why not be able to drag a tab from one profile window to another profile window? And others are just a lack of features. Here is what I think should be offered... Drag a single tab or a group of tabs from one profile-window to another... voila, simple. done. no cleanup involved. This would ideally preserve tab-history, webform input, webpage scroll position, and tab-grouping. All of which bookmarks do not preserve. Anyway, I am wondering if there is a faster or simpler workaround than the one I found... which took me quite awhile to find (labeled as the 3rd and especially 4TH points above).

All Replies (3)

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
more options

Sorry, the use of multiple simultaneous Profiles isn't officially supported by the Mozilla developers. As far as 1 & 2, please feel free to file a Bug report about those missing features, but expect to see it WONTFIX'd rather quickly.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Does it work if you drag the "Site Identity Button" (globe/padlock) on the location bar instead and drop it on the new tab button or empty space on the tab bar??

metasupportmoz
metasupportmoz
more options

@ Cor-el, I'm the OP... 1) yes, clicking the globle/padlock and dragging does work for copying a single tab from one profile to another. It doesn't keep the tab's history or such, but is certainly quicker than copy/pasting the URL address. It would be awesome if something like this would work for a group of tabs (I use TabUtilities for tab-groups/stacks, I'm not familiar with the native groups, but I'm sure others would be glad for copying groups of whatever nature). 2) It does not work to grab the Site-Identity icon and drop it on the "new-tab button", but no big deal, as the general method (ie, #1 above) works.

Thanks again Cor-el for the tip (and sorry for the delay in getting back here), and if ANYBODY has a faster workaround - for tab-GROUPS - PLEASE post it here!

PS - I guess one could make an AHK script for the bookmark method. PS - I think there once was a firefox addon that would bookmark a site's HISTORY along with it's own instance... any confirmation there? If so, that might be useful to migrate/copy tabs from one profile to another in a more complete kind of way.