Stop Using One Chrome Profile for Everything
Here’s the secret to staying sane even on the busiest of days: multiple Google Chrome profiles. Now I have four. One is tied to my personal Gmail, one is for my school, one is for my work at Lifehacker, and one is for another project I’m helping with. I even color coded them so when I shift forward and back I get a little visual cue that I’m changing gears. I can’t recommend this method enough to stay organized in every area of your life, and here’s why.
Why have multiple Chrome profiles?
The first and most obvious reason I don’t want to use the same browser profile for everything is that the number of tabs open at once would overwhelm me. In my personal browser, I work on things like bills, side hustle, hobbies, interests, social media, and keep in touch with friends and family. In my school profile, I go to sites that help me create bibliographies, access libraries of journal articles, and check my grades. At work, I use my profile to check email, search for stories, write stories, and access our story editor. In fact, I did not log into social media on my school or work profiles, did not log into any school accounts on my personal or work profiles, and did not log into anything related to my work on my personal or school profiles. This helps me keep it all separate without closing tabs to free up space, and it also helps me focus on what I’m working on since I can’t open social media as easily when I’m writing an essay or responding to a message. school email when I’m at work. Each profile is associated with a specific Google account, so it contains a unique Gmail inbox and access to Google Docs. Not having my personal documents, work documents, and school documents all in one Drive helps me keep them more organized.
My fourth profile is about a separate business that I do with other people. We are all logged into the same profile, which makes working together much easier. We can update Google Calendar, view important emails and coordinate responses, and have a shared search history, bookmarks, etc.
I really like this level of separation. Like I said, I even uploaded different color themes for each profile. When I see the lilac theme, I know it’s time to work. The dark purple theme signals that it’s time to focus on school, while the rainbow theme means I’m taking care of personal matters. Each of these profiles has its own search history, bookmarks, saved locations, and settings, which also helps keep everything organized and uncluttered. Each of the profiles corresponds to one of my many email addresses , but not all of my Gmail accounts have a profile on my computer. For example, Gmail, which I use to send spam or sign up for trial accounts for certain apps, is only used on my phone, and if I need to open it on my computer, I just do so in a personal window.
Now it has become second nature to me. I would never open a lilac or purple profile to stream a Twins game, or use my personal one to read the topics I cover in my work. It didn’t even occur to me, and this separation helps me focus on what I’m doing at the moment. However, sometimes I do several things at once, and separation helps here too. I can stream the game on my personal profile while I write school work without sacrificing much-needed tab space on my academic profile; it just runs in the background, in another window.
Ways to use individual Chrome profiles
Everyone’s needs are different, but here are some ideas for individual profiles you can use:
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One for managing your home, where you only deal with matters related to maintenance, repairs, paying bills, etc.
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One for managing children’s lives: you keep track of their schedule, contact childcare or school, and perform searches related to their needs.
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One for handling large family needs, like getting a string of emails from your boomer aunt, planning family get-togethers, or even helping your parents manage their affairs if they’re not very tech-savvy.
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One profile for social media use only, so you can’t log into Facebook, X, or anything else while you’re working, and make your time on social media more focused.
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One for each job is something I’ve been considering but haven’t gotten around to doing, but it might help you navigate your various money-making and professional responsibilities, especially if you’re a freelancer or a business owner with a bunch of them.
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One for each major work project to simplify collaboration and keep everything related to the project in one place as a single source of truth.
These are just suggestions, of course, but you can create a new profile for any aspect of your life that involves texting, planning, or research.
How to create separate Chrome profiles
First of all, you don’t need a Gmail account to create a Google account, so if you use Outlook for work or school, that won’t stop you from creating a separate profile.
To create a new profile, open Chrome and click your profile icon in the top right corner, then Add. Next, you’ll be asked to choose between “Sign in,” which you’ll select and link a Google account to your profile, or “Continue without an account,” if you don’t. From there, you’ll enter your username and password (or skip this part), agree to turn on syncing, give the profile a name, and add an optional photo and color scheme.
If you want to access a specific profile, right-click (or two-finger click if you’re using a Mac) the Chrome icon, then select your preferred profile from the list. A new window will open for that profile only.