You can keep your bookmarks, browser preferences, and browser theme synchronized on multiple computers, using your Google Account. This can be handy if you often switch between different computers (say, your home computer as well as your work laptop) and want the same Google Chrome settings across your computers.
How it works
- Your settings are saved in your Google Account.
When you enable sync on a computer, your Google Chrome settings on that computer are saved in your Google Account. When you enable sync on another computer by signing in to the same Google Account, Google Chrome copies the settings you’ve selected to sync from your Google Account to the computer. Bookmarks from this second computer are merged with the existing bookmarks in your Google Account.
- Changes are synced instantaneously.
Changes you make to your settings on one computer are automatically reflected on the other computers where you've enabled the sync feature.
- What if someone signs in to the sync feature with a different Google Account?
Be careful if multiple people use Google Chrome within the same user account. If your friend, Nick, signs in to the sync feature with his Google Account on your computer, your settings on that computer will be added to Nick's Google Account.
- Your synced bookmarks also show up in Google Docs.
Your bookmarks appear in a new folder called "Google Chrome." So if you ever need to access your bookmarks on a different browser or computer, you can just visit Google Docs.
It’s not possible to remove the Google Chrome folder from Google Docs or make changes to your bookmarks within Google Docs.
Settings that can be synced
- Browser preferences (see details)
- Home page and startup settings
- (Mac only) Page and Tools menu button display
- Password setting (but not your actual password records)
- Phishing and malware detection
- DNS pre-fetching
- Display of address bar suggestions and navigation error suggestions
- Display of the download location prompt
- Web content settings, including exceptions
- Clear Browser Data dialog settings
- Translation bar display
- Browser interface language, preferred webpage languages, and language encodings
- Spell-checker settings
- Bookmark bar display
- Page zoom settings
- Bookmarks
- Themes
Enable sync
Ready to enable sync? Just follow these steps on each computer that should share the same Google Chrome settings:
- Open Google Chrome.
- Click the Tools
menu. - Select Set up sync.
- Sign in to your Google Account in the dialog that appears. (Don't have an account? Learn how to create one)
By default, Google Chrome copies all your settings to your Google Account. If you want to choose which settings to sync, click Customize sync before signing in.
menu. You can enable sync on as many computers as you'd like and across different operating systems. Google Chrome can only be synced to one Google Account at any given time.
Disable sync
To disable sync entirely, follow these steps on each computer where you’ve enabled the sync feature:
- Open Google Chrome.
- Click the Tools menu.
- Select Synced.
- Click Stop syncing this account.
Instead of disabling sync entirely, you can choose the specific settings that are synced by clicking Customize.
- Click Stop syncing in the confirmation dialog.
Your settings and bookmarks won't be deleted from your computer or from your Google Account, but changes will no longer show up on your other computers or be saved in your Google Account.
