Firefox: Sync Bookmarks and Profile with Dropbox

Time is now seems like that I can’t live in the internet without Dropbox. I do love to implement this wonderful synchronization tool every where I can. However, there are some web services that really help you to sync bookmarks as well as the Firefox profile in multiple computers. But most of them use their own server spaces to store your bookmarks or profile data. A major part of the users including me do not like to share their assets with a third party service as virtually there is no guaranty that they will not access our data in any cost.

Well, Dropbox can again play in the roll and sync Firefox bookmarks and profile data across multiple computers. After syncing the Firefox bookmarks and profile you can access your saved URLS from any computer connected via Dropbox. Even, you can open the saved tabs, recently closed tabs, browsing history and more from another computer just like a charm. Let me describe the whole procedure at glance.

You must install Dropbox in each computer at where you want to sync the Firefox data. Assuming that you have only one profile in Firefox that you are currently using and want to sync this across computers. Initially, you have to copy the profile folder at your desired location, here Dropbox root folder ( Though you can put it at any where in the Dropbox). So, first go  to

[root drive]:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles (for Windows XP).

[root drive]:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles (for Windows 7 and Vista).

Copy the folder residing at that above location. The folder name should in this form:- xxxxxxxx.default. Make sure that the Firefox browser is completely closes before copying the folder. We’ll be creating a new profile and using that copied profile folder at Dropbox. Henceforth, every changes in your browser will be reflected at that folder and will be synced with your Dropbox account. Well, in order to create a new profile in Firefox, you have to run the Firefox profile manager. Follow the steps below:

1. Press the Win key + R and type cmd then hit enter. The command prompt opens. In the command prompt run the following command:

“[root drive]:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” –profilemanager

Note: The Firefox must be closed before applying the command above.

2. The Profile manager dialog box opens. Click on the Create Profile button.

3. Click on the Next button.

4. Give a suitable name for the profile, click Choose Folder, locate the profile folder that you copied earlier at your Dropbox folder and click OK.

5. Finally, click the Finish button.

Once you created the profile successfully, delete the older profile from the initial profile manager dialog box.

Now open Firefox and you should notice everything is there as it was in past.

Go to a new computer and give it the time to sync the profile folder totally from your Dropbox account to the local Dropbox folder. Once you are done, repeat the above process.

Voila!! Now you can now access the bookmarks of the previous computer as well as the browsing History etc.

Though the above process works fine for me, but there are some drawbacks. If you disconnect your internet or Dropbox account without closing the browser or at the very recent after closing of the browser, all the files may not be synced properly to your Dropbox account. Again if you open the browser as soon as you started your computer, the profile updates from the previous computer may not be available in the browser as the Dropbox will take some time to be fully synced. So you should wait after closing or starting the browser in your computer otherwise there would be a conflict with data.