Per workspace profiles like Arc

[xanthos84]

Hi,
as many users from ARC seems to switch over to ZEN,
it would be so cool to see the feature that you can have profiles for every workspace,
so all cookies (login data) is seperated per workspace (as a feature you can enable/disable per workspace)

so you can login to your work facebook on workspace 2 and to your private facebook on workspace 1.

[Hej-Christian]

FWIW, you can use the current Workspaces (beta) feature in Zen, which allows per-workspace logins. I am logged into 3 different discord accounts for example. I'm not too sure the best way to set them up, but I assigned a unique default container to each workspace and it works as expected :)

This currently works to have per-workspace tabs, pinned tabs, and login sessions. Just missing per-workspace extensions or bookmarks :)

[bennash]

I also would love to have the option to assign a specific profile to each workspace.

[TGI01]

I am not a developer so I don't know if it is possible or not in Firefox, what I am asking is that there is a feature in Arc where you can have 2 profiles with completely different extensions, settings and everything.
Is that possible in Zen browser?

[mikedlr]

@TGI01 yes that already exists. For me right click on the icon and it pops up. From the command line, run with the -P option. How you do that will depend on your operating system. It's really useful for debugging and making bug reports because if you think you find a bug in zen, it might actually be an extension bug. If you run in a profile with no extensions and find the same bug then you know it's real.

This is exactly the same as Firefox BTW. Having different extensions per Workspace would be a different thing though. I think you'd still have to have separate profiles because you don't want a debugging profile to interact with an existing profile. They run with completely different directories.

[Shchvova]

Work can require some extensions installed which for my life I would not want anywhere my personal stuff. Similarly, when I am in the meeting I really don't want my history of browsing very personal stuff popping up during a demo. I don't want to have two browsers. If not for this, why 'workspaces' exist? Arc for example have a choice.

Ideal would be a system which would have One more level of removal, so you can assign profiles to containers. And profile is literally everything - history, extension, autofills.

[thinktapper]

Ideal would be a system which would have One more level of removal, so you can assign profiles to containers. And profile is literally everything - history, extension, autofills.

Seconding @Shchvova's sentiment; this is a critical feature I need in my web browser today. Siloing extensions across workspaces offers significant personal and professional security benefits. By isolating riskier extensions to specific workspaces, you drastically reduce attack surfaces. For example, you might use a few extensions with potential risks in a workspace where the tradeoff is acceptable, while keeping enterprise systems limited to the essentials, like an ad blocker and pw manager.

Since we lost the fine-grained extension permissions available in our former chromium-based lives (allowing extensions to run only on click or only run on whitelisted domains, for example), the Firefox friction leaves me raw and ripe..still searching for a browser I can once again call home.

I recently dove deep into a dark world of user-scripting communities I had no idea were out there, and i began to sweat... ( ⚆ _ ⚆ )

[kwilcz]

You can use multiple profiles for that.
From my perspective workspaces should share cookies & sessions between each other, they are supposed to categorise stuff within your specific account.

[Hej-Christian]

I was going to reply to argue (respectfully) the other perspective. But giving it some more thought, I might actually try multiple profiles/windows.

I too came from Arc where what was described above is possible (Each workspace having its own profile, thereby allowing a unique set of tabs, logins, extensions, history, etc; a swap away from the sidebar)

Nice as that would be to have here, I could instead just do what I used to do and open up a new window/profile for each. Can't get better workspace separation than that I suppose.

[kwilcz]

Both approaches have its ups and downs, one allows more control, second one has easier context switch.

I'm using multiple windows since forever, and the main drawback of it is the performance you lose - every opened profile spawns it's own browser processes and just works in the background.

[Hej-Christian]

Indeed. I'm slowly coming around to the idea that I don't need it all in one window (Even with a performance hit) because I ended up switching between only a few of them anyway - and to be honest I'd maybe be better not context switching so often and instead focusing on one task for any given chunk of time.

I don't need whatever browser I end up with to be like Arc, and that's ok :)

[SirSova]

I believe if it's implemented the way that you can assign profile per workspace, you can still achieve shared cookies & sessions (all newly created workspaces always attached to the selected main profile), and you still be able to open another profile in a new window. But, as soon as you assign a different profile for another workplace -- you also satisfy the needs of people who support this idea.

[issuex]

is you really use multiple workspace/profile ? can you sample me use case of "share cookies between workspace" ?

[xanthos84]

Thank you all for your contributions!
Yes, the "workaround" with container/workspaces (why are there only 4?) can work for me.. for now i dont have more than 4 profiles/accounts on any website I use,.. anyway i hope in the future we can get more than 4 containers!

The last thing I am truly missing from Arc would be the (instant) tab sync over all devices,
so you have all your (open!) tabs on every browser on any device (mac/windows) which is so handy if you switch
from one computer to another and can continue with the session you are working on.
But I guess I will open another feature request for that one.

[liujip0]

There is a "Manage Containers" option that you can use to add or remove more containers

[mikedlr]

N.B. See comments below about the built in container configuration and only apply this if that somehow doesn't seem to cover your needs.

@xanthos84 if you add the Firefox Multi-account Containers extension that lets you create and modify containers which will solve the four container limit and let you have more useful names for them.

[Hej-Christian]

@xanthos84, @mikedlr

It can be done without an extra extension - within the settings you can add more, going beyond the default four. Each with custom name, colour, and icon.

Settings > General > Settings Button (Next to "Enable Container Tabs")

[ghindle]

🙌 Thanks @aldrDev

This along with setting the default container for each workspace means you get a pretty similar experience to Arc.

Not sure how this could be surfaced to users more easily. I too like a number of others have come from Arc where this feature is fairly simple to setup and use.

[digiaust]

The biggest issue I and many others have is workspaces do not separate out:

• History
• Bookmarks
• Passwords
• Synced Tabs
• Browser Extensions

Like Arc, many users are looking for complete browser separation, in the same window, assigned to specific workspaces. I want to link my profiles to these containers so I could have 3 containers all assigned to my "work" profile, 2 containers linked to my "personal" and so on. and all in the same window. and if I switch between them, it switches all my history, bookmarks, synced tabs, favorites, passwords, extensions, all of it. Completely separate profile in containers.

[SirSova]

Totally support the idea!

Profiles used per workspace have such great benefits:

• Not shared bookmarks/history/etc. I'd like to avoid suggestions of the links from work and vice-versa. Imagine showing personal history of queries while demonstrating the screen on working meeting...
• Sync based on profiles. Right now I have 2 laptops. One for work (mac), another for games (windows). I do like sync of personal accounts between both. But I definitely don't need "work" on my gaming machine.
• Extensions. Some of them require login, and even subscription. For instance, Grammarly with working account and subscription is not allowed for my personal usage. Another extensions like color pickers or custom headers are great for working purposes but not needed for personal profile.

P.S: opening 2 browser windows is not a good option. I didn't like Chrome for multiple windows per profile, and here it's an issue again.

[mrcoder991]

I 100% agree with you I have similar setup in arc I have one space / workspace for work and one for personal stuff both have their own data (passwords, extensions, tabs, pinned tabs, history, settings (light for work and dark for personal)).. and I love it

before I switched to arc I was having chrome for work (which was managed by org) and brave for personal stuff and I used to keep those in two side by side desktops in mac so with one swipe I would switch contexts but arc made it so much easier and it was very seamless experience.. and ask me why two browsers because default implementation of the profiles is terrible it adds profile icons on the browser icon which is confusing and ugly so why not two browsers.

also I only have two spaces still with two profiles I am not a big fan of sub dividing work stuff like one workspace for one task and one for another its just too much

I know everyone uses their browser differently and everyone has different workflow but arc kind of nailed it IMO...

[mikedlr]

@SirSova right now you can set a default container for each workspace. You can still have a different container, but that is useful quite often. Is there anything wrong with the way that works currently? Do you have some way it could work better?

right click workspace -> three dots right of the workspace -> "Set default container".

[SirSova]

I described in "benefits" what I'm missing with "container" approach.
Shortly:

1. I don't want to have shared bookmarks, history and extensions between workspaces.
   It becomes a mess. Suggestions start to work for both of workspaces. Extenstions share their login.
   Instead of containers, I'd like to choose specific profile per workspace and keep everything separated. As I'd open 2 windows, but instead I easily capable to move somethine from one to another. Easier to switch between. In that case I could have N workspaces for "personal" (e.g. "gaming", "learning", etc) + M workspaces for "work". Sessions, bookmarks, extensions shared between N and M correspondingly.
2. Synchronization of workspaces by profile. Right now I am able to synchronize only either all workspaces, or none. I want to sync personal within my 2 laptops, but keep work only on the working one.

[bennash]

Yes Containers help. Containers good. But containers are not Profile-per-workspace. Both are valid and both are different. Both can happen. Who can I send money to to develop this?

…

On Wed, Nov 6, 2024 at 7:29 AM Uday Girhepunje ***@***.***> wrote: I 100% agree with you I have similar setup in arc I have one space / workspace for work and one for personal stuff both have their own data (passwords, extensions, tabs, pinned tabs, history, settings (light for work and dark for personal)).. and I love it before I switched to arc I was having chrome for work (which was managed by org) and brave for personal stuff and I used to keep those in two side by side desktops in mac so with one swipe I would switch contexts but arc made it so much easier and it was very seamless experience.. and ask me why two browsers because default implementation of the profiles is terrible it adds profile icons on the browser icon which is confusing and ugly so why not two browsers. also I only have two spaces still with two profiles I am not a big fan of sub dividing work stuff like one workspace for one task and one for another its just too much I know everyone uses their browser differently and everyone has different workflow but arc kind of nailed it IMO... — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2337 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABLNAUSUZFMS3QMXAQBZ2DZ7IDSZAVCNFSM6AAAAABQVSQXMGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTCMJWGYZDKNI> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[kwilcz]

You can assign default container for workspace, so it will actually be profile-per-workspace

[fskaeh]

No, containers and browser profiles are not the same thing. Containers don't isolate browser history, installed extensions, browser sync (some workplaces don't want you to sync your browser data through a personal account for example), bookmarks, and so on. Containers cover some of the requirements, but not all of them.

[bennash]

Correct, Containers and Profiles are not the same. One side of this debate is not seeing the other side. SO make both.

[Woofer21]

Going to bump this! Would love to have the ability to have different profiles per workspace all in the same window, loved having that on my mac especially.

Hopefully this is something that can be made 👀

[issuex]

I previously use firefox profile to seperate Work, Research, Private.
After i test on stable build, workspace seem not seperate web history or bookmark. make workspace useless.
Not clear how it work. Each workspace run in different container ? why each workspace still have multiple container tab ?
Not clear what benefit of it ? finaly i still need to create new profile.

• In my opinion swap workspaces should be swap profile, not container. for better seperate life style usage.

• why user need to share cookie between workspace ? any use case?

[mikedlr]

why user need to share cookie between workspace ? any use case?

I find that useful because e.g. I have one workspace where I do work email and administration and another where I do work development. Both workspaces use the same container and the same accounts.

In my opinion swap workspaces should be swap profile, not container. for better seperate life style usage.

I think that could be a choice.

[bennash]

In Arc I had multiple Workspaces, let’s say I had 7 workspaces. I then had 3 profiles. A workspace would be assigned to a Profile. A single profile would be used for multiple workspaces. This is exactly what all the Arc converts keep asking for. People keep saying these Arc users are not making sense. But the Arc people exist and a majority want what I just described. People have strong opinions for and against this. Most of the people against it actually don’t understand the scenario. They would do us Arc users all a favor by listening.

…

On Sat, Jan 25, 2025 at 2:08 PM issuex ***@***.***> wrote: is you really use multiple workspace/profile ? can you sample me use case of "share cookies between workspace" ? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2337 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABLNAQ7IOBREPYIG3PZZ3L2MPOMRAVCNFSM6AAAAABQVSQXMGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTCOJVGM2TSOA> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[Woofer21]

To tack onto this, essentials would ideally be a per profile thing, so every workspace with profile A has the same essentials (pinned & normal tabs remain different per workspace).

There are two ways I can think of that they could go about this, they could either make the profiles like profiles on arc, or they could make the containers act like profiles, containers are already almost there but not quite there enough yet.

Adding this would pretty much be the nail in the coffin.

[levma]

The main reason for being able to assign different profiles to workspaces is to have a different set of extensions (and to be able to login with another account for the same extensions)

[mikedlr]

@levma do you mean a different web site account or extension account? E.g. a different VPN account for a VPN extension?

[levma]

@mikedlr different extension sets and extension account. For example iCloud Passwords for personal space and 1Password for the business workspace. Working for different customers can also mean you need multiple workspaces for using the same extensions with other account (jira/asana/everhour…). I also don‘t need or want all developer extensions to pollute my personal space (and vice versa my personally used ones in my business/work setting)

[issuex]

Another idea. if dev team need to keep them both , transform profile to workspace group and allow user to swap to another workspace group like swap between workspace. All use case should be happy with it.

[NitzanBarEitan]

I just want to mention that this is still a very relevant request. I switched right now from Arc to Zen, and that is the main reason I am going back for now. Having to switch to a different profile window every time I want to use a different workspace with different profile is really frustrating. The management of my personal and work account will be much easier if could be done with single Zen window.

Really important.

[vraravam]

Arc's profile switcher also uses multiple windows.
Firefox's new profile switcher gives a similar experience. It can be turned on in FF nightly, and possibly is already in Zen with the similar behavior.

[Woofer21]

Arc's profile switcher also uses multiple windows.

Firefox's new profile switcher gives a similar experience. It can be turned on in FF nightly, and possibly is already in Zen with the similar behavior.

It does not. Not the Arc I used.

Profiles could be assigned to spaces, which could all be used from within the same window.

[NitzanBarEitan]

That's right. Arc does not require different windows for different profiles.

[dvogt23]

That's right. Arc does not require different windows for different profiles.

I think thats the main difference, it should be possible to switch between profiles within one window. 🙏🏾

[bennash]

That’s not all true. I used one arc window with several profiles. Why is this so hard for people to understand?

…

On Tue, Feb 18, 2025 at 7:40 AM Vijay Aravamudhan ***@***.***> wrote: Arc's profile switcher also uses multiple windows. Firefox's new profile switcher gives a similar experience. It can be turned on in FF nightly, and possibly is already in Zen with the similar behavior. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2337 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABLNAWJDV4OVJVO7QWE2SL2QMS45AVCNFSM6AAAAABQVSQXMGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTEMRTGY2DONA> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[vraravam]

not sure if you had a different experience.

I used multiple spaces in Arc on macos, and each space would show up as a separate window - especially visible when I went into launchpad mode. Similarly, when switching between spaces, I could use Cmd+~, which is the default window-switcher in macos.

[SaidBahaDev]

not sure if you had a different experience.

I used multiple spaces in Arc on macos, and each space would show up as a separate window - especially visible when I went into launchpad mode. Similarly, when switching between spaces, I could use Cmd+~, which is the default window-switcher in macos.

no true its not separate window, are you using another Arc ?

[bennash]

You’re using two different distinct opposing words to describe one. Spaces and Profiles are different concepts here.

…

On Tue, Feb 18, 2025 at 7:46 AM Vijay Aravamudhan ***@***.***> wrote: not sure if you had a different experience. I used multiple spaces in Arc on macos, and each space would show up as a separate window - especially visible when I went into launchpad mode. Similarly, when switching between spaces, I could use Cmd+~, which is the default window-switcher in macos. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2337 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABLNAQO3MI2J3F32ROB6DD2QMTQVAVCNFSM6AAAAABQVSQXMGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTEMRTGY2TENA> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[vraravam]

hmm - but, I used to switch between then using the same shortcut Cmd+~ AND Arc would show up with multiple windows (one per Space). Thus, I was under the impression that Profiles == Spaces. If that's not the case, then my bad. (Quit Arc quite a few months ago, and I dont even have it installed now to show screenshots)

[Woofer21]

hmm - but, I used to switch between then using the same shortcut Cmd+~ AND Arc would show up with multiple windows (one per Space). Thus, I was under the impression that Profiles == Spaces. If that's not the case, then my bad. (Quit Arc quite a few months ago, and I dont even have it installed now to show screenshots)

Very different concepts, spaces are essentially just groups of tabs, profiles separate out history, extensions, cookies, etc.

[mikedlr]

Cookies and tabs are already separated by containers and so can be separate per workspace in Zen. It would be quite possible to extend the "container" concept so that there were "container groups" and extension, history and passwords were separate between different container groups. Workspaces + containers would then deliver everything that I understood people have asked for here.

[bennash]

Anyone that responds here should have Arc installed with multiple Spaces and Profiles and a clear understanding of how those work. If you have any doubt in your understanding of these concepts then please know your input will be tainted with ignorance.

…

On Tue, Feb 18, 2025 at 8:05 AM Woofer ***@***.***> wrote: Arc's profile switcher also uses multiple windows. Firefox's new profile switcher gives a similar experience. It can be turned on in FF nightly, and possibly is already in Zen with the similar behavior. It does not. Not the Arc I used. Profiles could be assigned to spaces, which could all be used from within the same window. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2337 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABLNASXNFVIHWLU6E56JN32QMVYHAVCNFSM6AAAAABQVSQXMGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTEMRTGY3TINQ> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[12th-devs]

I agree with this idea but what do container tabs not do that profiles do?

[Woofer21]

I agree with this idea but what do container tabs not do that profiles do?

Separate extensions and search history (and maybe a few others I'm not thinking of but those are the big ones for me)

[NitzanBarEitan]

Different profiles means different logins for websites. For example, I mainly use the Google Workspace ecosystem. In my personal profile I would like to be logged in to my personal Google account, and in my work profile to my work account.

As said above, different profiles also mean distinctive password manager, extensions, etc.

[12th-devs]

Ok that's fair

[Mheetu]

This is the one missing feature keeping me from switching to Zen from Arc—and the same reason I never switched to Firefox. I loved the concept of containers, but they didn’t effectively separate my workflows, and logging in and out of profiles felt cumbersome. A quick way to switch between multiple profiles within a single window remains an important part of what I have come to expect from a modern browser.

Why?
Containers share extensions, settings, saved data, and search, browsing, and download histories. I try to keep gaming, education, work, and personal things separate. That's not to say I won't want to use them simultaneously, because I often do.

In other words, no—the current implementation of profiles, workspaces, and containers in Zen doesn't allow for replicating the convenience and workflows that Arc makes possible.

The great thing about this feature request is that workspaces should still function as they always have, sharing cookies, sessions, extensions, and more within the same profile. It shouldn’t disrupt anyone’s existing Zen workflows—only expand the feature set.

[TGI01]

I have the same problem as I am using arc from windows. they don't have all the features but I really like the way Arc implemented spaces with different profiles but I think it will take some time to implement this into Zen as nowadays the consumption of CPU and memory has been increased and I think the developers should first focus on reducing it or else spaces are going to consume lot of power.

[Mheetu]

That's fair. Honestly, I didn’t use Zen long enough to notice any performance issues. I installed it, explored the settings, tested its productivity features and customization options, but ultimately removed it because I couldn’t find a comfortable workflow.

Performance is important for user retention, features are important for user adoption.

[NitzanBarEitan]

I agree. As a new user I couldn't get the needed experience in Zen, since it does not have the implementation for profiles that will fit my different workflows.

[NitzanBarEitan]

If Zen wants to expand its target audience, this feature will be most welcome.

[lessload]

Dev should focus on this feature, it seem hard to implement but it's important feature make many people not to use Zen because share settings, saved data, and search, browsing, and download history are USELESS for multiple profile/wokspace usage. and Workspace feature seem duplicate with ContainerTab ,too confuse how container work , container in container ? which one share data to which one if we use multiple container tab in multiple workspace.
" Dev seem not understand how multiple profile important are. "

[mrcoder991]

They really need a proper product manager at this point, there should be a way of thinking and UX decisions and goal towards achieving one thing by listening to community. as community we are gonna think and talk about various things on how things should be but having a solid plan along with ears to listen to community feedback would work wonders in zen. currently it feels like even they do not know what their end goal is containers? workspaces? essential tabs should be per workspace? or per profile? or per container? where should new tabs open? its all messed up right now.. there is no one direction where this is going

[100rab-S]

I'm another Arc user, and I would love to see this feature added to Zen. The only reason I'm not using Zen right now is because of this missing feature. While I was reviewing the documentation, I came across this page. Is this some sort of workaround to enable profiles in the Zen browser?

[Woofer21]

There is not really a "workaround" since profiles are just supported and a thing, they just don't have per workspace profiles like arc has.

[mikedlr]

Yes, @100rab-S. This can be really useful for a bunch of uses of profiles. It's good for when you have a problem and want to make a bug report but it might be caused by an extension. Then you can create a new profile, start a new browser window with that profile and see if there's a difference. On my setup I can access the profile manager by right clicking on the Zen icon and selectiong "Open the Zen Profile Manager".

It still means you need two separate browser windows (in fact, two completely separate browsers) and you need to go through the profile manager every time to switch. It's not as convenient as it would be to have two different "profiles" in the same window.

[Kansuler]

I'd like to add that this feature is the only thing preventing me from switching over to Zen from Arc;

My use case - I have multiple profiles for different clients, and need extensions uniquely configured for each profile. Arc makes this very smooth, as i change workspace in the same browser window I get that clients extension settings. This is not possible with firefox containers, it needs to be per profile.

Another common case is when you have a private profile with a password manager extension, and a work profile with the same password manager extension. I want to isolate and be logged into password manager for that profile. As of now, these would have to share the same password manager extension.

[whitestrake]

Might as well be describing my use case exactly. I want to use Zen, but the friction from this is pretty unfortunate. Greater workspace separation would be the killer feature for me.

[alikalik9]

Agreed, I have the same usecase

[SaidBahaDev]

That's the one thing I like most about Arc. I don't know why it's so hard to implement in Zen.

[0Ky]

@SaidBahaDev @Woofer21

[Woofer21]

@SaidBahaDev @Woofer21

These do not have full separation, I want my extensions and search history in workspace A be separate then workspace B, and I want that to all happen in one window and not have to faf around with different profiles opening different windows

[0Ky]

@Woofer21 I wasn't actually familiar with Arc's profile separation per workspace, the OP only mentioned cookies and logging into different accounts, which could be accomplished by using Firefox Containers. To be fair, that sounds like a pretty neat feature, but also a nightmare to actually implement.

[SaidBahaDev]

I tried SigmaOs it has the same feature but its so slow, Zen is good but i am switching back to Arc or chrome , if i want separate profile in new window i can do it with chrome of firefox too why use Zen

[Woofer21]

@Woofer21 I wasn't actually familiar with Arc's profile separation per workspace, the OP only mentioned cookies and logging into different accounts, which could be accomplished by using Firefox Containers. To be fair, that sounds like a pretty neat feature, but also a nightmare to actually implement.

Yea I'm sure it's not the easiest thing to implement but it was probably one of my favorite features.

[mikedlr]

A big thing here is that Firefox does not support multiple profiles in the same window. Firefox does support multiple containers but the containers each share web history and passwords at least.

If there was a Firefox feature that allowed some containers to be more separate from all of the other containers than they are now then this feature would be much easier to implement in Zen which is based on Firefox.

The Firefox feature could even work with sideberry (extension) to provide workspaces with separate profiles in the same way as you want in Zen. That would be a valuable feature for firefox if done cleverly.

I'd suggest that someone who wants this strongly please put in a feature suggestion / request to Firefox and link it here.

[Woofer21]

A big thing here is that Firefox does not support multiple profiles in the same window. Firefox does support multiple containers but the containers each share web history and passwords at least.

If there was a Firefox feature that allowed some containers to be more separate from all of the other containers than they are now then this feature would be much easier to implement in Zen which is based on Firefox.

The Firefox feature could even work with sideberry (extension) to provide workspaces with separate profiles in the same way as you want in Zen. That would be a valuable feature for firefox if done cleverly.

I'd suggest that someone who wants this strongly please put in a feature suggestion / request to Firefox and link it here.

I'm not actually sure chrome supports this out of the box either, that might have been something custom added by the arc team.

[mikedlr]

Absolutely likely, but with a proper FOSS project like Zen, making sure as much as possible is contributed back to and done in upstream is much more important than when, like with Arc, there was a company behind it. Also, there are reasons why Arc development has been frozen. They weren't getting enough return for the effort they were putting into these features. The more of Zen development that is done in common with Firefox, the more chance that both projects remain sustainable.

[NitzanBarEitan]

@mikedlr Thanks for the great explanation—makes sense why the Zen team handles profiles that way.

In my case, containers aren’t perfect but get the job done. That said, I think Zen should prompt users to select a default container when creating a new workspace. The current setup is straightforward but easy to overlook.

Many users are coming from Arc and expect clearer workspace separation. This change would help align the experience with those expectations.

[kniziol]

As we see in the #7895 discussion, it's possible to separate Essentials per workspace.

What about extensions? I'd happily have the same extension installed in two different workspaces, with different settings. For example, a password manager serving account1 in workspace1 and account2 in workspace2.

[gburlingame]

@kniziol - thanks for helping and sharing that screenshot.

I was able to get profiles working thanks to your directions. I did run into one issue (bug?) where my original profile did not seem to have knowledge that profiles was enabled, i.e., when I would navigate to that original profile it would not show profiles in the menu bar. The issue appeared to clear after I deleted the original profile, although even that did not have the intended effect, i.e., I expected the profile to be deleted but Zen appears to have re-created the profile in a way that it now understood that profiles are turned on.

I wanted to mention here because I have a feeling others could run into this and it could be confusing for people trying this out for the first time, like myself. I don't know if it is reproducible or not. This is my Zen version: 1.12.9b (Firefox 139.0.1) (aarch64)

[100rab-S]

@kniziol Strangely I don't see it. 🤷🏻

However, I got it working from about:profiles.

@gburlingame I think I'm facing the same issue as you. But I can't afford to delete a profile now. I've painstakingly set up the profiles 😭.

Oh, I got it. We should enable the profiles from about:config first, and then it'll show up in the menu bar

But it doesn't know about my profiles that I created directly from about:profiles😩.

[kniziol]

I did run into one issue (bug?) where my original profile did not seem to have knowledge that profiles was enabled, i.e., when I would navigate to that original profile it would not show profiles in the menu bar. The issue appeared to clear after I deleted the original profile, although even that did not have the intended effect, i.e., I expected the profile to be deleted but Zen appears to have re-created the profile in a way that it now understood that profiles are turned on.

@gburlingame Seems like a bug. All information, steps to reproduce it, and screenshots are appreciated. Please create a new issue.

[kniziol]

Oh, I got it. We should enable the profiles from about:config first, and then it'll show up in the menu bar

But it doesn't know about my profiles that I created directly from about:profiles😩.

@100rab-S The profiles we see in the Zen - Choose a profile window (available via Profiles > Manage profiles) 👇

are different than profiles we can find on the about:profiles page 👇

[digiaust]

I have this same bug. Profiles show in about:profiles but no tin the profile selection tab when enabling the flag