The Google Chrome web browser (and Chrome OS operating system) have offered users the ability to synchronize their bookmarks, passwords, extensions, and apps between devices for a while. Just login with your Google account, and when you bookmark a page on your desktop you’ll be able to pull it up on your laptop computer next time you fire up Chrome.
But now Google has rolled out a new beta version of Chrome that lets you sync multiple accounts. That way if more than one person in your household uses Chrome on the same computer they can access their own profile and settings.
To try to the new feature you’ll need to grab Google Chrome 16 Beta for Windows, Mac,or Linux, go to the Options area and select “add new user” from the “Personal Stuff” area.
Once you do that, you’ll see a little icon in the upper-left corner of the browser. You can choose your own custom icons so that it’s easy to switch between your profile and those of other members of your family.
In case you read that last line too quickly — here’s something to keep in mind: You don’t need a password to switch between profiles. So if you don’t want your spouse, parents, siblings, or children looking at your bookmarks or logging into your Facebook account you might want to think twice before setting up multiple profiles.
Hopefully Google will add a little security to its profile synchronization features in a future update.
Still feel such a useful feature as multiple accounts sync beats the purpose if I can so easily access what another person’s Google profile is.Â
Very useful feature for the laptop we have in our kitchen.