How to move from Google Chrome to Firefox Quantum without dying in the attempt
Firefox Quantum was officially released with the promise of being faster than ever and consuming far less memory than its main rival, Chrome. We tell you everything you should know, we analyze it and, now, we explain how to jump to it if your browser by default is, for a long time, Google.
Because although the browser sponsored by Mountain View has been reigning for years thanks to the focus on speed and simplicity, in recent times their great strengths have lost integers. As happened at the time with the creation of Mozilla, Chrome has been wavering for some time and the presentation of Quantum, with its promises, has made many users want to change . To do it with guarantees, without missing anything, here is this guide.
Importing bookmarks, passwords, history and other data
After installing the browser from the official page , the first thing we should do is import our bookmarks, the configurations that can be and other data. And you do not need to touch Chrome , we can do it from the same Firefox Quantum.
It will be enough to access the main menu, click on “Catalog”, then on “Bookmarks” and finally on “Show all bookmarks”, button that we find in the lower part. In the window that will open, that of “Catalog”, we will click on “Import and backup”, selecting “Import data from …”. Then the Import Wizard will open.
There we select Chrome, but we can also choose Edge or Internet Explorer if we want to bring something from those other browsers, click on the “Next” button and mark the items to import: cookies , browsing history , saved passwords and bookmarks . We will click on “Next” and the import will take place. In seconds, our markers and data will travel to Quantum .
If once the process is done we see that Firefox has grouped them in a folder and not in the bookmarks bar, for example, we would have to go back to the “Catalog” window and organize them at will. There is no greater complication.
Synchronizing the experience between the desktop and mobile devices
If we used Google Chrome in the computer, it is more than likely that we also used it in the mobile and, therefore, both versions were synchronized. Those who thought they would miss this feature in Firefox are in luck because, for their fortune, the Mozilla browser has Sync. We will not notice differences, assured.
Simply create an account and log in to all our installations of Firefox so that navigation is uninterrupted . From any device we can access the same bookmarks, we can enter the same saved passwords, check a common history and the webs that we keep open. Comfort first.
This option is accessed from the top of the main menu .
Looking for replacement to our extensions
Continuing our migration from Chrome to Firefox and its brand new Quantum version it is important that we find replacement to our preferred extensions. While there is no way to move the extensions, surely find equivalents that will serve.
More if possible considering that Firefox has an immense catalog of complements and that for a while it’s really easy for developers to port their creations from one browser to another. In recent times, according to Mark Mayo, senior vice president of Firefox, they have received “the most extensions in six years.”
To find those that will make the paper we must visit the page of add – ons for Firefox . It will be a good idea to take a look at the list of most popular extensions , see the sections dedicated to productivity , purchases or password managers . Difficult will not find substitutes that more or less comply with the same functions, we assure you. Even in matters of personalization , another strong one of the Mozilla guys.
Leaving the homepage and new tab to our liking
There are as many forms of login in a browser as there are users. Some prefer not to change the welcome screen by default, others want it to always open with certain tabs, others to do so with a blank page … Options there are many . Whatever yours is in Chrome, you can replicate it in Firefox Quantum in a simple way.
Simply enter the main menu of our new browser, choose “Options” and, in the configuration screen that will open, choose the option that we prefer. We can tell you to show us our home page, a blank page or the windows and tabs of the last session.
It is also interesting to leave the new tab page to our liking . To do this, open a new tab and click on the gear that is in the upper right. There we will indicate if we want to see a search bar, a section of popular sites with the most visited websites, another for highlighted pages that we have recently visited or saved and a third one in which there will be short updates of Mozilla on Firefox, the culture of Internet and “the typical random meme”. Why not?
To interact with the sections of favorite sites and featured articles we have several options. Treat them individually, posing the cursor over them, displaying the menu from the icon of the three points and choosing any of the options; or in a general way, posing the cursor over the area again until the text “Edit” appears next to the question mark. We will have to click on it to see the different possibilities of personalization, including the manual addition of favorite sites.
Finally, it converts default Firefox Quantum
With Firefox Quantum completely to your liking, replicating the experience you lived in Google Chrome, it was time to make it the default browser of the system.
We will return to the main menu, we will return to the “Options” section and, there, we will click on the “Convert to default …” button . At this point, if our system allows it, the creation of Mozilla will already be the default. If not, as in the case of Windows 10, we will open a system configuration screen where we will have to choose Firefox.