Import data and settings from another Brave channel

[srirambv]

Description

Dev/Beta are not listed in import bookmark settings

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install dev build
2. Install beta build as well
3. Open bookmark importer, only lists legacy browser-laptop as Brave, no option to import from Dev->Beta or Beta ->Dev (unlikely being done)

Actual result:

Dev/Beta are not listed in import bookmark settings

Expected result:

Should be able to import bookmarks and stats from other channel install. Needed for 1.0 when users want to migrate from Beta to Release builds

Reproduces how often:

Easy

Brave version (chrome://version info)

All

Reproducible on current release:

N/A

Website problems only:

• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Shields?
• Is the issue reproducible on the latest version of Chrome?

Additional Information

cc: @bbondy @bsclifton

[bsclifton]

Manual work-around until the issue is fixed:
Copy your profile directory over the other one. For example, if you wanted to use your Dev profile for the Beta version, you'd do the following on macOS:

cp -rp ~/Library/Application\ Support/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser-Dev ~/Library/Application\ Support/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser-Beta/

Windows and Linux would be similar- but the paths would be different. I believe Windows is at %APPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser-Dev and Linux is at ~/.config/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser-Dev

[kjozwiak]

Just a heads up if using the workaround mentioned by @bsclifton. It's entirely possible that moving around profiles to different channels might cause some issues. I've moved my personal profile between dev, beta and release several times and eventually bricked the entire Rewards feature. It's entirely possible that sometimes one version of Brave might receive an update and change the structure of several files while other versions are still not aware of this change. So moving a profile with these changes to a channel that doesn't understand those changes could lead to issues.

So be warned! It's possible to manually move profiles around the different channels but it could lead to some really bad issues.

[eljuno]

+1s from Community

• https://community.brave.com/t/can-not-import-settings-from-brave-beta-to-brave/39504?u=eljuno
• https://community.brave.com/t/importing-data-from-brave-developer/42751?u=eljuno
• https://community.brave.com/t/import-bookmarks/43742?u=eljuno
• https://community.brave.com/t/can-i-import-settings-cookies-and-so-forth-from-brave-beta-to-brave-official/43780?u=eljuno
• https://community.brave.com/t/moving-settings-from-brave-to-brave-dev/53318?u=eljuno

[srirambv]

+1 from @TontyTon via #2938

[MiroFurtado]

We don't want to discourage people from trying out Beta/Dev and if this isn't fixed, people who switch will essentially be committing themselves to always using the beta/dev browser.

[CalebRotello]

@bsclifton could I have this issue?

[bsclifton]

@CalebRotello absolutely 😄 I've done quite a bit of work on related items in the past. Let me know if you have questions

[CalebRotello]

@bsclifton I am having a difficult time tracking down where brave sends the browser profiles (browser and its bookmark/user data) to the chromium engine. Could you point me in the right direction?

[bsclifton]

@CalebRotello you might start by checking out our Chrome import, which the Brave import would be similar to:
https://github.com/brave/brave-core/blob/master/utility/importer/chrome_importer.cc

Since you'd need to add a new type of import in the drop down, you might use this PR as a reference. We allow users to import from the old Electron/Muon based version of Brave. The PR shows how to alter the dialog to have a new import type and then create the basic classes
brave/brave-core#185

[megalithic]

Just ran into the need for this, to move back to Brave stable/official from Brave dev.. is this still in progress?

[bsclifton]

cc: @rebron should we bump up priority on this (P4?)

[Poopooracoocoo]

i saw a promo to switch to the beta channel on brave community

[DJLevel3]

Is this still being worked on? I wanted to switch to Beta but copying the files didn't work and I have a bunch of stuff in my bookmarks and settings I don't want changed.

[sluTTYusr]

What's the recommended way of switching from beta to stable and keeping all settings?
Could not find any proper info on this.