Chrome – Sync / back up Chrome extensions’ configuration for re-use

google-chromegoogle-chrome-extensionsgoogle-sync

First of all, I'm aware that this question has kind of been asked before, but that's not really what I want to know.

 

Issue

I use Chrome and its immensely useful sync feature on 5+ devices (PC, Mac, iOS, etc), which works fine for the most part, but it seems to be a bit half-baked, in that you can't:

  • Sync dictionaries (update 15/04/2013: as of Chrome v26, you can do this)
  • Sync extensions' configuration
  • Sync extensions that aren't available on all platforms (such as Fireshot and IE Tab Multi (Enhance))

Admittedly, some missing features are less important than others but, generally, when it comes to setting up Chrome for the first time or adopting a new extension, it's a bit of a nightmare for the aforementioned reasons.

 

Cause

I realize that the fault is:

  1. Partly Google's, for technical and logistical reasons (although, I can see fairly easy ways around the technical reasons)

  2. Partly the developer's fault, for not taking advantage of certain APIs

and that there is currently no immediate way around this.

Best Answer

I've had measurable success with simply copy and pasting the chrome-extension_<extID>_0.localstorage and chrome-extension_<extID>_0.localstorage-journal files found at

Windows NT5:   %userProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\
Windows NT6:   %localAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\
OS X:          ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Local Storage/
Ubuntu:        ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/Local Storage/

from system to system, but, as it depends how the developer has chosen to store the configuration, it doesn't work 100% of the time.

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