It seems as if every time we turn around, another web browser or web browser feature is making headlines. This race to be the ” best ” browser benefits users and their workflows, but it can be a bit confusing. When multiple browsers fight for your attention, the question arises as to whether switching browsers is an easy thing to do. The answer is almost always yes. Each browser does its part to make the change as easy as possible, offering to import passwords, bookmarks, favorites, etc. If the thought of switching browsers makes you anxious, let’s see why there’s nothing to fear.
Why switch browsers
Since it was first released to the world, Google’s Chrome has skyrocketed in popularity and become the default browser for the web. As more of our work and personal computing habits is spent in the browser, a browser can expose bugs and annoyances that may make you want to switch. Alternatively, you might be concerned that Chrome exposes too much data and it’s a privacy concern.
For the most part, switching browsers is done more for compatibility or new features than anything else. In the case of Edge, it could be the promise of safer browsing, deep integration with Office365, or just the promise of vertical tabs coming soon. In the case of moving from Chrome to Safari on macOS, it may be worth the switch due to deeper integration with Mac hardware. That combination ensures better overall battery performance and less memory used.
As browsers continue to introduce new features, it’s easy to understand why switching browsers can be appealing. This is especially true for browsers that introduced “Profiles,” or a way to separate work and personal tabs so you can quickly tell them apart. Having the ability to sync between work and personal computers, as well as mobile devices, is yet another reason to make a browser switch. Do you want to see what tabs are open on your desktop while you are not at home? You can easily do this via Edge, Safari, or even Chrome on your respective mobile browsers on both Android and iOS.
Move data from Chrome to Edge
Let’s say you’re moving from Chrome to Edge. Once you have downloaded, installed, and opened Edge, it will ask you to import your data from another web browser. If so, you can follow the steps and this article is incredibly short. However, if you miss it, all hope is not lost.
Go to the menu option (…) in the upper right corner of Edge. Click on it and then locate and select “Favorites”.
Click the same (…) option again. About halfway there is an option to “Import Favorites”.
You now have a set of options available to you of what you can move and also from which browser. For the purposes of this guide, make sure “Google Chrome” is selected under “Import From”.
At this point, you can check or uncheck any imported data that you want to move from Chrome to Edge. This will include everything from favorites or bookmarks, saved passwords, saved addresses or payment information, browsing history, and any supported extensions.
Once you’ve made sure everything you want to import is checked, click “Import” and Edge will do the rest.
Setting Edge as the default browser
While these steps are specific to Chrome and Edge, they really apply to all browsers. If you make the same switch from Chrome to Safari on a Mac, it will also ask you to import data on its first launch. The level of data that can be imported will vary between browsers. In total, this step shouldn’t take more than a few minutes from start to finish.
Most browsers will continually ask to be set as the default browser every time they are opened. In that case, simply click ” Yes ” when prompted to set the new browser as default. However, if you happened to choose an option that says something like ” stop asking me every time Edge opens ” when you were switching browsers, it’s very easy to set the default value after that.
Windows 10: Open the Windows 10 settings menu, type “Default apps” and select it. Scroll down until you find the option for the web browser and choose Edge as your Chrome replacement. Once you’ve designated Edge as your default browser, simply exit the menu as the change has already been made system-wide in Windows 10. The same can be applied regardless of which browser you’ve migrated to.
