Accidentally Created Google Profile, Lost Bookmarks and Passwords

May 30, 2022 1:26 PM

I logged into my work email today from home (for the first time in a long time) and got a popup window that I (foolishly, yes!) did not pay much attention to, but apparently Google created a new profile (?) using that work email. When I log back into my regular email, I am still apparently in that profile and without any of my bookmarks. And logged out of all my regular sites (like this one), and no saved passwords either.

I don't recall the last time I logged into my work email from home, but it was always straightforward in that all my bookmarks remained and it was no problem to switch back to my regular home email.

I tried to import bookmarks but only browsers that are not Chrome are listed. Do I turn on Sync? But I think that's just for other devices and I don't use Gmail on my other devices, not even my iPhone (except rarely through Safari).

Is it just a matter of deleting this profile? Is it possible to go back to using Google without a profile? Are we sure I won't be deleting crucial things if I do that?

Thank you. Slightly panicked.
It was already a crap day before this.

posted by Glinn to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

Best answer: Sounds like you’re using Chrome and Chrome has decided to do the annoying thing where it syncs who is logged into Chrome with whoever happens to login to gmail.com (or another google site) within that Chrome window.

You should be able to switch to your other Chrome profile.

You should also be able to disable the Chrome auto sign-in feature, so this will not happen again (hopefully).
posted by tiamat at 1:34 PM on May 30, 2022 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Ah, thank you! I didn't think I had another profile, since the other options were "Person 1" and "Guest" (and I don't recall setting one up). Person 1 must be the default profile name because that is the correct one, in case someone else has this problem.
posted by Glinn at 1:43 PM on May 30, 2022 [2 favorites]