Ask HN: How do you use multiple browsers? Dealing with history in all at once?

[DmitryDolgopolo]

I started using a few browsers at the same time. Moving to Brave/Firefox from Chrome that still has all my passwords + a browser for work + Safari for reading. Is there any way to deal with history that you know of? (now I need to search everywhere sometimes) Are there any other problems with having multiple browser usage? Do you know many people that use more than one browser? (I know only two)

[dodoc]

Firefox with containers for multiple work accounts/social/browsing means I only use one browser now. Before containers I’d only open Safari/chromium for any form of social media. Bitwarden for cross-device password management can help too.

[DmitryDolgopolo]

Thanks for the suggestion. I love firefox for the privacy and being light-weighted yet they are lacking some features (zooming with touchpad on mac like in chromium browsers) and have some bad bugs (e.g. column-reverse flex not scrolling). Do your separate accounts lead to the same history tab or are they stored separately?

[nextos]

Same history.

You can take this approach further with Temporary Containers, where each tab is isolated from the rest e.g. if domains differ.

It's excellent for privacy.

[sharmi]

Firefox is my daily driver. I have last pass installed on it. This helps me share my passwords with other browsers. I don't share any other state between browsers.

I use Chromium when I need to use a browser without adblockers.

[DmitryDolgopolo]

Thanks for the reply! How do you solve the history/bookmarks problem? It's just that it frequently happens to me that I start looking for something in my history and I will need to go through each of my browsers until I find the right one.

[dylz]

I use 5+ daily during web development. Most people I know use a combination of Safari/Chrome/Firefox/Edge, pick at least 2.

I use separate browsers for work/play too, due to overlapping SSO domains.

[DmitryDolgopolo]

I see. It's nice to know I am not alone :) How do you deal with bookmarks and history? Do you just save it in one browser?

[dylz]

Yes. Since for games, personal email, etc, I use one browser exclusively, it doesn't bother me.

I don't usually go to the same sites bookmarked (like javadocs for fun, who needs that? goes straight in the "work" browser)