How to quickly change user profile in Google Chrome?

Question

Is there any keyboard shortcut for changing it? Google couldn't solve my problem.

I'm using too many different profiles for my blog and their social media profiles etc. Sometimes it's getting annoying to open it with mouse from top corner. I love shortcuts.

Solution 1

Windows and Linux:

Ctrl+Shift+M then ▼ then Enter then ► or ◄ until you reach the user you want.

Mac OS:

⌘+Shift+M then ▼ then Enter then ► or ◄ until you reach the user you want.

Note

On Chrome 78 this keyboard shortcut opens the profile menu and focuses your previous used profile, so after you invoked the menu it's enough to hit Enter to quickly switch from one profile to the other.

Solution 2

Chrome now has a "People" menu. If you have two profiles, say "Work" and "Personal",

1. go to System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> App Shortcuts
2. click the +
3. choose "Google Chrome.app"
4. add one keyboard shortcut for "Work" and another one for "Personal".

Solution 3

Below are instructions to setup your own quick shortcuts for Mac OS X in case you consider Chrome's default combination of keys too long for a "shortcut".

Part 1.

1. Launch Chrome
2. Click "Preferences" in "Chrome" menu in the top bar. You should see more than one user profile in the section People. For example, "Work" and "Personal" or "Work" and your name.
3. Click on "Personal" or your name and click "Edit" below it.
4. Rename it to "Gpersonal" or something else. I am not sure why this is needed, but it worked for me only after renaming it.

Part 2.

1. Go to Mac OS X Settings You can do it via Apple icon in the top left corner.
2. Go to "Keyboard" > "Shortcuts".
3. Choose "App Shortcuts" in the left pane.
4. Click "+" in the bottom.
5. In "Application" section choose "Google Chrome"
6. In "Menu Title" type first profile name. For example, "Work" without quotes.
7. Choose a keyboard shortcut, for example, "Cmd+Shift+,".
8. Click "Add".
9. Click "+" in the bottom.
10. In "Menu Title" type first profile name. For example, "GPersonal" without quotes.
11. Choose a keyboard shortcut, for example, "Cmd+Shift+.".
12. Click "Add".
13. You can go back to Chrome now and try new shortcuts.

Solution 4

For Mac OS X :

Since there is the People menu and in Mac OS X, you can access all items in menus with a search in the Help menu, you can also do :

cmd + shift + ? (to access the search in the help menu)

[name of the profile]

▼

Enter

What is nice with this tip is that, it works also to have a "shortcut" to menu item that do not natively have one :-)

Solution 5

With the latest version of Chrome, there is now a Menu option "People" at the top, with items for each profile you maintain. Since this is now a built-in menu, it is possible (at least on OSX) to bind a custom keyboard shortcut to switch to a specific profile.

For example, I have a shortcut set up for "Personal" (Ctrl+Cmd+Shift+1) and "Work" (Ctrl+Cmd+Shift+2) - you just have to make sure your profiles aren't named exactly the same.

View more solutions

Comments

[alirobe]

This isn't a keyboard shortcut, but if you right-click it, you get a quick-access menu.

[Rajkiran]

What an "EASY SHORTCUT" Ctrl+Shift+M then ▼ then Enter then ► or ◄ until you reach the user you want. Please add few more keypresses Google :)

[shim]

Note: For Mac users you'll need to use ⌘ Cmd instead of Ctrl

[heckascript]

as a side note, just pressing Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + M is what brings up the menu. You can use the directional arrows and enter key to navigate that menu but you don't need to continuously hold down the hotkey - and pressing esc will close the menu should you need that.

[JacopKane]

A nice alternative for keyboard people like me, thanks

[DavidPostill]

The first part of your answer is a copy of another answer. The second part doesn't answer the question, which is asking for a keyboard shortcut.

[Daniel Gomez Rico]

This solution works for me on Version 53.0.2785.116 (64-bit). it should be the solution

[imtheman]

@JacopKane As Daniel has stated, this should still be the answer to the question, as it has both Mac and Windows shortcuts. Whereas Patrick's answer only has a Mac shortcut.

[JacopKane]

@imtheman Okay, accepted this one

[shivshnkr]

Can we use a similar shortcut property for switching to an already open incognito window?

[shivshnkr]

Can we use a similar shortcut property for switching to an already open incognito window?

[Tamas Kalman]

awesome, exactly what i was looking for thank you!

[Jay Wick]

Wouldn't be a SuperUser answer without ❤ of Autohotkey

[Admin]

@Jay! I am a big fan of AHK. My personal AHK file is over 2000 lines of code written by me in just 2-4 years :)

[merlin]

Perfect solution! This should be the accepted answer.

[drew7721]

Cheers! good time saver!

[a paid nerd]

@shivshnkr The menu item names in the Keyboard Shortcut preferences need to be exact, but I don't see a menu item to switch between windows in Chrome, probably because it's an OS-level thing. The default is ⌘-` (backtick) which is under Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> Keyboard -> Move focus to next window

[SpdyMx]

This is objectively the best answer. Nice!

[political science]

can you share a video of what you suggested I could not understand from your answer how to do it.

[Jones Agyemang]

I like the simplicity of this answer. Additionally,,, it works!

[NotThatGuy]

Specifying the OS where this would work would be helpful. Is this for Mac?

[NotThatGuy]

This appears to not work any more (on Windows, for me, at least).

[Admin]

I edited this to clarify it is for Mac.