How to open links in specific Chrome Profiles

Chris Messina
2 min readDec 15, 2021

I’m someone who likes to keep my personal and work web experiences separate. This includes having separate Google accounts, separate logins for different web apps and services, and more. To achieve this I use a Google Chrome feature called Profiles:

This works for me when I’m in Chrome but every other app opens links in whichever Chrome window is in the foreground, often leading to switching accounts or copying and pasting the link into the correct Chrome profile. When you open dozens or hundreds of links a day, this is extremely inconvenient!

Fortunately, there are two apps designed to solve for this problem: SwitchBar and OpenIn. Once you set your default browser to either of these apps, you have more control over which links open (automatically or by choice) in which apps.

Using SwitchBar

SwitchBar offers a handy UI to choose a browser, email client, or Electron web app (e.g. Airtable or Figma) in which to open links:

Using SwitchBar to open links in specific Chrome profiles

You can use the command (⌘) key and an index (+1, +2, +3, etc) to open the link in your browser or preferred app.

Using OpenIn

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Chris Messina

Inventor of the hashtag. Product therapist. Investor. Previously: Google, Republic, Uber, On Deck, YC W’18.