Migrating from Arc to Zen Browser

Migrating from Arc to Zen Browser.md

A guide to leaving Arc for Zen Browser

The problem with Arc is that it doesn't allow exporting data (history, bookmarks) to a file natively.

One way to do this is to use a script but that only exports Bookmarks and not the history.

I don't really use the bookmarks feature that much; what I really liked about Arc was that it was really easy to navigate to somewhere I already visited.

So, if you're like me, follow this guide and you'll be able to import your browsing history into Zen browser!

TL;DR: copy-paste your Arc Chromium profile to a Chrome Profile, then Zen Browser will be able to detect it and import the data.

Guide

Finding the Arc data folder

1. Open Arc
2. Navigate to chrome://version
3. Save the path to your user profile. (for me: /Users/clouedoc/Library/Application Support/Arc/User Data/Default)

Finding the Chrome data folder

1. Open Chrome
2. Create a dummy Chrome profile with nothing inside it. Use a distinctive name.
3. Navigate to chrome://version
4. Save the path to your Chrome user profile (for me: /Users/clouedoc/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Profile 24)
5. Close Chrome

Spoofing the Chrome profile

1. Open the terminal
2. Run (replace with your own data)

rm -rf "/Users/clouedoc/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Profile 24"
cp -r "/Users/clouedoc/Library/Application Support/Arc/User Data/Default" "/Users/clouedoc/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Profile 24"

Importing from Zen Browser

1. Open Zen Browser
2. Import from this profile
3. It will get stuck on the "payments" part likely. Just close the dialog -- the rest of the data will be imported fine 👌

This is very helpful! One suggestion – may be helpful to delete the website cache first (either via CLI, or maybe thru Arc) before copy - mine took forever to copy. Haven't tested how to do that effectively.

This worked like a charm, thanks!

Thanks it worked!

Didn't work :( It doesn't show any bookmarks:

No work here too, no bookmarks

Here is a very good working solution, even groups bookmarks by workspace, splits etc.:
https://github.com/ivnvxd/arc-export

thanks @wojciech-kulik

Can't see the new profile even after resetting both apps either.

@wojciech-kulik I don't get it, this only generates an html file? How does this help in importing data from Arc?

:D Because Zen supports importing from HTML?

OK just saw it now, lol. Thanks!

Thanks for this!!

What does closing the dialog mean
or how do I close the dialog when its stuck on payments?

Thanks, but it’s not a full migration—essential pinned tabs are missing.
https://github.com/ivnvxd/arc-export is great but not perfect; tabs placed side by side are saved in null folders, requiring manual fixes—not easy when you have a lot of side-by-side pinned tabs.

Hope they find a solution for the migration. The more we can migrate, the more we can use it daily and provide feedback!

arc-export is definitely the way to go. Spoofing the Chrome profile didn't include hundreds of bookmarks I had on other Arc profiles. Beware!

arc-export have worked to generate the .html file. But when I'm importing at Zen, just generate bookmarks, not my spaces organized with folder and pinned tabs.