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 👌

Hi all,

I've been waiting for a tool to help me migrate all of my arc pinned tabs for a while. In the absence of anything for a while, I decided to try making something with Claude code. After 3 days, I got something working. I mean it worked for me, which was the original intention. I decided to open source it in case other people find it useful too. And if it doesn't work for you, and you know how to use Claude, maybe you can fix it and offer a PR!

Anyway, this is what the tool is able to do at the moment:

Arc Spaces → Zen Workspaces (each Arc space becomes a Zen workspace)
Space Icons → Workspace Icons (Unicode emojis preserved: 🏠, 🌳, 🎬, ⚖️, etc.)
Space Colors → Workspace Themes (Arc's subtle color tints accurately reproduced)
Pinned Tabs → Zen Pinned Tabs (with folder structure preserved)
Essential Tabs → Essential Pinned Tabs (Arc's top toolbar tabs with large icons)
Folder Hierarchy → Zen Folder Structure (nested folders maintained)
Display Order → Zen Sidebar Order (Arc visual ordering preserved)
Backup Bookmarks → Firefox Bookmarks (additional backup as standard bookmarks)

Oh, the link: https://github.com/rafcabezas/arc2zen

Discussion thread: rafcabezas/arc2zen#1