Chrome does not allow exporting passwords by default, but there is a hidden function that does it. Let’s see how to use it.
1: Do you save the passwords in Chrome?
Nowadays all the Internet services (and there are millions) ask us to use a username and password. Using the same data in several services is a bad idea because if you hack that website, or your data is stolen, all the places where you have used that stolen username and password will be unprotected.
So, in the end, we end up using dozens, hundreds of different passwords that, if well created, are impossible to memorize.
When you use many Internet services, the most practical thing is to use a password manager. These applications keep your passwords encrypted, and when a service needs them, it automatically uses them to start the session, without you having to type them.
The Google Chrome browser integrates a password manager that allows you to save the encrypted passwords you use on web pages. It is very useful because it asks you which ones you want to save and which ones do not, and automatically detects the webs to which they belong, initiating a session without you having to do anything.
In this tutorial, we will see how to export Chrome passwords, something that can not be done by default.
Do you have Chrome password manager activated? Let’s check it
Start up Google Chrome, and sign in with a Google account. Then click on the icon of the three vertical points, in the upper right corner. In the menu that opens, enter Settings :
In Settings, go down to the bottom and click on Advanced Settings. In the section Passwords and forms, you will see an option called Manage passwords :
Check if the password manager is active. If it is not and you want to use it, click on Activate :
From this moment, when you log in to a web service and enter the username and password manually, Google will ask you if you want to save the password. If you do it, next time it will be entered automatically when you log in (that is, it will only start it if you click on the login button on each web).
The list of passwords you have stored will appear in Manage Password s:
2: The hidden option to export passwords
The advantage of saving passwords in Chrome is that they are actually stored in your Google account, so you can access them from any version of Chrome that you have installed on any computer, smartphone, or tablet, through the cloud.
But Google Chrome does not allow you to export those passwords, so you can not save them in a file to be used in another browser or computer, or to print them. Or at least you can not do it directly, Luckily, there is a hidden function that allows you to export Google Chrome passwords. Let’s activate it.
Start up Google Chrome, and enter this web page:
chrome: // flags / # PasswordExport
Actually what you are doing is accessing the hidden functions of Chrome, and specifically Password Export, which is the hidden option to export passwords.
On the screen you will see this:
In the Password Export box, enter the pop-up menu and select Enabled, to export Google Chrome passwords.
Restart the browser to activate the change.
3: Export the passwords to a text file
It’s time to go back to Manage passwords to check what has changed.
We go to the configuration of Google (remember, the three vertical points) and enter Settings, Advanced Settings, Passwords and forms, and finally Manage passwords.
If you notice, now at the top of the list of saved passwords, a new icon with three vertical points has appeared that hides the Export command :
When pressed, a window to Export passwords will appear :
Then Windows security will be activated, and it will ask you to enter the Windows username and password. Eye, it is not the Google Chrome account, but you have an active account in Windows and is usually assigned to install the operating system, or downloading things in the Windows Store:
When you enter the data, a file called Google.CSV Passwords will be saved in the folder of your choice:
Here are all the passwords you have in Chrome. Be careful because it is a simple unprotected Excel file, and anyone can read it. Save it in a safe place, or print it and delete it.
Some browsers accept passwords through CSV files, so you can import them directly.