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TroubleshootingBrowser Profiles

Browser Profiles troubleshooting

Browser Profiles link a space to a specific browser profile. When something feels off - wrong tabs, wrong browser, missing prompt - it’s usually one of the cases below.

Browser Profiles is a Premium feature. If the option isn’t visible, check your plan or upgrade .

A profile isn’t showing up in the picker

SupaSidebar auto-discovers profiles from each browser. If a profile is missing:

  1. Open the browser at least once so the profile is fully created on disk. A profile that has never been opened may not appear yet.
  2. Restart SupaSidebar to re-scan profiles.
  3. Check that Automation permission is granted for the browser - see Permissions.
  4. For Chromium browsers (Brave, Chrome, Edge, Vivaldi), profiles are read from disk. For Firefox and Zen, they’re read from profiles.ini. For Safari, profiles come from the system menu. If the browser was just updated, give it one full launch before re-scanning.

If the profile still doesn’t appear, the browser may store profiles in a non-standard location (managed-device installs, portable installs). Email admin@supasidebar.com with your browser name, version, and a screenshot of the picker.

The most common cause is rule precedence. Browser selection runs in this order:

  1. Modifier-click actions (Opt-click, right-click -> Open With)
  2. Air Traffic Control open routes
  3. The space’s linked profile / default browser
  4. System default browser

So if you have an ATC open route for youtube.com -> Brave, that wins even if your current space is linked to Safari. Check Preferences -> Air Traffic Control for a rule matching the URL.

To fix:

  • If the ATC rule is what you want: leave it.
  • If the space’s browser should win: disable or delete the ATC rule, or scope it tighter.

See Browser Selection Priority for the full priority order.

Live Tabs shows tabs from the wrong profile

When a profile is linked to a space, Live Tabs filters to that profile. If you’re seeing the wrong tabs:

  1. Open the space and check the Live Tabs header - it should show the linked profile name (e.g. “Live Tabs - Brave Work”). If it shows nothing or “All tabs”, the link was lost.
  2. Click Link a browser profile and re-select the correct profile.
  3. If the linked profile’s browser isn’t running, Live Tabs shows a prompt to launch it. Click that, or enable Auto-Launch Browser/Profile in Preferences -> Tabs & History -> Profile Spaces.

The space switch prompt isn’t appearing

The space switch suggestion appears when you focus a browser window that belongs to a different linked space. If it’s not showing:

  • Check that the source space and the target space both have linked profiles (not just browsers). The prompt is profile-aware.
  • Make sure you didn’t previously choose Never for that space - that dismisses suggestions for it.
  • Confirm Automation permission is granted for the browser you’re switching to.

To reset suggestions, go to Preferences -> Spaces and toggle the space switch suggestion off and back on.

Auto-Launch isn’t launching the browser

When you arrive at a profile-linked space whose browser isn’t running, SupaSidebar can cold-launch the browser into the right profile. If it doesn’t:

  1. Enable Auto-Launch Browser/Profile in Preferences -> Tabs & History -> Profile Spaces.
  2. Make sure the browser is installed at its default macOS location.
  3. Some browsers (Firefox, Zen) need a per-profile launch argument that SSB calculates from profiles.ini. If you’ve manually edited that file, the launch may fail. Restore the file and re-link the profile.

The sidebar doesn’t hide when I click away from the profile browser

In profile mode, the sidebar auto-hides when the linked browser loses focus. If it stays visible:

  • Check Preferences -> Sidebar -> Auto-hide is enabled.
  • Confirm Accessibility permission is granted - see Permissions.
  • Browser-interaction settings are under active redesign as of 0.19.x - if you upgraded recently and behavior changed, restart SupaSidebar once to pick up the new defaults.

Some browsers reshuffle their profile folders during major updates. If your space suddenly shows “All tabs” instead of the linked profile:

  1. Open the space and click the profile indicator in the Live Tabs header.
  2. Choose Unlink, then Link a browser profile again.
  3. Re-select the same profile name from the picker.
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