Importing Your Information

When you first launch Firefox, the Import Wizard appears and walks you through the migration process. You can also access the wizard at any time by choosing File Import.

Firefox supports importing information from any of the following browsers:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer

• Netscape

• Opera

• Apple Safari

• OmniWeb

• Camino

• And, of course, earlier versions of Firefox

The import process is short and sweet, and when you're finished, Firefox looks and acts like your previous browser. Where possible, importing adds to your Firefox information rather than replacing it. For example, if you used Firefox for a week before deciding to import, the bookmarks or passwords you saved during that time won't be lost, as you see in the following steps:

1. Open the Import Wizard by choosing FileImport.

2. Select the browser to import from, and then click Next.

   The first screen of the wizard lists the browsers currently installed on your computer, as shown in Figure 3-3. If you aren't ready to import, click Cancel.

   
   Figure 3-3: The Import Wizard automatically finds and displays the browsers installed on your computer.

3. Select the information to import, and then click Next.

   Several options are available, as shown in Figure 3-4. The available options depend on the browser from which you are importing.

   
   Figure 3-4: Firefox can practically replicate your previous browser by importing everything from bookmarks to saved passwords.

   • Internet Options: Transfer your former browser's settings to Firefox. Firefox can only transfer the settings it supports.

   • Cookies: Transfer the cookies that are used in the other browser. A cookie is a piece of information that a Web site stores on your computer, such as your preferences for that site. Cookies make it easier for a site to remember you if you have visited it before.

   • Browsing History: Transfer the history of Web pages you've visited. Transferring your history allows you to revisit the sites you visited with your former browser.

   • Saved Form History: Transfer the form information collected by your former browser's form-filling mechanism. This way, you can get access to form information, such as Internet searches, that is saved in your other browser.

   • Saved Passwords: Transfer passwords your former browser saved when you logged in to Web sites.

   • Favorites/Bookmarks: Transfer your list of bookmarks (also called Favorites).

   By default, Firefox imports everything it can, but you can deselect any type.

   REMEMBER 

   If you choose to import settings, Firefox will be configured as much like your former browser as possible. Naturally, Firefox can't support every setting available in another browser, but it inherits the ones it can.

   When you click Next, the import process begins. It should take less than a minute.

4. The final screen (see Figure 3-5) shows you the information that Firefox has imported. Congratulations! Click Finish to start using Firefox.

   
   Figure 3-5: It normally takes less than a minute to import your data. When you see this screen, you're ready to use Firefox.

   Tip 

   You can make Firefox look even more like your old one by customizing the Firefox toolbars to match the other browser's toolbars, as I discuss in Chapter 18.