Being a Google Chrome user you must have used Chrome’s inbuilt password manager. But, have you ever imagined what would happen if you delete these passwords before taking a backup? After trying and testing a lot, we have come to a solution to recover deleted passwords from Chrome browser. Yes, you read that right! It is possible to recover deleted passwords in Chrome. Let’s find how.
Basically, there are two ways to recover deleted passwords from Google Chrome. Firstly, you can restore the previous version of User Data by using Windows file manager. Or secondly, if you have another device with the same google account logged in, you can restore your deleted passwords by using Google Sync.
Please keep in mind that both processes have some pre-requirements which we will discuss below. If these requirements aren’t fulfilled then it will be not possible to recover the deleted passwords.
#1 Recovering Deleted Passwords Using Windows File Manager
Pre Requirements:
- On Windows 10+, File History and Windows backup needs to be turned on beforehand. Sometimes it can be troublesome to turn on the both however you can follow this article to resolve the issue.
Step 1: Turning off Sync & Disconnect from Internet
- Open Google Chrome & type chrome://settings/syncSetup/advanced (If you have sync turned off then first turn on sync by signing in).
- Select Customize Sync and Turn off all the toggles under Sync Data.
- Turn off the internet and close the browser.
Step 2: Turning on Show Hidden Files, Folders & Drivers
- Go to File Explorer Options from the Start Menu.
- Turn on Show hidden files, folders and drives from the View Tab.
- Click on Apply.
Step 3: Restoring Chrome Previous Version
- Go to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\ (Fill username with your device username)
- Right Click on the User Data Folder and go to Properties.
- Go to the Previous Versions Tab.
- Select the first version in the list and restore it.
Step 4: Sync the Passwords to Google Account
- Launch Google Chrome. (Do not turn on the Internet)
- Again type chrome://settings/syncSetup/advanced and turn off all the customized sync data like before.
- Type chrome://settings/passwords in the address bar and you can find all your deleted passwords there.
- Select any one of these and make some changes (maybe delete one or edit one) so that Google thinks that this list of passwords are updated.
- Connect to the Internet and Turn on all the sync settings that you have previously disabled (You may need to login to your google account to sync).
This way using Windows File Manager you can recover deleted passwords. However, while restoring to the previous version sometimes you may find “there are no previous versions available” under the Previous Versions tab. To troubleshoot it try checking this article.
#2 Recovering Deleted Passwords Using Another Device
To explain this properly we will take the example of two devices Device A (from which you have deleted the passwords) & Device B (You will recover the passwords using this device).
Pre Requirements:
- Device B needs to have Google Chrome installed and need to be synchronized with the same google account before deleting the passwords from Device A. (Don’t worry if sync is enabled in the browser, it will automatically get synced if you just open the browser).
- Device B’s Google Chrome Browser has not connected to the internet (Haven’t launched) since you have deleted passwords from Device A.
Follow the below steps to recover passwords:
- Turn off the internet on Device B.
- Launch Google Chrome.
- Type chrome://settings/passwords in the address bar. You will find all the passwords that have been synced earlier. If you want you can export passwords from here by going to the three dots then clicking on the Export Passwords and keeping a copy.
- Now type chrome://settings/people in the address bar and turn off the sync.
- Connect to the internet.
- Turn on Sync and you need to login again to your Google Account.
- Click on Yes, I’m in.
- Now Google will sync passwords from Device B to your Google Account. You can also check that by clicking on the highlighted Google Account option on the passwords settings window (Type chrome://settings/passwords in the address bar.)
- Now Check Passwords on Device A you will find all the list of passwords there.
These are the two ways you can recover your deleted passwords from Google Chrome. But without the pre-required settings you lose all passwords forever. It is always good practice to keep a backup of passwords so that you can easily restore it even if you have deleted passwords. Want to know the process of backing up and restoring saved passwords on Google Chrome? Let’s discuss!
How to Backup & Restore Google Chrome’s Saved Passwords?
Backup Process:
Backing up Google Chrome’s saved password is quite simple. Follow the below mentioned steps:
- Type chrome://settings/passwords in the address bar.
- Click on the three dots beside Saved Passwords.
- Click on Export Passwords.
- Save the passwords to your local drive in .csv format.
Please keep in mind that these exported passwords are in plain text format so anyone can read them by using some common applications like Microsoft Excel, WPS Office etc. So keep them safe!
Restoration Process:
By default Google Chrome does not have any Import Passwords option, users need to enable it before restoring backed up passwords. There are quite few processes to enable the import option, however here’s the easiest one!
Step 1: Enabling Import Option
- Type chrome://flags/ in the address bar.
- Search for password import.
- Select Enabled Option from the dropdown.
- Relaunch Chrome Browser.
Step 2: Restoring Passwords
- Again type chrome://settings/passwords in the address bar.
- Click on the three dots beside Saved Passwords.
- Click on the Import option.
- Select previously backed up .csv file.
- Your all passwords will be restored to Chrome Browser.
How to Sync Google Chrome Browser’s Passwords to Google Account?
If you are using Chrome password manager to save your password, it’s recommended to sync all your passwords to your google account, not only for more security but also for cross device usage.
- Go to Settings by typing chrome://settings/ in the address bar.
- Click on Turn on Sync.
- Login to your Google Account.
- Click on Yes I’m in.
- All of your saved Google Chrome’s saved passwords will be synced to your Google Account.
- You can check your passwords at https://passwords.google.com/
Uninstalling Google Chrome will Delete Saved Passwords?
Sometimes we may need to reinstall Google Chrome for various reasons. But what about our saved passwords which get deleted during this process?
While uninstalling by default Google Chrome gives us the option if we want to delete our browsing data as well. Saved passwords will only get deleted if we select that option while uninstalling. Otherwise saved passwords won’t get deleted. Even if we delete browsing data during the uninstallation process your passwords will be secured to your google account considering you have turned on sync beforehand.
Google Chrome has become the most used web browser these days. And if it has an inbuilt password manager we use it without any doubt and save passwords, but is it that safe? Or you should use a third party password manager like LastPass or Bitwarden to save your passwords? To know that, check it here “Should You Save Passwords in a Browser?”
The Conclusion
It’s true that recovering deleted passwords are possible if you have enabled certain pre-required settings. We hope this blog will help you to recover your deleted passwords. However, our recommendation will be keeping a backup for the future so you do not face the same problem again.
