If you deleted it in the Profile Manager, there may be hope. If you deleted the folder in Finder or Terminal, then unless you have a backup of your drive, you’re likely out of luck, though you could try an undelete/file recovery tool if it’s important enough to retrieve.
The profile folder is stored in /Users/[YourUserName]/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/ and usually is named Default. If it was a profile you created, then it will be named Profile [#] where the [#] is 1, 2, etc., depending on how many are created. If you’re using Brave again, then it may have created/be using a new Default folder.
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The first thing I’d do is make a copy of the one you want to use with File–>Duplicate (cmd-D)
or by dragging it onto the Desktop or over a folder and holding Option. If you’re not sure which one to do, copy Default and all Profile [#]s to be sure. Leave that Finder window open because you’re going to need it soon. -
Now that you have a backup, go to Brave and create a new profile by selecting
orCreate a New Profilein the Brave menu in top right of window or with the Profile menu just to the left of the Brave menu (click+ Addin pull-down). If the Profile menu isn’t there, don’t sweat it; I’m pretty sure it only shows up if there’s more than one Profile to begin with.
Not sure if the name will be retained, but can’t hurt to name it as if it were going to be permanent, just in case. When you click Add in the Add profile window, it will take you to a brand spankin’ new Brave window with the tour queued up.
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Quit Brave and go back to the
Brave-Browserfolder. Look for the just-added Profile [#] folder. In the case of the one I just created, it’s Profile 5:
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Open that new Profile folder, then in a new Finder window (cmd-N while in Finder) navigate to the backup copy(ies) you made earlier.
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Open the backup Profile copy you want to use, select all contents, drag them to the fresh Profile folder window holding Option, and let go to copy. When prompted, tell Finder to overwrite the files in the destination.
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Once the copy is done, leave both Finder windows open, launch Brave, and select the target Profile if it doesn’t open by default and see whether your stuff is there. It’s likely you’ll have multiple windows opening, at least one for each Profile, so don’t freak if that happens.
If the backup Profile copy you chose wasn’t the one you wanted, just close Brave, go to the Finder window with the one you already copied, hit cmd-up arrow, pick a different backup Profile copy, make the new Profile window visible by selecting it from the Window menu, and repeat steps 5 and 6 to copying all files into the same new Profile folder.