Sync not syncing extensions and extension settings

[oushies]

Description of the issue:
Hi, I have reinstalled my Windows on a new drive (same computer) and am in the process of moving my Brave profiles from old system to the new one. I have tried to simply move the folder with the profiles to the new drive, exporting/importing PreferenceMACs registry key. It did not work, most of the data was missing, like some of the extensions, settings etc. - so I decided to give Sync a try.

Unfortunately, Sync proved only partially successful. Despite setting my chains to sync everything, only Bookmarks, browser settings and passwords seem to have transferred flawlessly.

The biggest issue for me is that some of the extensions and extension setting did not transfer. I have checked brave://sync-internals/ of my main, critical profile on both old and new installation, and the “Type Info” table in “About” tab looks almost identical (see att).

However after inspecting “Sync Node Browser” tab I can see that everything under “Extension settings” is listed as ”encrypted” on the new installation, and some of the entries in “Extensions” are listed as ”encrypted” as well (see att).

On old installation none of the entries are listed as “encrypted”. This is the case across all of the profiles.

I am quite desperate, because there is a lot of data at stake I cannot simply export manually from these extensions. Any help will be much appreciated.

Second minor issue: Opened tabs did not sync automatically, but I’ve found them in History->Tabs from other devices – I assume this is working as expected? Not a big deal in this case, as I’m just transferring one time, but in the future I might start using Sync on multiple devices for actual everyday syncing, so automatic updating of the windows would be great.

Brave Version: 1.32.115 Chromium: 96.0.4664.93 (Official Build) (64-bit) - both installations

Type of devices currently running on the Sync chain in question: The same PC with 2 Windows installations.

[regisksc]

Same thing here, new Ubuntu installation, cannot sync anything

[Mattches]

@oushies,
For open tabs yes, this is the expected behavior.

For extensions, can you please tell me how many extensions failed to transfer as well as which ones specifically?

[oushies]

I have 77 extensions in old installation. 2 of them are not visible in “Sync Node Browser” on old installation. There are 67 extensions in new installation, meaning 10 did not sync. Like I said none of those which transferred got their settings synced (the settings are visible as “encrypted” in the new installation). They are essentially in a default state you can find them after first installation.

What didn’t sync in brave://extensions/ between old and new installation:

• Adobe Acrobat – efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj – non-essential
• Chrome Cleaner – fhcgjolkccmbidfldomjliifgaodjagh – non-essential
• Cleaner For Chrome – pijpdcbdipeecfmbhijfngkfadkjknfd – non-essential
• Easy Storage Manager – ifpigodghnlhaaeibphbkloekpcpmcfo – non-essential
• Feedly Plus – ebcfphdkgdlcmcokcpnbplppmcgklolc – non-essential
• Hive – dibbclmoocoenjjdjgdmgdbedcjeafjl
• Privacy Possum – ommfjecdpepadiafbnidoiggfpbnkfbj
• Punycode Alert – djghjigfghekidjibckjmhbhhjeomlda
• Skype – lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl – non-essential
• Super Easy Auto Refresh – globgafddkdlnalejlkcpaefakkhkdoa

“Non-essential” extensions are not critical for me and I can reinstall I configure them manually. Adobe Acrobat and Skype are missing in “Sync Node Browser” on both old and new installation – this is not a problem for me as explained, but might be worth noting.

There are a lot of other extensions that I use a lot every day (talking about those that transferred, albeit without settings), and configuring them manually would take a lot of time, I’d prefer to avoid that. Some of them have data I cannot simply manually input back into the new installation, and cannot export in any way from the old one.

[oushies]

@Mattches Have you found a solution to my problem maybe?

[Mattches]

@oushies,
From what Sync team is telling me, extension data sync is dependent on the type of API being used by the extension developer. In addition, locally installed extensions cannot be Synced (but I imagine this is not the case for you).

Unfortunately it seems that the extensions that didn’t sync their data aren’t using the proper API – which makes the issue out of our hands. Extension data is stored in

<profile_dir>/Default/Extension State

But this is an unreadable state. I do apologize but I’m not sure there’s a whole lot we can do here.

[oushies]

@Mattches so every extension I have uses a wrong API? Including such popular ones like ublock Origin, Metamask, Dark Reader? This doesn’t seem plausible. Can you give me an example of an extension that should sync, so I can test this?

Just as a reminder - only a few extensions didn’t sync themselves, but all didn’t sync their data.

[Alexey]

Hello @oushies ,

@Mattches so every extension I have uses a wrong API? Including such popular ones like ublock Origin, Metamask, Dark Reader?

I am not sure about the all of the extensions, but it is not to use the API which does not meant for data to be synced when it is designed to be stored only locally.

And at least uBlock Origin has ability to sync it’s data through the Brave Sync to synchronize the settings. But that works not out-of-the box.

Here are the steps to ensure:

1. Create a sync chain between devices deviceA and deviceB;
2. In Sync data enable Extension type on each devices;
3. On deviceA install uBlock Origin [1];
4. Ensure the extension is automatically installed on the deviceB;
5. Ensure on deviceA at brave://sync-internals/ there is Extension settings 0 in the Type Info table;
6. Use instructions [2] to configure Extension settings for uBlock to be synchronized through the Sync:
   6.1 At uBlock => Settings check Enable cloud storage support on both deviceA and deviceB;
   6.2 On deviceA at uBlock => Filter List check Ignore generic cosmetic filters and press Export to cloud storage button (the one with a cloud on a top);
   6.3 Ensure on deviceA at brave://sync-internals/ now there is Extension settings 2 in the Type Info table;
   6.4 On deviceB at uBlock => Filter List press Import from cloud storage button (the one with cloud and down arrow);
   6.5 Ensure on deviceB Ignore generic cosmetic filters is checked and Apply changes button became enabled and yellow.

[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm/related
[2] https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Cloud-storage