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Private Data Sync

In order to sync your data across different computers, major browsers need to store it somewhere. Conveniently, they can place it on their servers.

We’re not really huge fans of that. So instead, we separate the storage from the browser and keep it on your local machine (not our servers) in a feature called Private Data Sync. The documentation for setting this up is here. In general, it works like this:  

You can store your browser data to your desktop then sync it to any cloud based solution like Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, OneDrive or any similar service. Because you control your hard drive, you are in control of it – not us.

Once you start syncing your data, you can access it from any computer. If you use Dropbox, for example, you just need to have Dropbox installed on all of the computers you use Ghost Browser on and the browser will be able to access it there.

Some of these file storing services give you the option to sync all of your files and some allow you to sync just some to save space. Read the docs for more information about this because, for example, if you have “Files on Demand” setting on in OneDrive, your Ghost Browser PDS data won’t sync unless you’ve told OneDrive to do it.

Now, it’s true that your data still lives on the servers owned by your storage solution. However, it’s not stored in a way that Dropbox or Google – or we – can make any sense of or use it to track your browsing.

Further your data is protected on those cloud solutions with the same Advanced Encryption Standard that is used by the US Government and other organizations world-wide. The data is protected by a key that only you know. So no one can open your files and peek inside either.

You can sync standard browser data like cookies and bookmarks. You can also sync the specialized data you need to make Ghost Browser great including Workspaces, Identities and proxy configurations.

Private Data Sync is turned off by default. To try it out please see this help article on how to enable it and start syncing your data. To provide feedback please email us.

2 Comments

  1. Jason on July 10, 2022 at 6:52 pm

    any idea why a new install of ghost just overwrites the private sync data when i try to load it from a backup. everything i have tried fails.

    password was saved in a manager, so i know its correct for the backup. but i cannot select the folder only the folder containing it, so it makes a new private sync folder. then i try to overwrite the contents of that and when i open ghost it just overwrites it again.

    what is the point if i cant actually select the sync folder, but only the folder that contains it and its going to make its own new folder each time?

    • Larry Kokoszka on March 16, 2024 at 6:10 pm

      Hi Jason – please reach out to our support team by clicking “Menu–>Report an issue” for help with this issue. Thanks!

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