Granted, most of these features are found in other browsers now; however, Mozilla was one of the first to innovate in these fields. Similarly, Mozilla has introduced another new feature to the mix of its numerous features: The Multi-account containers, which we cover in this article.
A container is a space that enables users to keep their accounts in perfect check and balance. In case you are worried certain companies may tailor you for their websites just because a sibling of yours is interested in the company’s sites, Firefox provides containers that keep cookies account settings, shopping info, and other visual settings separate from others.
This means you can surf the browser without worrying about backend information from other users slipping into your search preferences. The multi-account containers simply aim to provide a more private experience to users without disrupting their preferences. It is to note that this is an extension of Firefox and will not send your information to Mozilla.
Now that we are clear on the concept of these containers, let us delve into the procedure of their usage on Ubuntu Linux.
First and foremost,t this extension requires you to have Firefox itself, so in case your system does not have the browser installed, you can install it using the following set of commands:
$ sudo apt install firefox
In case you already have it, using the aforementioned commands will also update your browser to date. The add-on requires a version of Mozilla beyond version 91.0.
Now that we have that issue resolved, we can install the add-on.
We start by heading to the Mozilla add-on page.
Search ‘containers’ and the multi-account container will be around the corner. If not, scrolling down, Mozilla automatically recommends a multi-account container. Clicking once on it will take you to the extension’s main page.
Click the “add to Firefox” option. A window will pop up asking for certain permissions; you can click the add button if you are fine with the permissions. This will install the extension on your browser.
Once installed, click on the extension’s icon on the top right corner and click on it to select the container you desire to open.
The container options and preferences can be manipulated on the extensions panel using the directional keys. Using left/right opens container for particular option whereas up/down scrolls those options.
Make a new container
To make a new container, we simply go to the ‘Manage Containers’ section and add the name of the container. Once done, we will proceed with several options, like the icon for the container and the color. A Multi-account container is a new option, so it does not seem to have a large variety of tabs, palettes, etc. Still, a bunch will b added with time, like more icons, color palettes, and additional features, but on that note, we can only hope and provide our feedback.
Options
MultiAccount container has 4 main options:
- Open a new tab in: Opens a new tab in the desired container. In case we want to open a new tab in the same container, we can use the shortcut at the new tab icon (+) with the scroll wheel of the mouse.
- Reopen this site in: Re-opens site in another container. It can be used with websites like Youtube or Google forms if you are writing on different types of data or different accounts for multiple tasks.
- Sort tabs by container: Sorts all open tabs sequentially by their container designation.
- Always open this site in: This option is used when we want to open a particular site in a specific container, i.e. Amazon website opens in the shopping container.
This icon opens new possibilities, making the containers even more powerful in our browsing experience. From here, you can open your bookmarks in a particular container by checking the “enable bookmark menus”.
You can also add shortcut keys to each container, so pressing that specific combination of keys opens a new tab of the desired container.
For instance, pressing Ctrl + Shift + 1 opens a new tab of the personal container; additionally, if you want to open a banking tab, you can simply press Ctrl + Shift + 3 instead of the long way. The possibilities are endless, and this makes our work much faster.
The “enable sync” option enables us to sync all containers and data associated with them across multiple devices as well.
Some Useful Applications of Multi-account Containers
Using VPN with container adds an extra layer of security and provides a protective filter in addition to protected data.
Containers can protect you from getting targeted ads and search results from another container. Simply put, our data won’t leak from one container into another.
In case your container is hacked due to a faulty download or unexpected cyber-attack, the data from the rest of our containers won’t be jeopardized, and we will be relatively safer.
Can log into different accounts in different applications, i.e., one container opens our work account on Gmail, while another container opens a personal account on Gmail.
Assigning a website to a container will help keep accidents to a minimum. i.e., using a credit card for purchase on a premium website by a sibling may target you for bothersome ads, unless the website was assigned to a shopping container public to everyone.
Delete Container
To delete a container, go to manage container>>select container>>delete this container.
Conclusion
As data becomes more and more valuable, it is important to keep it safe from any breaches. Fortunately, Firefox has started developments on that front as it provides containers that make our data more manageable by filtering it across containers. This top-notch technology is now being implemented on various applications like Facebook with their own containers to protect our privacy. After reading this article, we hope any confusion you had with the significance of containers and their applications is resolved.
