Why import cookies into a profile
Cookies are how a website remembers that you're logged in. Importing them into a profile moves a session from one browser to another. Common reasons:
- You're moving your own accounts from a regular Chrome profile into Multime and don't want to log in to 30 accounts again.
- A client gives your agency access to their account and sends an exported session along with the login.
- You're restoring a profile's cookies from an export you saved earlier.
Cookies work like a logged-in session, so treat them like passwords. Import only cookies for accounts you own or are authorized to manage.
Supported cookie formats
| Format | What it looks like | Typical source |
|---|---|---|
| JSON | A list of cookie objects with name, value, domain and more | Cookie-Editor, EditThisCookie, DevTools exports, AdsPower exports, Multime's own export |
| Netscape cookies.txt | One cookie per line, seven tab-separated columns | Browser extensions and command-line tools that write cookies.txt |
| name=value | name=value; name2=value2, like a Cookie header |
Copied from a request in DevTools |
JSON
Multime accepts a JSON list, or an object with a cookies list inside it. For each cookie it reads name, value, domain, path, the expiry (expires, expirationDate or expiry, in seconds or milliseconds), httpOnly, secure, sameSite and session. A sameSite of no_restriction is read as None.
[
{
"name": "session_id",
"value": "abc123",
"domain": ".example.com",
"path": "/",
"expirationDate": 1798761600,
"httpOnly": true,
"secure": true,
"sameSite": "lax"
}
]
Netscape cookies.txt
Seven tab-separated columns per line: domain, subdomain flag, path, secure, expiry, name and value. Lines that start with #HttpOnly_ are read as HttpOnly cookies. Other comment lines are skipped.
name=value
Pairs separated by semicolons or new lines. This format carries no domain, path or expiry, so Multime assigns each cookie to .facebook.com, with path /, marked secure and set to expire in one year. For any other site, use JSON or Netscape format, which include the domain.
How to import cookies
- Close the profile if it's open. In the profile list, open its Cookies window and choose Import cookies.
- Paste the cookies in any of the three formats.
- Leave Keep existing cookies and add these ticked to merge, or untick it to replace everything the profile has.
- Click Import cookies. Multime reports how many it saved.
- Open the profile. Imported cookies are applied the next time the profile opens.
Import into a closed profile. While a profile is open, Multime keeps saving the browser's own cookies, and that save can overwrite cookies you imported in the meantime.
When you merge, a cookie with the same name, domain and path as an existing one replaces it. Every other existing cookie stays.
You can also paste cookies in the profile form when you create or edit a profile.
Importing cookies for many profiles at once
Bulk create reads an Excel, CSV or text file with one row per profile, up to 1,000 rows per file. Put each profile's cookies in the cookie column, in any of the three formats, next to its name, group, login, proxy and start pages.
To avoid duplicates, bulk create can skip rows that match an existing profile: by the same platform, username and password, by the same cookies, or by the same Facebook account (the c_user cookie).
How to export cookies
The same Cookies window shows the profile's saved cookies as JSON. Click Copy to put them on the clipboard, or Save as JSON to download a file named after the profile.
For many profiles at once, export the profiles to Excel or JSON with the Cookies option ticked. Each row then carries that profile's cookies as JSON. An export that includes cookies holds live sessions in plain text, so keep it in an encrypted folder or a password manager.
When Multime saves cookies
While a profile is open, Multime saves its cookies from the browser every 20 seconds and again when the profile closes. The next time the profile opens, those cookies are already in place. You don't need to export anything to keep a session between days.
Cookies are stored in Multime's local database, encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The key is protected by macOS Keychain or Windows DPAPI. Multime doesn't keep a copy of your cookies in a cloud. See local-first.
Cookies in automation
RPA flows have two cookie steps. Get cookies saves the cookies of the current site or of every site, as JSON or name=value text, into a variable, so a flow can write them to a file or send them on. Clear cookies deletes the cookies of the current site or of every site. See automation.
Cookies on teams
On team plans, importing and exporting cookies are two separate permissions:
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Import cookies | Paste cookies into a profile the VA can see |
| Copy and export cookies | See, copy and save a profile's cookies |
Every cookie import and export is recorded in the owner's activity log. When a VA closes a team profile, its cookies go back to the owner's computer. While a VA has a profile open, the session runs on the VA's computer, so give access only to people you trust with those accounts. See team sharing.
Examples
An agency onboarding 40 client pages. Clients send their logins, and some send an exported session from Cookie-Editor. The agency fills one spreadsheet row per client with the group, login, 2FA secret, proxy and cookies, and bulk-creates all 40 profiles in one import. A VA then opens each profile to confirm the session works.
A seller with three shops. Before moving to a new proxy provider, the seller exports each shop profile's cookies as JSON as a backup, then edits the proxies. If a session ends during the move, she logs in again inside the profile.