Import passwords from Chrome or Edge into a password manager

Which browsers this guide covers

Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi are all built on Chromium and export the same CSV layout. The only thing that changes is the address of the password page.

Firefox and Safari use different layouts and their own entries in the importer; the saved passwords overview has the addresses for those.

The import in five steps

1. Export passwords from the browser. Open chrome://password-manager/passwords (or edge://wallet/passwords), click the three-dot menu at the top right of the list, choose Export passwords and confirm with your computer password or Windows Hello.
2. Open the Bitwarden web vault. Sign in at vault.bitwarden.com, or vault.bitwarden.eu if your account is on the EU server, and choose Tools, then Import data.
3. Choose Chrome (csv) and the file. Select Chrome (csv) as the format, which also covers Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi, then select the exported file.
4. Import and check. Click Import data. Bitwarden reports how many items it created. Search for two or three sites you use daily and confirm the usernames and passwords look right.
5. Delete the CSV and switch autofill. Delete the export file, empty the Recycle Bin or Trash, install the Bitwarden extension and turn off the browser’s own password saving.

The sections below go through each step in more detail.

Step 1 in detail: exporting from Chrome, Edge or Google

Chrome on Windows, macOS or Linux. Type chrome://password-manager/passwords in the address bar. Click the three dots next to the search box and choose Export passwords, then Export passwords again on the warning. Chrome asks for the account you use to sign in to the computer: a Windows Hello PIN or fingerprint on Windows, your login password on macOS. Save the file, which Chrome names Chrome Passwords.csv, to the Desktop so it is easy to find and delete.

Edge. Type edge://wallet/passwords, click the three dots above the list and choose Export passwords. Edge also asks for your Windows or macOS credentials and saves Microsoft Edge Passwords.csv.

Google account. If your passwords live in Google Password Manager because you saved them on an Android phone or a Chromebook, open passwords.google.com in any browser, click the gear icon, then Export passwords. Google asks you to re-enter your Google password and sends the same CSV format.

The file is plain text. Anyone who opens it reads every password, so do not email it, do not put it in a synced cloud folder, and do the import right away.

What the CSV contains and how Bitwarden maps it

Chrome writes one row per saved login with five columns. Bitwarden’s Chrome importer reads them as follows.

Older Chrome versions omitted the note column; the importer handles both layouts. Every row becomes a Login item in your personal vault with no folder assigned. Chrome does not export creation dates, so all items show the import date.

Step 5 in detail: clean up and switch autofill

Once you have confirmed the import, make Bitwarden the only place passwords are saved.

1. Install the Bitwarden extension. Chrome Web Store, Edge Add-ons or the Brave, Opera and Vivaldi stores all list it. Log in with the same account. The browser extension guide covers unlock with biometrics and autofill shortcuts.
2. Turn off the browser’s password saving. Chrome: chrome://password-manager/settings, switch off Offer to save passwords and Sign in automatically. Edge: edge://wallet/settings, switch off Offer to save passwords. With both stores active you get two save prompts on every new login.
3. Delete the CSV. Move Chrome Passwords.csv to the Recycle Bin or Trash, then empty it. On macOS use Finder, Empty Trash; on Windows right-click the Recycle Bin and choose Empty Recycle Bin.
4. Optionally delete the passwords from Chrome. On chrome://password-manager/settings choose Delete all Google Password Manager data. If your Chrome profile syncs, this also removes them from your Google account and from Android autofill, so wait until Bitwarden is working on the phone as well.

Duplicates and folders after the import

Chrome keeps a separate entry for every combination of site and username, and often one for https://example.com and another for https://www.example.com. Bitwarden imports each row as it is, so expect some pairs. The web vault has no automatic duplicate finder; search for a site name and delete the older entry, or keep both if they are genuinely different accounts. If you also imported from Edge or another browser, the same login can appear twice with different passwords: try each on the site and delete the one that fails.

Chrome has no folders, so everything arrives loose. In the web vault, select items with the checkboxes and use Move to folder to sort them into folders such as Work, Finance or Shopping. Folders are optional; search and URL matching find items regardless.

Premium accounts (about US$10 per year) can run Reports, Reused passwords and Weak passwords straight after the import. Fix email and banking logins first.

Passkeys are not exported

Google Password Manager stores passkeys next to passwords, but the CSV export does not include them. Passkeys are bound to the provider that created them and cannot be copied between password managers. After the import, sign in to each site where you registered a passkey in Chrome, go to its security settings and add a new passkey; with the Bitwarden extension installed, Bitwarden offers to store it. The free plan includes unlimited passkeys. You can then remove the Chrome passkey from the site.

Switch Android autofill to Bitwarden

If your passwords came from an Android phone, Google Password Manager is still the autofill provider there. Install Bitwarden from the Play Store, log in, then open Android Settings, Passwords and accounts (the wording varies by phone), set Preferred service to Bitwarden and turn off Google as an autofill provider. On Android 14 and later Bitwarden also offers to become the passkey provider. Turn on Unlock with biometrics in the Bitwarden app so a fingerprint fills logins.

On iPhone the equivalent is Settings, General, AutoFill & Passwords, where you tick Bitwarden and untick Chrome or Passwords.

Troubleshooting

• Import error mentioning “line N”. One row is malformed, usually a password or note that contains a double quote or a line break. Open the CSV in Notepad or TextEdit (not Excel, which rewrites the file), find that line, wrap the field in double quotes and double any quote inside it, save and try again.
• “Export passwords” is greyed out or missing. Chrome is managed by an organisation policy that disables export. Look for Managed by your organisation in the Chrome menu. Ask IT, or use a personal profile.
• Some usernames or names show odd characters. The file was opened and saved by a spreadsheet that changed the encoding. Re-export from the browser and import the untouched file; Chrome writes UTF-8, which Bitwarden expects.
• Fewer items imported than Chrome listed. Rows with an empty url are skipped. Add those few by hand, or compare the counts and search the CSV for blank second columns.
• Autofill still comes from Chrome. Chrome’s own autofill is still on. Follow step 2 of the clean-up section, then restart the browser.

If you are also moving out of another password manager, the LastPass and 1Password guides follow the same import path. For why moving out of the browser is worth doing, see Bitwarden vs Google Password Manager.

Frequently asked questions

Can I import Chrome passwords into Bitwarden directly without a CSV?

No. Chrome has no API that lets another app read its password store, so the CSV export is the only route. Export, import into Bitwarden, then delete the file and empty the Recycle Bin or Trash in the same sitting.

Does the Chrome CSV import work for Microsoft Edge, Brave and Opera?

Yes. Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi are all built on Chromium and write the same five columns (name, url, username, password, note). Choose Chrome (csv) in the Bitwarden importer for all of them, or the Edge entry if one is listed; the result is identical.

Why is Export passwords greyed out in Chrome?

A work or school policy is blocking it. Chrome shows a briefcase icon and the text Managed by your organisation when this applies. Ask the IT administrator, or export from a personal Chrome profile or from passwords.google.com if your passwords are synced to a personal Google account.

Will my passkeys move from Chrome to Bitwarden?

No. Passkeys are not included in the CSV export and cannot be copied between password managers. After the import, sign in to each site that uses a passkey and register a new one in Bitwarden, then delete the Chrome passkey if you no longer need it.

Should I delete my passwords from Chrome after importing them?

Yes, once you have confirmed a few logins work from Bitwarden. Keeping two stores means one goes stale. Go to chrome://password-manager/settings and choose Delete all data, and turn off Offer to save passwords so Chrome stops asking.