14 DAY TRIAL // The sync features in Google Chrome are a great feature for anyone using more than one browser. The ability to take your preferences, bookmarks, passwords and so on with you makes it a lot easier to switch devices or browsers and continue to work.
One of the most interesting sync features, tab sync, is still missing in action, but it's making a first appearance in the latest Chromium builds.
Both session sync and typed URLs sync are in the works and the UI components have already been introduced. However, not only are the features not enabled by default, they don't seem to be working properly even when using the required flags.
Session and typed URLs sync are not available in the about:flags section, like most experimental, though complete, new features. Instead, you have to run Chromium with the "--enable-sync-typed-urls" and "--enable-sync-sessions" command line flags.
Note that the sync features don't seem to work, so don't use the flags unless you're really curios to see what they looks like or want to poke around Chrome sync. The best case scenario is that sync will fail and you will get an error message, but just as often the settings page freezes altogether bringing your computer to a crawl.
If you really want to enable the features, you will notice two new entries to the sync options, Typed URLs and Foreign Session. They are not selected by default and are not selected even if you choose the "sync all" option.
The flags work in Google Chrome as well, at least the dev channel version, to the degree to which they work in Chromium, meaning that the UI options will show up. Trying to sync though will results in errors or it may log you out.
Clearly, the Chrome team is working on this feature internally. It's not exactly a secret either, Google has said that tab sync is coming. However, it's unclear how far along the work is so an estimate on when tab sync will become a reality for Chrome users is hard to make. Still, the Chrome team moves fast so it may be sooner than you think. [via Chromestory]