Linux: How to export Google Chrome passwords to CSV file

Update: A simpler method is described in this stackoverflow.com post How can I export chrome passwords?

Having spent some time googling for a way to export Chrome passwords to an external file to my surprise I could not find a straightforward solution that would work irregardless of the version of Chrome/Chromium. Finally, this page provided a hint to a solution which worked for me.

Older versions of Chrome/Chromium for Linux stored unencrypted passwords in an SQLite database under:

# Google Chrome:
~/.config/google-chrome/Default/Login Data

# Chromium:
~/.config/chromium/Default/Login Data

In newer versions of Chrome this file is still present, but the passwords are not there anymore - they are stored using the encrypted password storage provided by the system, either Gnome Keyring or KWallet, which means that simply dumping the tables will not work. On OSX the Chrome passwords are in the system keychain, and can be viewed from System Keychain

The method below relies on forcing Chrome to use a temporary profile folder in combination with unencrypted password storage. This approach will not affect your current Chrome profile in any way.

So, to export your passwords to a human readable text file:

1. Connect to your Google Account in Chrome Settings so that your passwords are synched with the Google cloud storage. Make sure that you have ticked Passwords in Advanced Sync Settings.
2. Wait for a while until the data is synched, and then close all the Chrome windows.
3. Start Chrome using one of the two command lines below. Google Chrome has a green-red-yellow icon , while the Chromium icon is in shades of blue .

   # Google Chrome
   google-chrome --user-data-dir=/tmp/chrome-tmp --password-store=basic
   
   # Chromium
   chromium --user-data-dir=/tmp/chrome-tmp --password-store=basic
   

   This will launch Chrome with a custom profile folder without affecting your current profile.
4. Setup Google Synching for the new temporary profile and wait until everything is synced from the cloud, i.e. your bookmarks appear, extensions show up, the theme is applied, etc. Verify that the passwords are restored from the Google cloud by looking under Settings → Personal Stuff → Manage Saved Passwords. If they do not appear, then wait a couple of minutes more. Note: the fastest way to get to the stored passwords page in settings is to type password in the Search box in the top right.
5. Exit Chrome.
6. Next, open a terminal and change to the newly created Chrome profile

   cd /tmp/chrome-tmp/Default
   

7. Now, open the Login Data SQLite database using the sqlite3 command line utility and dump the logins table. For this to work, you need to have sqlite3 installed on your system.

   sqlite3 'Login Data'
   

8. Next, at the SQLite prompt enter the commands below. For help on available commands type .help at the prompt.
   

   .mode csv  # other options are `html', `tabs', etc.
   .headers on
   .separator ","
   .output chrome_passwords.csv
   select * from logins;
   .exit
   

Now you should have a file named chrome_passwords.csv containing all your Chrome passwords. To open it with LibreOffice, type:

libreoffice --calc chrome_passwords.csv