If you’re a Chrome user, you know that it’s important to have your bookmarks backed up and restored if something goes wrong. But what if something goes wrong and your bookmarks are not backupable? Here are some tips on how to back up and restore your Chrome bookmarks locally.
- Backup your bookmarks using Google Drive: When you first start Chrome, it creates a new folder called “Chrome.” In this new folder, you’ll find all of your bookmarks. To backup all of your bookmarks, open the Google Drive app and click on the three lines in the top left corner of the main screen. On the left side of the screen, click on “Backup my account.” You’ll be asked to choose which folders to backup. Choose “Chrome,” then click on “Backup my account.” The Google Drive app will create two files in your Chrome folder called “chrome-bookmark-backups” and “chrome-bookmark-restore.” The first file is for when you restore your bookmark from a backup made earlier; the second file is for when you create a new bookmark.
- Back up your extensions: If you use extensions that are not backed up by Google Drive, it’s important to back them up too. To do this, open chrome://extensions and select each extension that you want to backup. Then click on the blue arrow next to its name and select “Backup extension.” The extension will be asked for its password so that backups can be made automatically.
- Back up your browsing history: If you use Firefox or Opera as their default browsers, it’s important to back them up too! To do this, open Firefox or Opera and select “History” from the menu bar at the top of the screen (or press Ctrl+H). Then select “Backup history.” The history will be backed up in two files called “firefox-history” and
Whether you want to back up all your bookmarks regularly in case something happens or you want to transfer them to another browser, Chrome lets you export bookmarks locally. Here’s how to back up and restore your bookmarks.
How to Back Up Your Bookmarks
To back up bookmarks in Chrome, click the Chrome menu icon at the top-right corner of your browser window and then go to Bookmarks > Bookmark Manager.
You can also quickly open the Bookmark manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+O.
From the Bookmarks Manager, click the menu icon and then select “Export Bookmarks.”
Put your exported bookmarks in a safe place and then click “Save.”
Note: Google saves your bookmarks in HTML format. You can import them into another browser or view its contents by double-clicking the file and opening it.
How to Restore Your Bookmarks
Google Chrome has two ways to import your exported (and potentially deleted) bookmarks back into the browser. They both do essentially the same thing, so for this guide, we will use the “Import Bookmarks and Settings” tool.
Click the menu icon in the top-right corner of the browser, hover over “Bookmarks,” and then click on “Import Bookmarks and Settings.”
From the drop-down menu, choose “Bookmarks HTML File” and then click “Choose File.”
From the file explorer, navigate and select the HTML file you previously exported and then click “Open.”
If you want your bookmarks to be shown in the bookmark bar, make sure to toggle on “Show Bookmarks Bar.” Click “Done.”
That’s all there is to it. After you close the dialog, all your bookmarks will be in a folder on the Bookmarks Bar—or in Bookmarks Manager if the Bookmarks Bar is disabled—labeled “Imported.”
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