How to Backup Google Chrome Bookmarks

Though the days of Internet Explorer are finally behind us, a lot of users have different tastes in web browsers. Personally, I use both Google Chrome and Firefox, and just about anyone who uses a Google Chromebook is going to use the Chrome browser.

Like Firefox, it’s loaded with tons of free plugins and extensions to supercharge your web browsing experience. But it’s not perfect. Anyone who has ever had their computer die on them knows firsthand how painful it can be losing all of your bookmarks. There’s simply so much data on the Internet that we can’t hope to remember each and every site, and starting from scratch is a painful ordeal. The good new is that you can easily backup your Google Chrome bookmarks, which is good for two reasons.

Firstly, you’ll never have to start over from square one again, even if your hard drive fails or the file system becomes corrupted. Anyone using a Windows operating system should take extra care backing up their bookmarks, because Windows is notorious for crashing. Secondly, it allows you to easily export your bookmarks from one computer to another device, thereby saving you an immense amount of time and hassle.

Exporting Google Chrome Bookmarks

ChromeBookmark2Things get a little more complicated when you’re trying to transfer bookmarks from one browser to a different browser, but Google Chrome makes the process relatively simple. Simply use the following steps:

  1. Open Google Chrome

  2. Click on the Google Chrome menu

  3. Navigate to “Bookmarks,” and “Bookmarks manager,” which can be opened with the ctrl+shift+O hotkey

  4. Select the “Export” option

  5. Finally, choose to export bookmarks to HTML, and then choose where you want to save your bookmarks HTML file

A Quick Note Regarding HTML Format

Though the process of exporting and importing bookmarks from web browsers varies among different browser types, note that the HTML format is the “universal format” that works between different browsers. For instance, if you want to export bookmarks from Firefox, IE, Safari, or another browser, make sure those bookmarks are in the HTML format before importing them into Google Chrome.

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Importing Bookmarks from Another Browser into Google Chrome

After you have exported bookmarks from a different browser, it’s painless to import them into Google Chrome. Just use the following steps:

  1. Open Google Chrome

  2. Click on the Google Chrome menu

  3. Navigate to “Bookmarks,” and “Import Bookmarks and Settings”

  4. Click on the file/browser that contains your bookmarks

  5. Click the “Import” button

  6. Click the “Done” button

Also, note that if you are importing bookmarks into an existing Chrome installation, your imported bookmarks will reside within a new folder aptly named “Imported From…”

Toolbar Caveats

Furthermore, you must take interface considerations into account. It’s quite possible that you used one of a multitude of toolbar extensions in the browser you exported your bookmarks from. If you don’t see the toolbar after importing bookmarks, relax, it’s not a big problem. You may have to install a fresh bookmarks toolbar in Chrome and manually reposition your folders and bookmark icons, but at the very least, all of your saved links will remain.

Protecting Bookmarks from Local Hardware Failures

If you’re an unfortunate soul who has recently experienced a failed hard drive, your bookmarks may be lost forever unless you have HDD recovery software. To safeguard yourself against lost bookmark data, it’s highly advisable to backup your bookmarks using cloud storage software. That way, not only will your data be protected against a failed drive, but you can also easily port and sync your bookmarks to an unlimited number of devices. The alternative is visiting and bookmarking each site individually, which, in my honest opinion, is a waste of time and a pain in the neck.

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