Do you have a Chrome Bookmarks folder on your hard drive? If so, then this post is for you. You will learn ten simple steps that will help back up and restore your Chrome bookmarks. This information could be essential if something were to happen to your computer or laptop, which could cause the loss of all of your data, including personal documents, images, emails, and more.
1. Click the Chrome Menu Icon to Back-up your Bookmarks
The first thing you will need to do is back-up your Chrome Bookmarks. To do this, click the three horizontal lines located in the upper right-hand corner of your computer screen (when using a Windows-based laptop), or at the top of your browser window (when using a Mac).
Once you have clicked on this icon, you will need to click on Bookmark manager. Once you have done this, you will see all of your bookmarks displayed in the browser window. This is when you will need to select which bookmarks that you want to back up. You can do this by selecting the checkboxes next to each bookmark title bar.
2. Wait for Your Bookmarks to Back-Up
Once you have selected which bookmark titles you want to back up, click the arrow next to “Bookmarks.” You will then need to wait until this information has been transferred from your browser’s cache memory and saved on your computer’s hard drive. This may take a few minutes, depending on how many bookmarks you have.
3. Review and Back-up Your Bookmarks (Optional)
After the bookmarks information has been back-ups, it will be visible in your browser window. Now, if you would like to review which bookmark titles were actually transferred over, then click on “Bookmark manager.” If any of these file names are missing, do not worry. This information will be transferred over to your external hard drive whenever you back it up.
4. Save Your Bookmarks to an External Hard Drive
Once you have ensured that all of the bookmark titles were adequately transferred from your computer’s memory, you can now save them onto an external hard drive or USB stick. You can do this by simply dragging and dropping all of the bookmark titles from your browser window over to your external hard drive icon. Now, whenever you want to restore your computer, just open up the bookmark files saved on the external hard drive and then drag them back into your browser window.
5. Restore Your Chrome Bookmarks from an External Hard Drive
You will now need to save the bookmarks on your computer’s hard drive after backing up your bookmarks to an external hard drive. This can be done by dragging them back into your browser window. Then choose which of the bookmark titles that you want to restore onto your computer’s hard drive. Now once you have done this, cancel importing all of the bookmarks. Then click the arrow next to “Bookmarks.” You will need to do this because if you were to import them back into your browser window, they would overwrite all of the other bookmark titles that were transferred over from the external hard drive. So you will need to cancel this action.
6. Drag and Drop All of Your Bookmark Titles into Your Browser Window
After you have chosen which bookmarks you want to transfer back to your computer’s hard drive, simply drag them over and drop them into your browser window. Now, this is when you will need to select all of the bookmark titles (use ctrl + a) and then click on “Bookmark manager.” This is when you will need to click on the arrow next to “Bookmarks.”
7. Click on Open Folder
Once you have selected all of the bookmark titles, you will need to click on the open folder. This is when you will need to save these bookmark files onto your computer’s hard drive. The place where you save these bookmark files will depend upon why you are backing them up. For example, if this is for personal use, then save the bookmark files onto your desktop.
If you are making a backup copy of your bookmarks, then you will need to save them on an external hard drive or USB stick (the place where your main bookmark file is located). You will need to do this because once you open up your bookmarks file, it will overwrite any bookmark titles transferred off of the external hard drive. So to avoid wasting time during future restorations, you should make separate backup copies of the bookmark files saved on the external hard drive.
8. Restore Your Bookmarks Using the “Bookmark Manager” Tool
If you are looking to restore your bookmarks, then this is when you will need to minimize or close all of your browser windows. You can do this by clicking on “File.” Then click on “Exit.” This is when you will need to open up the bookmark manager tool. You can do this by clicking on “Bookmark manager.” Now once you have done this, click on the arrow next to your bookmark file. Then select all of the bookmark titles that you want to restore to your browser window.
9. Click on ‘Merge’
Since you have selected all of the bookmark titles from your bookmark manager, you will need to click on “Merge.” This is when you will need to merge all of the restored bookmarks with the existing bookmarks in your browser window. You can do this by clicking on “File” and then selecting “Import and Backup.” Now once you have done this, you will need to click on “Restore.”
10. Click on ‘Yes’
Now that you have clicked on restore, just click on yes. This is when your restored bookmarks will be imported back into your browser window (it may take a few minutes). The reason why it may take so long is that there are so many bookmark titles, and they will need to be loaded onto your computer’s hard drive. This is when you will need to click on “Close.”
Conclusion
Bookmark managers are straightforward to use, and they can be used as a simple backup tool and a management tool. To stay on top of your bookmarks, all you have to do is highlight the ones you want to transfer back onto your computer’s hard drive. Then click on “File” and then choose “Export and Backup.” Now select “Bookmarks HTML” and click on “Export Bookmark File.” This is when you will need to save the bookmark file onto an external hard drive or USB stick so that you can use it as a future backup copy of your bookmarks.