How to export your bookmarks from Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge

Every major browser can export its bookmarks as a single HTML file. They all use the same ancient format, the Netscape bookmark file, which has outlived the browser it was named after, so a file exported from Firefox imports cleanly into Chrome, and vice versa. That file is also what you upload to Bookmarks Pal if you would rather not install the extension.

The instructions below are current as of 2026. Browser vendors move these menu items around more often than you would expect, so if a label does not match exactly, look for the word Export near the bookmark manager.

What you get

A file named something like bookmarks_28_09_2026.html. Opened in a text editor it is a nested list of links; opened in a browser it is a clickable page of every bookmark you have. It contains your folder structure, the title and address of each bookmark, and the date each one was added. It does not contain your passwords, history or open tabs.

It is worth keeping a copy somewhere safe before you start any cleanup. It is the cheapest possible backup, a few hundred kilobytes, and it means a bad decision is never permanent.

Google Chrome

Open a new tab and go to chrome://bookmarks. (Or use the menu: ⋮ → Bookmarks and lists → Bookmark manager.)
Click the ⋮ icon at the top right of the bookmark manager. This is a second menu, inside the page, not the browser's own menu.
Choose Export bookmarks.
Pick a location and save.

Keyboard shortcut to the bookmark manager: Ctrl + Shift + O on Windows and Linux, Cmd + Option + B on macOS.

Microsoft Edge

Edge calls bookmarks favourites, which is the only thing that makes this different from Chrome.

Go to edge://favorites, or press Ctrl + Shift + O.
Click the … menu in the favourites panel.
Choose Export favourites.

There is a second route if that menu has moved: Settings → Profiles → Import browser data, then look for Export to file under the "Export browser data" heading.

Brave, Vivaldi, Opera and other Chromium browsers

These are all built on Chromium, so they follow Chrome exactly, and only the URL scheme changes. Use brave://bookmarks, vivaldi://bookmarks or opera://bookmarks, then the in-page ⋮ menu → Export bookmarks.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox has two similar-sounding options and only one of them is the right one, so this is the easiest to get wrong.

Press Ctrl + Shift + O (Cmd + Shift + O on macOS) to open the Library window. Or use ☰ → Bookmarks → Manage bookmarks.
In the Library window's toolbar, click Import and Backup.
Choose Export Bookmarks to HTML…, not Backup….
Save the file.

Backup… produces a .json file in Firefox's own format. It is a perfectly good backup for restoring into Firefox, but it is not the HTML format other browsers and Bookmarks Pal read. If you end up with a .json file, go back and pick the HTML option instead.

Safari

Safari on macOS exports from the application menu bar rather than from a bookmark manager page.

With Safari focused, open File in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Choose Export → Bookmarks…. On some versions this is a single Export Bookmarks… item.
Save the file. Safari names it Safari Bookmarks.html by default.

Safari on iOS and iPadOS has no export function. Bookmarks sync through iCloud to Safari on a Mac, and you export from there. If you have no Mac, the practical route is to sync them into another browser that can export.

Re-importing a cleaned file

When you finish a review session in file mode, Bookmarks Pal gives you a new HTML file with your deletions removed and your moves applied. Importing it follows the same menus, one item away from Export:

Chrome, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera: bookmark manager → ⋮ → Import bookmarks
Edge: Settings → Profiles → Import browser data → Choose what to import → Favourites or bookmarks HTML file
Firefox: Library → Import and Backup → Import Bookmarks from HTML…
Safari: File → Import From → Bookmarks HTML File…

One thing to know: importing adds bookmarks, it does not replace what is there. Every browser drops the imported tree into a new folder, usually called "Imported" or "Imported From HTML". So after importing a cleaned file you will have both the old messy set and the new clean one, and you need to delete the old folders yourself.

That extra step is the main reason the browser extension is worth the two minutes it takes to install, because it edits your live bookmarks in place, so there is no export, no import, and no duplicate tree to clean up afterwards.

If the export file looks wrong

A few things that come up:

The file is tiny or nearly empty. You probably exported from a browser profile that is not the one with your bookmarks in it. Check which profile is active. Most browsers show the avatar at the top right.
Folders are missing. Bookmarks stored only in a browser's reading list or "saved tabs" feature are not bookmarks and are not included in an export. Those features have their own storage.
Nothing happened when you clicked Export. Some browsers save straight to your Downloads folder without opening a save dialog. Look there before trying again.
The file will not upload. Bookmarks Pal expects a .html or .htm file. If yours is a .json, you used Firefox's Backup option. Export again with the HTML option.