Every mode asks the same question about the same queue: keep this, delete it, or file it somewhere better. The reason there are seven is not novelty. Bookmark cleanup fails because of attention, not difficulty. Around the eightieth bookmark the task stops being interesting and you close the tab. Changing the presentation mid-session is a cheap way to get another hundred done.
Switch modes from the row of buttons above the card. Your queue, position and progress are untouched by switching, so there is no cost to trying one for thirty seconds.
The four keys
These work in every mode that shows a single active bookmark, and they are the whole reason a session can be fast. Nothing needs to be clicked.
- K for Keep. Leaves the bookmark exactly where it is and moves on.
- D for Delete. Removes it, immediately in live mode or queued in staged mode.
- M for Move. Opens the folder picker. You can create a new folder from inside it.
- S for Share. Produces a shareable link to the bookmark.
The shortcuts deliberately stop working while a dialog is open or while you are typing in a text field, so naming a new folder "Kitchen" does not delete four bookmarks on the way through.
Once the keys are muscle memory, the realistic rate in Focus mode is two to three bookmarks a second for the obvious ones: the dead links, the expired sales, the duplicated documentation pages. The slow ones are the bookmarks you actually have to think about, and there are far fewer of those than the size of the pile suggests.
The seven modes
Focus
One bookmark, centred, with nothing else competing for attention.
The default. A single card shows the title, address and the folder the bookmark currently lives in, with your last three decisions listed above it so you can see the rhythm you are in. Keyboard-first: K keeps, D deletes, M moves, S shares.
Roulette
Three reels spin and stop on three candidates. Pick one.
Useful when you are stuck. Instead of facing the next bookmark in line, three random pending bookmarks land in front of you and you choose which one to deal with. Turning a queue back into a choice makes it much easier to restart.
Float
Up to ten cards drift slowly across the screen.
An ambient, low-pressure way to see what is left. Cards move at a walking pace; click whichever one catches your eye and it becomes the active bookmark.
Swipe
Drag right to keep, left to delete, up to move.
The familiar card-deck gesture, and the best mode on a phone or a trackpad. Flick right and it is kept, left and it is gone, up and the move dialog opens. Tap the title first if you want to preview the page before deciding.
Cascade
Bookmarks fall down the screen at a speed you choose.
Slow, Normal or Fast. Cards drop through an arena and you catch the ones you want to act on. The self-imposed time pressure is surprisingly good at breaking decision paralysis on a large backlog.
Blaster
An arcade lane where cards fly in from the right, five at a time.
The most game-like mode. Bookmarks drift in from the right edge in a staggered stream and you clear them before they cross the screen. Built for the last few hundred links you have been avoiding for years.
Mosaic
Nine bookmarks in a tiled grid. Scan, then pick.
The only mode that shows real breadth at once. A nine-cell grid of pending bookmarks; click any tile to act on it and the grid refills. Best for spotting duplicates and whole clusters you no longer need.
Which one to use
A rough progression that works for most people with a large backlog:
- Start in Mosaic. Nine at a time makes duplicates and whole dead clusters obvious: six links to the same framework's docs, four versions of one recipe. Clearing those first shrinks the queue fast and the early progress is motivating.
- Move to Focus for the bulk. Once the obvious duplicates are gone, one-at-a-time with keyboard shortcuts is by far the highest throughput.
- Switch to Cascade or Blaster when you flag. The time pressure is artificial but it works. It stops you re-reading the same bookmark for thirty seconds deciding whether 2019 you had a good reason.
- Use Roulette when you stall on something. If one bookmark has you stuck, three random alternatives break the deadlock, and you deal with something else and come back to it later.
- Use Swipe on your phone. Drag right to keep, left to delete, up to move. This is the mode that turns a bus journey into progress.
- Use Float when you do not want to work. Low commitment, ambient, still counts.
Two settings that affect every mode
In order, or random
The toggle above the progress bar switches between working through your bookmarks in tree order and drawing them at random. Random is usually better for morale: in tree order you spend the first twenty minutes inside one folder from 2014 and it feels endless. Random gives you variety and a more honest sense of what the whole collection looks like.
In order is better when you are deliberately cleaning one area, because you want every bookmark from that one folder in front of you, in sequence.
Staged, or live
Staged mode queues every decision and shows you the list at the end, before anything is applied to your browser. Live mode applies each one immediately. This is the single most important setting, and staged is the default for good reason. See the FAQ for what each one means for undoing a session.
Stopping
Sessions are meant to be abandoned. Progress is saved as you go, and with an account it syncs, so the queue is waiting where you left it on any device. Press End Session when you are done and you get a summary of what you kept, deleted and moved, plus in file mode the cleaned bookmarks file to download.
Ten bookmarks is a real dent. The reason bookmark bars reach four figures is that people wait for the free afternoon that never arrives.