Most designers have five or more years of saved taste sitting in a bookmarks bar they never open. Some of it is gone: redesigned, redirected, shut down. A surprising amount is still there and still good. Getting it into a real reference library is a one-hour job that pays back for years.
Step 1: export the file
Every browser exports bookmarks as a single HTML file.
- Chrome and Edge: Bookmark Manager, three-dot menu at the top right, Export bookmarks.
- Safari: File menu, Export, Bookmarks.
- Firefox: Library window, Import and Backup, Export Bookmarks to HTML.
- Arc: Settings, Import and Export, Export bookmarks.
If you use more than one browser, export from each. Duplicates are easier to remove after import than before.
Step 2: decide what is a reference
Open the exported file in a browser and skim the folder names. Keep folders like Inspo, Design, Landing pages, UI, Type, Colour. Skip Tools, Docs, Work admin, Recipes. You can delete folders from the HTML file in any text editor, or simply import everything and remove the noise afterwards. Importing only the design folders is cleaner.
Step 3: import into your library
Import support varies. GetRef has a bulk importer for browser bookmark files and Figma exports: it reads the file, unfurls every link to fetch its title and preview image, tags each one from its content, and flags links that no longer resolve. Raindrop imports bookmark HTML well too. Eagle takes a folder of files rather than links, so bookmarks need to become screenshots first.
Whichever tool you use, let the import finish before you touch anything. Unfurling a few hundred links takes a few minutes.
Step 4: triage the dead ones
A link that returns an error is still information. You saved it once, and the title tells you why. Three options:
- Delete it. If the title tells you nothing, let it go.
- Keep the title as a note. "Stripe pricing page 2021" is worth keeping even without the image.
- Find the archive. The Wayback Machine has most well-known sites. Screenshot the archived version and save that instead.
Step 5: add what the bookmark never had
A bookmark is a link. A reference is a link plus the screenshot plus the reason. For the fifty or so imported links you actually care about, open each, take a full-page screenshot, and write the one-line reason you kept it. Leave the rest as they are. Not every import deserves the same effort.
Afterwards: stop using the bookmarks bar for references
The bar is for tools you open daily. References go to the library, with the extension or a paste, in one click. If you keep doing both you will be importing again next year. Why bookmarks are not a reference library covers the longer argument.
Common questions
- How do I export my Chrome bookmarks?
- Open the Bookmark Manager, click the three-dot menu in the top right and choose Export bookmarks. Chrome saves an HTML file that every reference manager and browser can import.
- What happens to bookmarks whose pages no longer exist?
- A good importer unfurls each link, so pages that still exist get a title and preview image, and dead ones are flagged. Decide then whether to delete them or keep the title as a record of what you once saved.
- Should I import everything or only design bookmarks?
- Import the folders that are references and skip tooling, documentation and personal links. A bookmarks file is folder by folder, so this is easy to control before you import.
