Saving Your Internet Browser Bookmarks

Anyone that knows me is aware of how I feel about backing up your content. Even if you have a backup solution where you work, I feel that the user should know how AND put into practice the task of backing up your important content. I have already posted a blog about backing up your data, so this blog is going to be a little different and about a specific content area.

Your Internet bookmarks. You use them everyday, depend on them and have acquired a lot of them during your normal work activity. But, what would happen if your bookmarks suddenly disappeared? 

Although most browsers have a sync function save your bookmarks to your online account, there is nothing like have a real backup.

We will look at the three most popular browsers and what you have to do to backup your bookmarks.

Google Chrome 
Google Chrome is undoubtedly the easiest browser to use. It has become my favorite browser. Plus, it easily integrates the Google Apps into the UI. So, to backup your bookmarks in Google Chrome, follow these steps:

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. In the upper-right portion of your window, you will see the "Custom and Control" icon. Click on this icon.
3. A dropdown menu will appear. Cursor down to "Bookmarks", then select "Bookmark Manager".
   
4. The "Bookmark Manager" tab should open. It will look like this: 
   
5. In this tab, you should click on "Organize" and then click on "Export bookmarks to an HTML file". 
   
6. At this point the "Save As" window will pop up prompting you to check the name and location that the HTML file will be saved to. By default, the file will be given a name. The default name will be "bookmarks_07_24_2014.html". I suggest you leave the default name. I would create a folder in your "My Documents" folder called "chrome_bookmarks" and save the file inside that folder.
   
7. Once you click on the "Save" button, your work is done. Your bookmarks are saved on your computer. 

Of course, once the file is saved to your computer, you can copy them to a thumb drive, DropBox, Google Drive or to a network share. Either way, you now have a current backup of your Google Chrome bookmarks. 

Now if you ever need to restore your bookmarks, you simply follow this procedure except you select "Import bookmarks from HTML file". You will be prompted for a file. You select your saved file and it will be uploaded into Google Chrome. That's all there is to it!

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox is a great browser. It is my second favorite, and I use it often. The only caveat with Firefox (as well as other browsers) is that, by default, the Menu bar doesn't show up. In order to see the menu bar, you have to right-click above the tabs and select "Menu Bar". After doing this, the menu bar will appear above the tabs.

 

Follow these steps to save your bookmarks in Firefox:

1. Click on the "Bookmarks" menu option on the Menu bar.
2. Next, select and click "Show All Bookmarks". 
   
3. The Bookmarks/Libraries window will pop up (This is a separate window). 
   
4. At this point, you have probably got the next steps figured out. Especially after going through the Google Chrome steps.
5. You simply click on the Import and Backup menu choice and select "Export Bookmarks to HTML". 
6. Here is a point where it is slightly different from Chrome. Firefox will simply name the file "bookmarks.html" by default. I suggest renaming the file "ff_bookmarks-11-25-2014.html"(change the date to the actual date). I would also suggest you create a "ff_bookmarks" folder inside your "My Documents" folder just so you can easily find them in case you need them.
7. When the save as window comes up, simply give the file a proper name and click on the "Save" button.

The Firefox routine is very similar to Google Chrome. A few things I want to point out with Firefox. You have several additional options when saving bookmarks. The first two options are Backup and Restore. Those create backup copies of your settings. It is fine to create this backup (it save the data to a json file). But I would recommend you also backup your bookmarks to a regular HTML file. HTML can be edited with a plain text editor, and it can be opened and viewed with any web browser. You also have the option to import bookmarks from another browser. This is a good option if you have bookmarks in another browser and want them in Firefox. A word of caution, before you import bookmarks like this, make a backup of your current ones.

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is my least favorite browser. I know that is not relevant to this blog, I just take every opportunity to point that out. Sometimes you have to use IE and I understand.  

Actually I am not going into a lot of detail for IE. It is basically the same as the other two browsers. I will point out the general steps.

1. As with Firefox, you have to turn on the Menu bar in Internet Explorer. You simply right-click above the tabs and select the Menu Bar option.
2. Once you have a menu, click on "File" in the menu bar. Near the bottom of the File Menu, you will see the "Import and Export" menu option. 
3. When you click on the "Import and export" menu option, a "Import/Export Settings" window will pop up. This is an interactive window that will guide you through the process.
4. You will select the function you want (Export to a file) and then hit the next button. You also have an option to export your cookies and feeds. We will just focus on bookmarks.
5. In the next window, select the "Favorites" check box and click next.
6. In the next window, you can select specific folder or all of your bookmarks. We will select all of our bookmarks. Make sure the "Favorites" folder is selected and click Export.
7. By default, IE will save your bookmarks to: C:\Users\yourusername\Documents\bookmark.htm (which is your "My Documents" folder). The first time you do this you might not have an option on where to save the file and what to name it. Subsequent times will allow you to change the location and name of the file. 

Saving your bookmarks in Internet Explorer is not difficult. It does have more steps and doesn't give you as many options as I would like but it does get the job done.

OK, now you have the information you need to make a backup of your bookmarks. Yeah, I know I didn't use as many pics for Firefox as I did with Chrome. And I didn't use any for Internet Explorer. But really folks, it is soooooooo easy you really don't need images. I tried to go through each step and make it simple. 

Now that we have gone over all three browsers, you have no excuse. Get in the habit of saving your bookmarks at least every month! So, what are you waiting for, go backup your bookmarks!