How to export browser bookmarks and import them into Barside

Years of bookmarks pile up in a browser, far from the work they belong to. Every browser can export its bookmarks as one HTML file, and Barside imports that file into a note: every link, grouped by your folders, ready to move next to the projects they belong to. This guide shows the export in each browser and the import in Barside.

Before you start

Barside is a free desktop app for Windows, Linux and Mac, and you can get it on the download page. Its bookmark manager for your projects keeps links in a bar on each note and workspace, beside the notes they belong to, instead of in a browser menu. Articles you want to read go to the Reading inbox instead.

Exporting does not change your browser: its bookmarks stay where they are, so you can try Barside first and decide later what to keep where.

Step 1: Export bookmarks from your browser

Google Chrome (Google's help page):

1. At the top right, select More → Bookmarks and lists → Bookmark Manager.
2. At the top, select More → Export Bookmarks.
3. Save the file. Chrome exports your bookmarks as an HTML file.

Microsoft Edge (Microsoft's Edge learning center):

1. Open the Settings and more menu (…) in the upper-right corner.
2. Choose Favorites.
3. Open the More options menu (…) above the list of favorites.
4. Choose Export favorites, then Save.

Firefox: open the Bookmarks menu → Manage Bookmarks. In the Library window, choose Import and Backup → Export Bookmarks to HTML… (Firefox's Backup… item makes a different file that Barside does not read.)

Brave (Brave's help center):

1. Main menu → Bookmarks → Bookmarks Manager.
2. Open the More options menu at the top right.
3. Choose Export.

Safari on a Mac: File > Export Browsing Data to File, select Bookmarks, then Download; Safari saves a ZIP. In older Safari versions, File > Export > Bookmarks saves Safari Bookmarks.html.

Step 2: Import into Barside

1. Open Settings & backups → Notes from other apps → Import next to Import notes, or type import in the search bar.
2. Find Browser bookmarks and choose Choose .html file.
3. Pick the exported file.
4. Barside shows Ready to import with the number of bookmarks.
5. Choose the workspace under Import into, then Import.

Barside makes one note named after the browser, such as Bookmarks from Chrome, with every link in the note's bookmark bar, grouped by folder.

What comes along

Make your bookmarks useful

A long list of old bookmarks is rarely used. A few minutes of sorting helps:

1. Open the imported note and skim the folders.
2. Delete dead and forgotten links. Most libraries shrink by half.
3. Move project links to the notes and workspaces they belong to, so they are there when you work on the project.
4. Send articles to Reading. Links you meant to read belong in the Reading inbox, where Barside keeps readable copies.
5. Save pages that matter fully. Save web pages keeps a page with its layout and images, in case the site changes or disappears.

Bookmarks in Barside, day to day

Every workspace and every note in Barside has its own bookmark bar. Open a project, and its links are there; finish it, and they stop crowding everything else. Save browser tab adds the page you are looking at in one click, with no browser extension, and you can note which account you use on each site, such as your work or personal login. The bookmark manager guide covers both kinds of bars, saving tabs on Windows and Linux, and search.

If something looks wrong

• Barside does not recognize the file. Pick the HTML export, not Firefox's JSON backup or a Safari ZIP's other files.
• The groups look different from your browser. They follow the folders written in the exported file, which can put everything under one top folder, such as the bookmarks bar.

Bringing your passwords too? See export Chrome passwords. Moving from a bookmark app? See the Raindrop.io guide.