GEEK FREE
By Joe Callison
1 April, 2016
Most of us have bookmarked pages in a browser but often do not take the time to organize them into folders. We also may have accumulated a lot of bookmarks (Firefox, Chrome) or favorites (Internet Explorer) in one browser and wish to copy them to another browser on the same computer or to a browser on another computer. These are the topics on what will generally be referred to as bookmarks for simplicity, for all three of the mentioned browsers. The descriptions are based on Internet Explorer version 11, Firefox version 44, and Chrome version 49 which are all current as of this date.
Creating Bookmarks and Displaying the Bookmarks Bar
All three of the browsers mentioned use the “star” icon for bookmarks. Firefox and Chrome will immediately bookmark the current page if you click on the star, but Internet Explorer will just open a menu where you can click “Add to favorites”, unless you click on the star with the green arrow on the left end of the favorites bar instead, where it will immediately add it to the bar.
If the favorites bar has not been turned on in Internet Explorer, click on Tools, go down the menu to Toolbars, and then click “Favorites bar”.
The bookmarks bar can be turned on in Firefox by right-clicking on the star to get a menu and clicking “Bookmarks Toolbar”.
The bookmarks bar can be turned on in Chrome by clicking the menu icon (three horizontal lines, sometimes called the hamburger) and going down the menu to Bookmarks, and then clicking on “Show bookmarks bar”.
Organizing Bookmarks
Bookmarks can be organized in Internet Explorer by clicking on the star to get the menu, then clicking on the drop-down arrow next to “Add to favorites” and clicking on “Organize favorites”. This will open a window where you can create new folders or after selecting bookmarks you can move, rename or delete them.
In Firefox, click on the “Show your bookmarks” icon next to the star, or use the shortcut keys Ctrl+Shift+B. You can drag and drop bookmarks from one location to another or use the drop-down menu at the top called Organize to access various actions.
In Chrome, click on the menu icon, go down to Bookmarks, and then click on “Bookmark Manager”. Like Firefox you can drag and drop bookmarks from one location to another or after selecting a bookmark use the drop-down menu at the top called Organize to access various actions.
Importing and Exporting Bookmarks
Bookmarks can easily be copied from one browser to another on the same computer.
To copy bookmarks from another browser to Internet Explorer, click on the star to get the menu, then click on the drop-down arrow next to “Add to favorites” and click on “Import and export”. With “Import from another browser” selected, click Next. Select a browser to import bookmarks from and click Import. Click Finish when it has completed. If you want to export bookmarks to a file instead, either for backup purposes or to copy them to a flash drive so you can import them into a browser on another computer, the steps are similar to the above except you select “Export to a file” instead of “Import from another browser”. Select the items to export and then click Next. Select the folder you want to export, for all of them choose Favorites. The default file location and name can be used or you can change it and Save before clicking on Export. Click Finish when it has completed.
In Firefox, click on the “Show your bookmarks” icon next to the star, or use the shortcut keys Ctrl+Shift+B. Click on “Import and Backup” to open a menu and click on “Import Data from Another Browser”. Select the browser to import from and click Next. Select which items to import and click Next. Click Finish when it has completed. If you want to export bookmarks to a file instead, either for backup purposes or to copy them to a flash drive so you can import them into a browser on another computer, the steps are similar to the above except you select “Export bookmarks to HTML” instead of “Import Data from Another Browser”. The default file location and name can be used or you can change it and click Save.
In Chrome, click on the menu icon, go down to Bookmarks, and then click on “Import bookmarks and settings”. Select the browser to import bookmarks and settings from, select items to import, and then click Import. Click Done when it has completed. If you want to export bookmarks to a file instead, either for backup purposes or to copy them to a flash drive so you can import them into a browser on another computer, click on the menu icon, go down to Bookmarks, and then click on “Bookmark manager”. Click on the drop-down menu called Organize and then click “Export bookmarks to HTML file”. The default file location and name can be used or you can change it and click Save.
The process of importing bookmarks from a file is the same as for exporting bookmarks to a file except for choosing import instead of export.
