RP Staff·

4 Ways To Recover Bookmarks In Chrome (Deleted Or Lost Bookmarks)

Bookmark in Chrome is a handy shortcut to a web page that we’d like to come back frequently. Many people bookmark dozens of, even hundreds of web pages in their Chrome. If you’ve deleted all your bookmarks, or lost them due to Chrome glitches and unknown reasons, you would be desperately wanting to recover the bookmarks.

Nothing to worry, we can easily restore deleted or lost bookmarks in Chrome, on both Windows and Mac. There are 4 simple ways to do it, you just need to follow what we’ve explained as below.

Basics: What is the Format for Chrome Bookmarks File?

At the beginning, we should know what is the format for a Chrome bookmark file, so that we can locate the file accurately and recover as needed.

The native format of a Chrome bookmark file is JSON, its hierarchical structure corresponds with the bookmarks folder structure in your Chrome. By default, it is saved in Google Chrome User Data folder.

Also, Chrome will create a backup for your bookmarks in the format of BAK, that’s why there is always a Bookmarks.bak file showing together with the original bookmark file in the user data folder.

Chrome allows users to export the bookmarks in HTML format as well. If you lost all the bookmarks, you can import such a HTML file for recovery.

First, Undo Delete

It is frustrating to delete Chrome bookmarks by mistake, especially those important bookmarks that contain unique information or tools for your work. But if you take action quickly, it is possible to get them back.

The easiest way to restore deleted bookmarks in Chrome is using Undo Delete immediately after the accidental deletion. After deleting a bookmark in Chrome, Undo pop-up will be brought up for approx. 5 seconds, click on Undo to get the deleted bookmark back.

Although useful, Undo Delete only works when you hit the Undo button right after the deletion, within 5 seconds. If you don’t hit the Undo button within 5 seconds, the choice is gone, and if you close Chrome right after the deletion, you won’t be allowed to undo delete anymore.

2nd, Use Cisdem Data Recovery

Undo Delete fails? Or want to restore the bookmarks quickly and easily? You should look at 3rd party recovery tools, especially when you don’t have a backup of the lost bookmarks. Many experts and users recommended Cisdem Data Recovery, with a bit of money, you will be able to restore deleted files, including Chrome bookmarks on your computer.

Cisdem Data Recovery is a reliable program to scan a disk/device and retrieve data from it, it has both Windows and macOS version. It can recover photos, videos, songs, documents, emails, archives, bookmarks, and more than 1000+ file types, from both internal drive in your computer and external storage devices.

This tool also has its own set of tools for efficient and accurate file recovery. For example, you can recover unsaved documents; you can choose a specific recovery mode if you want to recover files from SD card, crashed PC, NAS or Linux; you can search and filter files; you can preview files…

Cisdem can recover all Chrome bookmarks in JASON, BAK or HTML format. Not only recovers bookmarks in Chrome, Cisdem also restores bookmarks in Safari or Firefox.

With 3 steps, a lost Chrome bookmark can be easily retrieved.

  1. Download and install Cisdem Data Recovery on your computer.
  2. Select the internal drive that you deleted the bookmarks from, click Search for Lost Data.

  1. Go to Type > Document, type “bookmark” in the search box to find the deleted or lost Bookmarks in JASON, BAK or HTML format.

  1. Then select the bookmarks files and click Recover.

  1. Copy the recovered bookmarks file to Chrome defaulted folder:

For Windows: C:\Users\(YourUserName)\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default.

For Mac:Users > (YourUserName) > Library > Application Support > Google > Chrome > Default.

If the bookmarks file has .bak file extension, you should delete the file extension and make it be “Bookmarks”.

  1. Reopen Google Chrome, the bookmarks will show up again.

Tips: if you recovered a bookmark backup file in HTML format, you need to import this recovered file to your Bookmark manager, instead of directly copying the file to above location.

3rd, Recover from Backup

Google Chrome will create a backup for your bookmarks, in the format of BAK. Even though you’ve deleted the bookmarks from Chrome, this BAK still keeps records of all your bookmarks. As long as you can find such a file on your computer, you will be able to restore a deleted or lost Chrome bookmark.

According to method 2, you should have known the defaulted location of the bookmark backup file, all that you need to do is deleting the .bak file extension from this file.

  1. Go to the auto save location of Chrome bookmarks backup:

For Windows: C:\Users\(YourUserName)\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default.

For Mac:Users > (YourUserName) > Library > Application Support > Google > Chrome > Default.

  1. Find the Bookmarks.bak file and delete .bak extension.

  1. Reopen Chrome to see if the bookmarks are back.

Tips: if you cannot find the bookmarks backup file in above location, use the shortcut to search files on your computer: Ctrl + F for PC, Command + F for Mac.

4th, Import from Safari or Firefox

Browsing web pages is definitely a part of our daily life, we may pick different web browsers for work, game or entertainment accordingly, because browsers vary on performance, efficiency and privacy. Therefore, it is much likely that we will use at least 2 or more web browsers on our computer, among them, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox are the most popular.

Google Chrome also allows users to import bookmarks from Safari or Firefox bookmarks. If you share the same or similar bookmarks across these web browsers, you can restore deleted or disappeared Chrome bookmarks as follows.

  1. Open Google Chrome.
  2. Click on the 3-dot icon, go to Bookmarks and lists > Import Bookmarks and Settings…

  1. Choose Safari or Firefox, click Import.

  1. Once the bookmarks are imported, click Done. The bookmarks will show up in the bookmarks toolbar.

Final Thoughts

Additionally, you can recover deleted Chrome bookmarks via history, sync from a mobile device that using the same Google account, even checking out the recycle bin. But if you want simple yet efficient solutions, these 4 ways introduced in the guide can help you retrieve the file with higher chances.

And to prevent losing Chrome bookmarks, you should export the bookmarks and save in a safe place, also, never delete the backup (Bookmarks.bak) file in Chrome defaulted location.

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