In What Folder Are Google Chrome Bookmarks Stored?

Google Chrome is a popular web browser that enables you to customize many features as well as install useful extensions. However, it is not user intuitive when it comes to finding your bookmark files. Sometimes you will need to find these bookmark files when you want to delete a corrupt file or you are looking to back up the bookmarks. If you are doing a reset of your operating system, you have to save the bookmarks, or else they will be lost. Perhaps you do not want to use Google Chrome anymore, but you still want your bookmarks to appear in your new browser.

Whatever your reason for needing the location of the bookmarks files, before you modify them or delete them, you must exit Google Chrome. Otherwise, Chrome may detect a change to the files and automatically restore them. Whether you have a Windows, Mac or Linux operating system, you can find your Google Chrome bookmark files just by following a few simple steps. Here is how to get started.

Locating your Bookmark Files in Windows

Google Chrome stores the bookmark and bookmark backup file in a long path into the Windows file system. The location of the file is in your user directory in the path "AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default." If you want to modify or delete the bookmarks file for some reason, you should exit Google Chrome first. Then you can modify or delete both the "Bookmarks" and "Bookmarks.bak" files. These are found easily using the Windows Explorer on Windows 8 or the Explorer on Windows 7.

Locating in Mac OS

Google Chrome stores the bookmark and backup bookmark file in the path "/Users/<your username>/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default." This directory is easiest to find with the Terminal program using the command-line interface. The Library directory is a hidden directory by default and you need to use a command-line script to show hidden folders in Finder. If you enable hidden folders in Finder, you can follow the directory path to modify, delete or back up your Chrome bookmarks files.

$ open /Users/<Your UserName>/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome

Locating in Linux

Google Chrome stores bookmark files in the path "/home/<your username>/.config/google-chrome/Default/" or in "/home/<your username>/.config/chromium/Default/" depending on which versions of Linux and Chrome you are using. It is best to get at these files from the command line because the "." character in front of "config" in the path indicates that ".config" is a hidden directory. It may not appear in some graphical file viewers. Once you get to these files you can modify, delete or copy them for back up.

$ cd ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/ or $ cd ~/.config/chromium/Default/

Exporting Chrome Bookmarks

If you are looking for the Google Chrome bookmark file so you can back up your bookmarks, you can do so quickly from the Chrome bookmarks menu by exporting them to an HTML file. Then, copy that exported file to your backup location. You can also use this HTML file to import into another computer's Chrome bookmark file. That way, you will keep your bookmarks synchronized.

To export your Google Chrome bookmarks, go to "Bookmarks" on your Chrome browser. Under the "Bookmarks Bar" option will be a tab that says "Organize." Click that, and scroll down to "Export Bookmarks to HTML File." You can save your current bookmarks in a folder of your choice.

Paste in location bar: chrome://bookmarks/