How to export your Safari bookmarks (Mac, iPhone and iPad)

Updated 18 October 2026

On a Mac, open Safari, choose File > Export Browsing Data to File, tick Bookmarks and click Download. Safari saves a .zip file with Bookmarks.html inside, which other browsers can import. On an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Apps > Safari and tap Export below History and Website Data.

Export on a Mac (Safari 18 or later)

1. Open Safari and choose File > Export Browsing Data to File.
2. Select what to export. Bookmarks covers your bookmarks, their folders and the Reading List; history, extensions, credit cards and passwords are optional.
3. If you use Safari profiles, pick one or choose All Profiles. For bookmarks it makes no difference: Apple says bookmarks, credit cards and passwords are the same in every profile, and only history and extensions differ.
4. Click Download, enter a name, choose a folder and click Save.
5. Double-click the .zip in Finder. The unzipped folder appears in the same place, with Bookmarks.html inside.

Exporting changes nothing in Safari, and it works with or without iCloud.

What’s in the zip

These are the US English names from Apple’s developer documentation. The names are localized, so they differ on a Mac set to another language, and with several profiles the history and extensions files end with the profile name. Bookmarks.html uses the standard bookmarks file format that Chrome, Firefox and Edge import.

Safari 17 and earlier

Older versions have no combined export. Choose File > Export > Bookmarks, and Safari saves a single file called Safari Bookmarks.html. Passwords have their own command: File > Export > Passwords, click Export Passwords, save the CSV file and enter your Mac login password.

On iPhone or iPad

From iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2, Safari exports on the device itself:

1. Open the Settings app, tap Apps, then tap Safari.
2. Below History and Website Data, tap Export.
3. Select Bookmarks and anything else you want. If you use profiles, pick one or All Profiles.
4. Tap Save to Downloads, then Done.

The zip goes to your Downloads folder. To look inside, open the Files app and tap the zip: it unpacks into a folder with the same files a Mac export has. Copy the zip to the computer where your other browser lives and import it there.

Without iCloud

The Export button needs no iCloud account, no Mac and no sync. Only an iPhone or iPad on a version older than 18.2 lacks it. There, update the software, or take the iCloud route: turn on Safari under Settings > your name > iCloud > See All (or Show All) on the phone and in iCloud settings on a Mac, then export from the Mac once the bookmarks have arrived.

Export with passwords

Tick Passwords during the export and the zip gains Passwords.csv. Apple warns that exported data isn’t encrypted and anyone who can open the file can read it, so import it into the other browser and then delete the file. For passwords alone, the Passwords app on a Mac has File > Export All Passwords to File. Apple lists what that can’t export: Wi-Fi passwords, passwords shared in a group you didn’t create, and Sign in with Apple accounts.

The Reading List

Safari has no separate Reading List export. Apple’s developer documentation says the Reading List is a sub-folder of Bookmarks.html with the identifier com.apple.ReadingList, so it comes along every time you export bookmarks. Chrome, for one, imports it as a folder of ordinary bookmarks. To see the list on its own, open Bookmarks.html in our bookmarks viewer, or turn it into a spreadsheet with bookmarks to CSV and filter the folder column.

What to do with the file

• Move to another browser: Safari to Chrome and Safari to Firefox walk through the import. If you’re heading to Chrome or Brave, Stackboard can then copy the bookmarks bar, imported folder included, onto the new tab page as a space with one stack per folder.
• Keep it as a backup: store the zip somewhere other than the Mac. An old export is the simplest way back after a mistake, as recovering deleted Safari bookmarks shows.
• Tidy it first: our duplicate bookmark finder and bookmark sorter read Safari’s file in your browser and give you a cleaned copy to import.

If the export doesn’t work

• No Export Browsing Data to File in the menu: you have Safari 17 or earlier. Use File > Export > Bookmarks.
• No Export button on the iPhone: it runs a version older than iOS 18.2. Update it, or use the iCloud route above.
• The other browser won’t take the file: Chrome and Firefox import the HTML file, so unzip first and choose Bookmarks.html.
• The zip won’t open: Apple’s first check is free space on the Mac for the unzipped files.