How to import bookmarks into Chrome

Updated 18 October 2026

Click Chrome’s three-dot menu, choose Bookmarks and lists > Import bookmarks and settings, pick Bookmarks HTML File and choose your file. If your bookmarks bar already has bookmarks, the new ones arrive in a folder called Imported at the end of the bar.

Import an HTML bookmarks file

1. In the browser you’re leaving, export your bookmarks as an HTML file. Our guides cover Firefox, Edge, Safari and Brave.
2. In Chrome, click the three-dot menu at the top right and choose Bookmarks and lists > Import bookmarks and settings.
3. In the From list, choose Bookmarks HTML File.
4. Click Choose File, select the file and click Open. When Chrome says your bookmarks and settings are ready, click Done.

A shortcut: in the Bookmark Manager (Ctrl+Shift+O, or Cmd+Option+B on a Mac), the three-dot menu has Import bookmarks, which opens the file picker straight away.

Import straight from another browser

The same From list also shows the browsers Chrome can read directly when they’re on the computer: Firefox on Windows, Mac and Linux, Safari on a Mac, and Internet Explorer on Windows. Pick one, tick Favorites/Bookmarks (plus history, passwords, search engines or form data where offered) and click Import.

There are two catches. The Microsoft Edge entry, when it shows up at all, reads the old Windows 10 version of Edge, so for today’s Edge you export an HTML file first. And Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Arc never appear in the list, so export a file from those too.

Where your imported bookmarks go

• Empty bookmarks bar: they go straight onto the bar.
• Bar already in use: Chrome adds a folder at the end of the bookmarks bar called Imported (or Imported From Firefox, Imported From Safari and so on for a browser import). If a folder with that name is already there, the next one is Imported (1).
• Can’t see it: on a full bar the new folder hides under the » button at the right end. In the Bookmark Manager, look at the end of Bookmarks bar, then in Other bookmarks, which is where Google’s help page says to look.
• Signed in: when Chrome saves your bookmarks to your Google Account, imported ones go there too and sync to your other devices.

Chrome doesn’t check for duplicates. Import the same file twice, or import bookmarks you already sync, and you’ll have two of each; finding duplicate bookmarks covers the clean-up. Entries whose address isn’t a valid URL are skipped.

Import a Chrome Bookmarks (JSON) file

Chrome’s importer reads HTML bookmark files only, so Chrome’s own Bookmarks file (the JSON file in each profile folder) won’t import as it is. Convert it with our free Chrome bookmarks JSON to HTML tool, then import the HTML file with the steps above. The same route brings back an old Bookmarks.bak backup without touching your current bookmarks, as recovering deleted bookmarks explains.

Turn other lists into bookmarks

Our free converters turn lists that aren’t bookmark files into an HTML file you import as above: OneTab to bookmarks for a OneTab export, URLs to bookmarks for a plain list of links. Once they’re in Chrome, Stackboard can copy your bookmarks bar, the Imported folder included, into a space on your new tab page with one stack per folder, and it leaves the originals where they are.

If the import doesn’t work

• Nothing happens on a work computer: administrators can stop bookmark changes with EditBookmarksEnabled or block the file window with AllowFileSelectionDialogs. chrome://policy shows what’s set.
• The file won’t import: make sure it’s an HTML export. Other formats, such as Chrome’s own Bookmarks file, need converting first.
• You’re on a phone: Chrome for Android and iPhone can’t import files. Import on a computer signed in to the same Google Account, and the bookmarks sync to your phone.

Importing into another browser

The same HTML file works in every browser; only the menus change. See importing bookmarks into Firefox, Edge, Safari, Brave and Opera.