How to show (or hide) the bookmarks bar in Opera and Opera GX

Updated 18 October 2026

Click the Easy Setup button at the top right of Opera and turn on Show bookmarks bar. You can also tick the box for it at the top right of the bookmarks page, or, on a Mac, show the bar from the View menu.

Three ways to turn the bar on

1. Easy Setup: click the Easy Setup button to the right of the address bar and switch on Show bookmarks bar.
2. Bookmarks page: open it with the heart icon in the sidebar or Ctrl+Shift+B, then tick the box for showing the bookmarks bar in the top-right corner.
3. Menus: on a Mac, the View menu in the menu bar shows or hides the bar. On Windows and Linux, Opera’s help for older versions puts the switch in the Opera menu under Bookmarks > Show bookmarks bar.

The bar runs under the combined address and search bar and shows what’s in the Bookmarks bar folder on the bookmarks page. If you know it as the favorites bar or bookmarks toolbar, it’s the same thing; Opera has only the one bar.

Opera GX

GX can show bookmarks on the start page, in the sidebar and on a bar below the address bar. For the bar, click the Easy Setup icon at the top right of GX, or open the Bookmark Manager with Ctrl+Shift+B and switch it on there. Those are the two places an Opera forum moderator points GX users to.

Is there a keyboard shortcut?

Not out of the box. Opera’s list of default shortcuts has no key for the bar, and Ctrl+Shift+B, which toggles the bar in Chrome and Brave, opens the bookmarks page in Opera. You can add your own:

1. Open Settings with Alt+P (Cmd+, on a Mac).
2. Click Advanced in the left sidebar, then Browser, and under Shortcuts click Configure shortcuts.
3. Find Show bookmarks bar in the list (users on Opera’s forum point to it there), hover over it, click Type a shortcut and press the keys you want.

Hide the bookmarks bar

Use the same switches in reverse: turn off Show bookmarks bar in Easy Setup, untick the box on the bookmarks page, or hide it from View on a Mac. Your bookmarks stay where they are. With the bar hidden you can still open them from the heart icon in the sidebar, or move a folder to your Speed Dial, where Opera turns it into a Speed Dial folder on the start page.

Bookmarks bar gone? Check these

Put bookmarks on the bar

Click the heart icon at the right end of the address bar to bookmark a page; Opera asks for a name and where to save it, so pick the bookmarks bar. In GX you can also drag a site to the bar. Whole folders work too: drag one into Bookmarks bar on the bookmarks page and it appears on the bar. Bringing a bar over from another browser? Export it there, import the file (steps), then drag the imported bookmarks into Bookmarks bar.