How to transfer Chrome bookmarks to a new computer

Updated 18 October 2026

The quickest way is to sign in to Chrome on the new computer with the same Google Account: bookmarks saved in that account appear by themselves. If you’d rather not sign in, export an HTML file on the old computer and import it on the new one.

Method 1: sign in with the same Google Account

On the old computer first:

1. Click your profile picture at the top right and check you’re signed in with the account you’ll use on the new computer.
2. If the profile menu offers to save items in your account (it reads “Save x items in Account”), use it. Those are bookmarks stored only on this computer, and they won’t travel otherwise.
3. Export a backup file as in method 2. It takes a minute and covers you if anything goes wrong.

On the new computer:

1. Install Chrome, click the profile picture and choose Sign in to Chrome.
2. Sign in with the same Google Account.
3. Give it a minute, then open the Bookmark Manager (Ctrl+Shift+O, or Cmd+Option+B on a Mac) to check. Bookmarks from your phone come along too, usually in Mobile bookmarks.

Google’s help lists passwords, extensions and settings among the things you get on every device you sign in to, so they follow as well.

Method 2: export and import an HTML file

On the old computer: open the Bookmark Manager, click its three-dot menu at the top right, choose Export bookmarks and save the file. Move it to the new computer on a USB stick, through a cloud drive or by emailing it to yourself.

On the new computer: click Chrome’s three-dot menu > Bookmarks and lists > Import bookmarks and settings, choose Bookmarks HTML File, click Choose File and pick the file.

What to expect on a fresh Chrome: the items from your old bookmarks bar land on the new bar, and everything that was in Other bookmarks or Mobile bookmarks arrives in a folder called Imported at the end of the bar. Drag that folder’s contents into Other bookmarks if you want the old layout back. The file works across systems, so a Windows export imports into Chrome on a Mac and the other way round.

Pick one method

If you sign in and also import the file, you get every bookmark twice, because Chrome doesn’t skip duplicates when it imports. If that already happened, see finding duplicate bookmarks.

When the old computer won’t start

Sign in on the new computer first: the bookmarks may already be in your Google Account. If they aren’t and you can still read the old drive (in a USB enclosure, for example), copy the Bookmarks file from the old Chrome profile folder. On Windows it’s in Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default, on a Mac in ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default. Convert it with our free Chrome bookmarks JSON to HTML tool and import the HTML file on the new computer.

Bookmarks don’t show up on the new computer?

The common causes are a different Google Account, bookmarks that only ever lived on the old computer, or a sign-in that’s paused and showing Verify it’s you. Bookmarks not syncing goes through each fix.

Passwords and Stackboard

The bookmarks file holds bookmarks only. Without signing in, export passwords from Google Password Manager > Settings > Export passwords and bring them in on the new computer under Import passwords on the same page.

If you use Stackboard, its spaces are bookmarks, so both methods carry them. With sign-in they come back where they were. After an HTML import, drag the Stackboard folder out of Imported into Other bookmarks, then install Stackboard. Themes and wallpaper are set per computer.