If you have deleted bookmarks in your Google Chrome browser and you are unable to restore them then you have come to the right place. No matter whether you are using Chrome on your Android, Windows PC, Mac, or iOS device you will be able to recover your deleted bookmarks on Chrome using this guide.
Quick Navigation
- Restore Deleted Bookmarks On Chrome In Windows PC
- Restore Deleted Chrome Bookmarks In MacBook
- Restore Chrome Bookmarks Using Data Recovery Software
- How To Retrieve Deleted Bookmarks On Chrome In Android & iPhone
- Conclusion
- FAQs
Restore Deleted Bookmarks On Chrome In Windows PC
Undo In Bookmark Manager
Unless you are running a very old version of Google Chrome, the Ctrl+Z shortcut for undoing should restore your deleted bookmarks. To restore deleted bookmark you need to hit the Ctrl+Z inside the Bookmark Manager option. You can follow the instructions below to open the bookmark manager in your Chrome browser.
- First, click on the three-dots button located in the right-hand corner of the browser to open the menu.
- From the popup menu, hover your mouse over the Bookmarks option. Another sub-menu would appear, click on the Bookmark Manager option.
- Once you are inside the bookmark manager, simply press Ctrl+Z to restore the deleted bookmark. It will restore your deleted bookmark no matter whether it was inside the main folder or the subfolder before being deleted.
Note: This method will only work if you haven’t closed the browser or restarted the browser.
Restore Bookmarks Using The User Data Folder Of Chrome
If you deleted important bookmarks and realized it later then restoring Chrome bookmarks using the ‘User Data’ folder is your next best bet.
Almost all software save a backup data file logging your activity and the Chrome browser is no different. It too saves your bookmark data as you constantly make changes to it.
Chrome browser saves a file named Bookmarks that contains all your bookmark data. As you make changes all your old data is logged in the file name Bookmarks.bak. You can use the .bak file to restore the bookmarks from the old data.
To locate this data, you need to copy and paste the file path mentioned below in your File explorer address bar.
- C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data. Ensure to change Username to Windows user account name. In my case, it was C:\Users\Satya\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data
- Once you typed the above address press enter.
- On the next screen, various folders and files would be displayed on the screen. Use the search function available on the right side of the screen to look for the file Bookmarks.
- In the results, you will find that there are two bookmark backup files, Bookmarks & Bookmarks.bak. Move the Bookmarks file to some other folder. After that rename the Bookmarks.bak file to Bookmarks.
Important: Do not delete the original Bookmarks file. It will help you in restoring your existing bookmarks in case this method doesn’t work.
- Relaunch the Chrome browser and all your deleted bookmarks will be restored.
Restore Deleted Chrome Bookmarks In Macbook
Before following the steps below make sure your Chrome browser isn’t open.
If you are a Macbook user then you need to click on the Go option. A drop-down menu will appear from that click on the Go To Folder… option. A dialog box will appear, copy the file path below & press enter.
Macintosh HD \Users\ Username Library\Application Support\Google\Chrome\Default
Note: ‘Username Library’ would be replaced with the name of your user account in your Macbook. For reference, you can check the image below.
Once you are inside the default folder look for the file name Bookmarks & Bookmarks.bak. Move the Bookmarks file to some other location. After that rename the Bookmarks.bak file to Bookmarks. Now launch Chrome and your deleted bookmarks should be restored.
Important: Do not delete the original Bookmarks file. It will help you in restoring your existing bookmarks in case this method doesn’t work.
Restore Chrome Bookmarks Using Data Recovery Software
If you don’t find the Bookmarks.bak file then it might have been deleted. While there can be many reasons why it might have been deleted, the fact remains that you cannot restore the bookmarks without Bookmarks.bak file.
That’s when I would recommend using data recovery software. There are many data recovery software available in the market but I recommend using Stellar Data Recovery. I have found that it can easily restore deleted files from TRIM disabled SSD as well as hard disks. Plus, the biggest benefit of Stellar data recovery is that you won’t have to spend any money as it offers free file restoration up to 1 GB.
However, if you are professional then I would recommend reading our in-depth Stellar data recovery review. It also offers tools like email recovery, hard disk & SSD health monitoring, repair corrupted files, and various other features.
To recover your deleted Bookmarks.bak file, first install Stellar Data Recovery Software on your computer.
- Open the app after installing it on your computer.
- The first screen of the app will ask you which file type you are recovering. Select the All Data option then click on Next.
- After that, you will need to select the drive where the file was stored. Select the C Drive and click on Scan.
- Once the scan is completed, Stellar will display all the files that can be recovered. If there are too many files then I would recommend using the search function on the right side of the display.
- Once you have found the Bookmarks.bak file use the checkbox before the file name to select it for restoring. After that, click on Recover.
Once the file is restored, you can restore the deleted bookmarks on your computer.
How To Retrieve Deleted Bookmarks On Chrome In Android & iPhone
If you have deleted bookmarks on the Chrome browser on an Android or iOS device then a few conditions need to be met for you to be able to restore bookmarks.
- First, you need to ensure that you are logged in to the Chrome browser on PC with the same account you have logged in on your Android/iPhone device. It is because Chrome syncs all your data from Android/iOS device to PC & vice versa. So if you add a new bookmark in Chrome on PC it automatically gets synced to your Android/iPhone & vice versa. Similarly, if you delete a bookmark on Chrome on an iPhone/Android device then it will also get deleted from your Chrome browser on PC next time it is connected to the internet.
- That brings us to the second step – When you open Chrome on your PC or laptop after deleting the bookmark on Android make sure it is not connected to the internet before you open Chrome. This will make sure the bookmark isn’t deleted from your browser.
- Once you are inside the browser you need to open the Bookmark manager using the steps provided in the 1st method. In Bookmark Manager, you will find a three-dot menu button on the right side of the screen. Clicking on it opens a drop-down menu. From that, click on the Export Bookmarks option.
- A Save as dialog box will appear, save the file in a location you can easily find. This option creates an HTML file consisting of all the bookmarks saved in your browser.
- Now connect back to the Internet and Open Chrome, Go to the Bookmark manager. Click on the three-dotted button on the right side. This time select the Import Bookmarks option. An open file dialog box will appear, locate and select the the HTML file we exported moments before.
- This will restore your deleted bookmarks on the Chrome browser as well as resync to your Android/iOS device.
Note: For this method to work you need to be logged in to your Google account within the browser on PC as well as smartphone. If either PC or smartphone isn’t logged in with the same Google account then you won’t be able to restore your bookmarks. Logging in after bookmarks have been deleted won’t be able to restore your bookmarks on iPhone or Android.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you were able to restore your deleted bookmarks on your Mac, Windows, iPhone, or Android device. I will also recommend backing up your existing bookmarks on your PC as well as to some cloud storage provider as a precautionary measure. There are also many third-party bookmark managers that mitigate data loss risk substantially. I would recommend checking out Raindrop as they are a great bookmark tool.
Recommended: How To Recover And View Clipboard History
FAQs
Can I Restore Deleted Bookmarks In Android & iOS Device?
Yes, you can restore bookmarks that you have deleted on Android & iOS devices. However, you will need to have sync enabled and Chrome installed on your PC with the same Google account logged on both devices. After that, you can export all your bookmarks without connecting your PC to the Internet. You can import all your bookmarks again when you connect your PC to the internet.
Is It Possible To Recover Deleted Bookmark Folder On Chrome?
Yes, you can recover deleted bookmarks on Chrome by deleting and replacing the Bookmarks file in the User Data folder.
Can Third-Party Data Recovery Software Recover Deleted Bookmarks On My Computer?
Third-party data recovery software like Stellar Data recovery can help in recovering deleted bookmarks on the computer. Using that, you will be able to restore the Bookmarks.bak file that consists backup of your bookmarks.
