Backing up Web Browser Bookmarks

Backing up Web Browser Bookmarks

Below are the Steps to backup and transfer bookmarks from one computer to another

Google Chrome

There are three ways to get Chrome bookmarks: make a Google account using your NC email and sync it to Chrome, backup the bookmarks to an HTML file, or copy the entire Chrome profile. 

​Syncing using a Google account. 

1. At the top right, click on the profile icon (right beside the 3 dots) 
2. Click on turn on sync. 
3. On the sign-in to Google Chrome account page, click Create Account. 
4. Select for personal use. 
5. Have the employee fill out the required information, then hit next. 
6. On the next screen, select “Use your existing email.”
7. Input their Niagara College email and click next. 
8. The next step is to send a verification email to their Niagara College email. 
9. Have them open their Niagara College email and follow the instructions.  
10. Once this is complete, click “Yes, I’m in,” and the bookmakers will start to sync 
11. On the new computer, repeat steps 1 and 3, but instead of clicking on create an account, input their college email and the new password they just made for their Google account. 
12. Once signed in, the bookmarks will start to sync 

Backing up bookmarks to HTML file 

On the old computer 

1. Click the three-dot settings icon in the top right of Chrome. 
2. Hover over bookmarks and lists and select “Bookmarks Manager.”
3. Click the three dots and select “Export bookmarks to an HTML file.” 
4. Navigate to the external backup drive or the desktop to have the file sync with one drive, name the file, then click save 

 On the new computer 

1. Click the three-dot settings icon in the top right of Chrome. 
2. Hover over bookmarks and lists and select “Bookmarks Manager.”
3. Click the three dots and select “Import bookmarks.” 
4. Navigate to the external backup drive and the file you saved earlier and click Import. 
5. The bookmarks should now all show up. 
6. NOTE: you might need to enable the bookmarks bar by clicking the show bookmarks bar setting found under the bookmark’s settings menu 

 Backing up the entire Chrome profile 

 On the old computer 

1. Close Chrome.
2. Open File Explorer and navigate to the following folder:

            C:\Users\<Employeeusername>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data

1. Copy the folder for the profile to the backup external drive or to the desktop to have it sync with one drive.
2. safely eject the external drive (if needed)

On the new computer 

1. Close Chrome.
2. Open File Explorer and navigate to the following folder:

       C:\Users\<Employee username>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data

1. Copy the folder for the profile from the external to the path above. 
2. Once complete, re-open Chrome and their bookmarks will be transferred.
   Note: this process can take a lot of time, depending on the profile folder size, and they will be required to log in to any non-college sites they were previously signed into.

Mozilla Firefox

There are two ways to back up Mozilla Firefox bookmarks: export the bookmarks to a file or copy the entire profile folder. 

Export the bookmark to a file

On the old computer 

1. Open Firefox
2. Click the three-line button at the top right to open the menu panel. 
3. Click Bookmarks and click the Manage bookmarks bar at the bottom.
4. In the toolbar of the library window, click Import and Backup, 
5. and choose Export Bookmarks to HTML… from the drop-down menu.
6. Save the Preferred Location Note: Saving to the Users desktop is recommended so it syncs to OneDrive automatically

On the new computer

1. Click the three lines settings icon in the top right of Firefox. 
2. hover over bookmarks and lists, and select “Bookmarks Manager.”
3. Click the three dots and select “Import bookmarks.” 
4. Navigate where the html file that you saved from earlier is located and click Import. 
5. The bookmarks should now appear under the bookmark manager.            

              NOTE: you might need to enable the bookmarks bar by clicking the show bookmarks bar setting found under the bookmarks settings 

Backing up the Entire Firefox profile

On the old computer 

1. Close Firefox
2. Open File Explorer and navigate to the following folder:

C:\Users\<employee username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

1. Copy the folder for the profile(xxxxxxxx.default) to the Users Desktop and wait for it to sync with onedrive. 
2. Once Complete there will be a green checkmark on the folder 

On the new computer 

1. Close Firefox.
2. Open File Explorer and navigate to the following folder:

     C:\Users\<employee username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

1. Copy the folder for the profile from the external to the path above 
2. Once complete, re-open Chrome and their bookmarks will be transferred 

    Note: this process can take a lot of time, depending on the profile folder size, and they will be required to log in to any non-college sites they were previously signed into.