Wednesday, September 10, 2008

10 steps to importing 500+ Google Toolbar bookmarks into Google Chrome

Just upgraded my internet experience by switching to Google's new Chrome browser. Faster, cleaner - very good overall. 

Except there is no toolbar support. Several hundred carefully organized bookmarks live inside my Google Toolbar, and without a way to import these, my Chrome experience was suffering.  

So after a bit of fiddling, this appears to be the easiest way to import your favorites state from Google Toolbar into Google Chrome:

  1. In your Google toolbar favorites click "Manage All"
  2. When the webpage comes up, in the bottom center there is a link which says "Export to: My Computer" - click that link and save the file to your desktop.
  3. In IE 8.2, the favorites button is under the gold star on the upper left, click the gold star to reveal a submenu which reads "Add to Favorites..."- click the small black down arrow next to that text to reveal an additional submenu button called "Import and Export..." . 
  4. Now select "Import from a File" and click Next.
  5. Select "Favorites" and Click Next
  6. Click browse and find the file you created on your desktop in step 2 and click next.
  7. Select the folder you want the favorites to reside and click import.
  8. In Chrome, under the wrench in the upper right, click "Import Bookmarks and Settings" - select all four items and click import.
  9. Click Ctrl+B to toggle the bookmarks bar in Chrome, the Google Toolbar links will be under the "Other Bookmarks" folder on the far right.
  10. Drag and drop folders from that folder to the Favorites Bar, customize as desired. 

Hope this helps. Cheers.