Google Chrome and all other web browsers have a feature that lets users save their favorite websites as bookmarks. You can access all these bookmarks from the bookmarks toolbar in your web browser. Most popular web browsers have a sync feature that syncs your bookmarks to your account so that you can access them on any device and restore them by signing into your account. In addition, you can also export your bookmarks and save them on your hard disk so that you could recover them if your bookmarks disappear. Some users have reported that their saved bookmarks have disappeared from Google Chrome. If your Chrome bookmarks have disappeared or are not showing up, this article will show you how to get them back.
Chrome bookmarks not showing up or disappeared
If Google Chrome bookmarks have disappeared from your computer, you can use the following solutions to get them back.
- Sign in to your Google account
- Restore bookmarks from another browser
- Create a new user profile
- Rename the Bookmarks file
- Perform System Restore
Let’s see all these fixes in detail.
How to get lost Chrome bookmarks back?
1] Sign in to your Google account
Google Chrome has a feature that lets you sync all your data including bookmarks, history, Chrome extensions, etc., to your Google account. When you create a new user profile in Chrome, Google asks you to sign in using your Google account so that all your browsing data will be saved to the cloud.
If you have synced your Chrome user profile to your Google account, you can restore all your browsing data, bookmarks, and extensions by signing in to that Google account. If you are already signed in to your Google account in Chrome but the bookmarks are not showing on the bookmarks toolbar, sign out from your current user profile in Chrome. To do so, simply sign out of your Google account. Now, create a new user profile and sign in to that profile using that Google account. See if it brings your bookmarks back or not.
If this does not work, use the other solutions explained below.
2] Restore your bookmarks from another browser
This solution only works if you use another web browser(s) in addition to Google Chrome. If you use other web browsers, like Firefox, Edge, etc., and you have imported your Chrome bookmarks to those browsers, you can use those browsers to restore your Chrome bookmarks.
3] Create a new user profile
Google Chrome saves user profile data in your Users folder on the C drive. You will find all the user profiles at the following location on your C drive:
C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data
Replace the User Name with your username and then copy the entire path. Now, paste it into the address bar of File Explorer and hit Enter. Alternatively, open the Run command box, type AppData, and click OK. This command will directly open the AppData folder on your computer. In the AppData folder, you will see the following three folders:
- Local
- LocalLow
- Roaming
Your Chrome profile is saved in the Local folder. Open it and then go to “Google > Chrome > User Data.” When you install Google Chrome and sign in using your Google account. This account is your default user profile in Google Chrome. All the other profiles that you create after the first user profile are saved as Profile 1, Profile 2, etc.
Now, first, create a new user profile in Google Chrome by following the steps provided below:
- Open Google Chrome.
- Click on the Profile icon on the top right side and select Add.
- A new window will open to set up your new Chrome profile. Click Continue without an account.
- Give a name to your new user profile, select a theme for it, and click Done. By default, Google Chrome creates a desktop shortcut for all user profiles. If you do not want to create a desktop shortcut, clear the “Create desktop shortcut” checkbox. Or you can delete the desktop shortcut from your desktop later.
After creating a new Chrome user profile, close Google Chrome and go to the above-mentioned path in File Explorer. Now, if your bookmarks are disappeared from your default Chrome profile, open the Default folder. If your bookmarks are disappeared from another Chrome user profile, open that folder. But the user profile folders are saved with the name Profile 1, Profile 2, etc. So, how do you identify the correct user profile folder?
You can do so by opening the Bookmarks file. Open all the profile folders one by one and locate the Bookmarks file. Now, right-click on the Bookmarks file and select Open with. A new window will appear. Select Notepad and click OK. This will open the Bookmarks file in Notepad. Now, you can view all your saved bookmarks. By doing this, you can identify the correct Bookmarks file.
Once you find the correct Bookmarks file, copy that file to the newly created Chrome user profile folder on your C drive. Initially, the newly created user profile folder does not have the Bookmarks file. The Bookmarks file is created when you add your first bookmark in Chrome. In addition to the Bookmarks file, you will also find one more file, Bookmarks.bak. Do not copy that file. You have to copy only the Bookmarks file (refer to the above screenshot).
After copying the Bookmarks file to the new user profile folder, all your Bookmarks should be restored. Now, open Chrome. Open the new user profile by following the steps written below:
- Click on the user profile icon on the top right side.
- Select the new user profile.
The new user profile should show all your bookmarks. If this fixes your problem, you can start syncing your bookmarks to your Google account. After that, you can delete your old Chrome profile.
4] Rename the Bookmarks file
If the above fix does not resolve your issue, try this. Rename the Bookmarks folder. In your user profile folder, you will find the following two Bookmarks files:
- Bookmarks
- Bookmarks.bak
The Bookmarks.bak file contains the most recent backup of your Chrome bookmarks. First, copy both these files to another location on your hard drive so that you could restore them later if any problem occurs. Now, rename the Bookmarks file to Bookmarks.old and Bookmarks.bak to Bookmarks. You cannot rename these files if Google Chrome is running. Therefore, close Chrome before renaming these files.
5] Perform System Restore
If the Bookmarks file is not present in your user profile folder, you can do nothing. There is no other way to restore your bookmarks if the Bookmarks file is not present in your user profile folder. But you can try running the System Restore tool to restore your system. Though System Restore is not a file backup tool. It only helps users restore their systems in case a problem occurs. But some users have reported that the Bookmarks file was restored in the user profile folder after performing System Restore. Perform System Restore and see if it helps.
While performing the System Restore, you have to select the restore point that was created on the date after which the issue started occurring.
Some helpful tips to prevent this issue from occurring again in the future
Here are some helpful tips that you should do so that the issue will not occur again in the future. Or if the issue occurs, you could restore your bookmarks easily.
- Enable the Previous Versions tab on your C drive. By using this feature, you can restore the deleted files on the Users folder on the C drive.
- Export your Chrome bookmarks.
- Import your Chrome bookmarks to other browsers like Firefox, Edge, etc.
Read: How to set a minimum width for Tabs in Google Chrome.
How do I recover my bookmarks in Chrome?
You can recover bookmarks in Chrome simply by signing in to your Google account to which your bookmarks were synced. Or you can import your bookmarks from another web browser. In this article, we have explained some effective fixes to recover your lost bookmarks in Chrome.
Where did my favorites go in Chrome?
Chrome saves all your favorites, bookmarks, and other user data in the user profile folder on your C drive. If your favorites are disappeared from Chrome, you can recover them by signing in to your Google account. This article covers some effective methods that will help you recover your favorites in Chrome.
I hope this helps.
Read next: Chrome Browsing History disappeared and not showing.
