Posted on 09/18/2025 4:04:29 AM PDT by Paul R.
Importing bookmarks from Brave on my Win 10 Pro desktop machine to my new Win 11 Pro desktop is not working. Brave SAYS the import has been made, but, nothing shows up where the Favorites bar resides.
Or, at least Brave isn’t displaying it despite me making sure the “Show Bookmarks” button is on.
If I go to a website and then hit the button near the top of the Brave window to add a single bookmark, that works fine.
I used Notepad to take a peek at the file, and it looks ok to me - not that I’m an expert at evaluating HTML bookmark files. I closed Brave and fired it back up - no dice.
I’ve tried dropping the bookmarks file directly into the “Default” folder the bookmarks file regularly sits in - no dice. I’ve read suggestions on the web and tried them until my eyes are falling out.
What could be going on?
I know we have quite a few Brave users on FR - maybe someone knows what's gone wrong.
Thanks in advance.
Try a Windows Update and look for optional updates. There might be something there that won’t look too obvious.
Link to the thread about the reason I had to move up the transfer to the Win 11 Pro machine, here:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4341085/posts
So far as I can tell (and diagnostics report), the boot drive on the old (Win 10 Pro) machine is fine. The problem THERE is an apparently irreversible conflict in the latest OS update from Microsoft. Eventually, I’ll likely put Linux on that one.
The machine had just updated...
But, I’ll look again.
Just manually copy the bookmark file on the Win 10 Pro desktop machine to the new Win 11 Pro desktop. stored in a file located at C:\Users%username%\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default on Windows.
I forget some people are still stuck using windows after all these years.
Hope that helps, not sure if it will or won't.
I did, several hours ago in this grief. Same result.
The only thing that makes any sense is that somehow the file got corrupted when the OS on the old machine got zapped by the OS update. But, that doesn’t really make any sense after all, does it?
Sounds like you have a corrupted drive . Tell me it is not a mechanical one, vs SSD.
Yeah, it’s actually per post 5. But any way I try to do it, either via Brave, or copy/pasting the bookmarks file, it doesn’t work.
I’m dreading being forced to get Windows 11. My gaming rig is over 15 years old and doesn’t have the requirements for it, so I have to build another one.
Your post is telling me that I’ll likely have to put my bookmarks and other items onto thumb drives before making the switch.
Thank you.
On the other hand, perhaps addressing this in the Brave user forums? There might be an answer there -or a workaround.
I've lately had problems with Brave on Linux Kubuntu. It's very slow to start and overloads the CPU. I'm using Chromium.
I don’t use Brave anymore but I can share some perspective. A bookmark folder (and files) are like a mini server file directory. Your browser is looking for and reading particular files like it would web files on a site. So the folder has to be named correctly, there can be only one with that name it is looking for, and the properties of the files have to be correct for it to find them and read them, such as the “owner” and read & write permissions.
If any of these are different from one install to the other install it will not see them. That is what the import export feature does, it makes sure all the property variables are corrected from one to the other. It is not always as simple as copy and pasting files from one folder to the other. It is compressing them, moving them similar to FTP, extracting them into the new folder, and providing the new properties needed for the new home. Just like you would have to do with uploading files into a server directory.
The file/folder “Owner” property is important if the user name is different in one box/install from the other.
“I’ve lately had problems with Brave on Linux Kubuntu.”
Brave for Linux sucks... They did not do that one well at all.
I know you most likely did, but I have to restart the whole system to get bookmarks to show up after importing. Restarting the browser alone would not do it for some reason.
Oh... You have to move two folders...
“If you are moving your bookmarks to a new PC you’ll want to copy 2 files “bookmarks” & “favicons”.
https://gorazy.com/blog/brave-bookmarks-location.html
So even though the bookmarks might be successfully moved in there, they have to also be hooked to the Favicons folder to see them.
Hmmm. I am using the import feature / routine in Brave to try to bring the Bookmarks file “in”, but, I’m pulling the file off the old machine with copy / paste, to a flash drive. If I run Brave now, on the old machine (booting off the “data” drive) using the older version of the OS, that instance of Brave no longer “sees” the old (9/16/2025) bookmarks file, so I can’t use the export function.
I also tried copy / pasting from the flash drive to the Win 11 Pro (Brave.../.../Default folder, but that failed too — I assume the properties are different from one machine (and OS) to another.
So, evidently, I have this nice big (just over 2MB) bookmarks folder from the Win 10 Pro machine, it looks great opened up in Notepad, but it does me little good? I guess for a few critical addresses, I can manually add them one at a time into the new machine’s instance of Brave’s address / search bar, go to that address, and then add it to “Bookmarks”. Right?
Oh, Sweet Jesus. I’ll never live long enough to get them all “in”. :-(
(Sorry, Daniel)
Well, actually, SOME of those bookmarks - all the ones more than about 2 years old - are on THIS laptop, and I could start by exporting / importing from it. I’d pick up the newer additions on this machine’s instance of Brave, in the process: A small consolation.
Ok, yeah, I saw mention of the “favicons” file on the web, but as an either / or. (I’m seeing files, not folders.)
I can try hopping “favicons” over too. The import function looks only for a single html file, tho’, so I’ll have to just copy / paste via the flash drive...
Yeah, IIRC I’ve been through about 4 restarts of the new Win 11 Pro machine as I tried to get my Brave bookmarks moved onto this new machine.
So, if I understand you correctly... The export function must be supposed to combine the bookmarks file and the favicons file into a single html file, then the import function grabs said html file and recreates the two files on the new machine...?
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