Where are my bookmarks?

[kenwalters64]

Just downloaded mac os Catalina, it's a disaster for me. The bulk of my needed bookmarks have disappeared, I have a bad memory due to injuries, and needed those bookmarks. Now I find most of them gone.
How do I undo this and get my bookmarks back please?

 

[toMACsh]

Do you have a backup from before the Catalina install? If not, you're probably not getting those bookmarks back. If so, see if this will help.

I'm still on Mojave, so I hope this is the same. This is what you need to find and restore:
Go to Users>YourUserName>Library>Safari>bookmarks.plist
(I have that file copied to removable media as a secondary backup.)

Once restored, place that file in the above location. You can move the current file elsewhere temporarily in case you want it back.

Now open Safari. Hopefully, all your old bookmarks will be back.

I have also copied a Bookmarks folder to removable media. It contains nearly 600 .webbookmark files. I can't seem to find where I got it from.

 

[IWT]

@kenwalters64

I presume you don’t use iCloud to sync Safari across multiple devices?? If you do, then you may be able to recover the bookmarks from iCloud.

Just an idea.

Ian

 

[chscag]

Just downloaded mac os Catalina, it's a disaster for me. The bulk of my needed bookmarks have disappeared, I have a bad memory due to injuries, and needed those bookmarks. Now I find most of them gone.
How do I undo this and get my bookmarks back please?

Welcome to our forums.

Installing Catalina is a major upgrade to macOS because it will no longer run 32 bit apps and includes a new version of Safari. However, even when a new version of Safari is implemented, bookmarks are carried over from the previous version.

You need to tell us which version of macOS you upgraded from, and which browser you were using (we are assuming Safari). And most important, if you made a Time Machine backup or any other backup before doing the upgrade to Catalina.

 

[kenwalters64]

Thank you, it didn't work. I did find a bookmark sidebar folder though, that has the bulk of my bookmarks on it.

 

[kenwalters64]

Welcome to our forums.

Installing Catalina is a major upgrade to macOS because it will no longer run 32 bit apps and includes a new version of Safari. However, even when a new version of Safari is implemented, bookmarks are carried over from the previous version.

You need to tell us which version of macOS you upgraded from, and which browser you were using (we are assuming Safari). And most important, if you made a Time Machine backup or any other backup before doing the upgrade to Catalina.

Like an idiot, I didn't do a backup before installing new os. I won't make that mistake again. I found the sidebar bookmarks so am back to normal now.

 

[kenwalters64]

@kenwalters64

I presume you don’t use iCloud to sync Safari across multiple devices?? If you do, then you may be able to recover the bookmarks from iCloud.

Just an idea.

Ian

No, I don't use the cloud. I try to keep things as simple as possible so only have the one Mac device.

 

[chscag]

Like an idiot, I didn't do a backup before installing new os. I won't make that mistake again. I found the sidebar bookmarks so am back to normal now.

Glad to hear you have your bookmarks back. Yes, backups are important and can save us from an unexpected headache.