How to Export to local file all "Bookmarks Details"?

Moody

Hello,

I exported Bookmarks using command File-->Export Bookmarks... to local file .html, but saved file showing ONLY "Title" and "Webpage address" fields for each Bookmarks entry.

There are other fields I want to be saved in exported file, these are:

Description
Nickname
Date Created
Thumbnail .. the most important field to me

I tried command "File--> Save as..." on Bookmarks page but it didn't do anything!!!
Sync feature is not an option for me.

Hope yo have a workaround way ...

Thanks,

Pathduck

@Moody Hi, there is no easy way to do what you want at the moment, unless you code your own parser. The HTML export is in a standardised format (Netscape Bookmarks file), for it to be compatible for import in most other browsers.

But the file is a JSON file and can be easily viewed in a good text editor, as well as GUI JSON tools.

For backup purposes just copying the file is sufficient. But you will lose some/most of the thumbnails, those that are not base64-encoded directly in the file. But the thumbnails are just auto-generated anyway and can easily be recreated.

Moody

@Pathduck Thank you very much for your rich info response!

Its good to know that Bookmarks exported html file is JSON format, though I failed yet to find good tool to parse it correctly!!! The exported file has no "Description" field!!!

I found Bookmarks file in Profile path which is good to me to backup it and has the "Description" field as well as other fields included in "meta_info" section of a long array.

GJS

@Moody - See This Script Exports Full Bookmark Data to HTML. Currently it does not export thumbnails to the HTML, but if you still want to do that I could add an option fairly easily. They increase the HTML file size significantly.

The script does export bookmark Favicons (ICON and ICON_URI), which are not in the Bookmarks JSON file. Both Vivaldi and Firefox import Favicons with the bookmarks.

Moody

@GJS - Thank you very much for remembering this post when you did your script, I'm sure it is a good work but currently I have no use for it.
Instead, I used Backup/Restore method for Bookmarks JSON file location (~35MB file size) and did OS clean install and Vivaldi clean install. To my surprise, I restored All (~1500) bookmarked entries with 90% of them have last saved Thumbnail, so everything went fine!

A new problem raised up! All bookmarked entries had lost their Favicons and replaced by Vivaldi's default one!!! Even new created bookmarks are keep stored using Vivaldi's default Favicon .. any idea why is that and how to fix it?
Your quote "Both Vivaldi and Firefox import Favicons with the bookmarks." I didn't understand it well. If Vivaldi fetch and save Favicons inside Bookmarks JSON file, then why I can't see them?!!

GJS

@Moody -

Vivaldi (and Firefox) usually refresh a bookmark Favicon when you open the page. So one approach would be to open each of your 1500 bookmarks. Opening one folder at a time would speed it up a little. However, this method will not restore Favicons for pages which no longer exist or no longer have a Favicon, so it's a huge effort for an imperfect result.

Vivaldi stores thumbnails in the <profile>/Bookmarks JSON file, but Favicons are in a separate SQLite databse file <profile>/Favicons. I have never tried restoring that file into a profile, so if you want to try it proceed with caution. SQLite appears to support queries across multiple database files, which could be messed up by mismatches among the internally generated record ID numbers. In the worst case further Vivaldi database operations could spread database inconsistencies to other files. However, I'm just speculating -- I don't know whether Vivaldi does such queries.

You could try an experiment:

Create a scratch Vivaldi profile;
Exit Vivaldi (all profiles, to flush cached data);
Copy a pair of Bookmarks and Favicons files into the new profile. The files should preferably come from a single profile, and should preferably be large enough to make a realistic test.
Restart Vivaldi.

Watch for Favicons that don't match their bookmarks, other weird behavior, SQLite error messages, or Vivaldi freezing or crashing. Good luck! , and let us know what you find.

When I said "Both Vivaldi and Firefox import Favicons with the bookmarks," I meant import from a Firefox bookmarks HTML file which contains ICON and/or ICON_URI attributes. When I import one of my HTML files into Vivaldi or Firefox, the Bookmark Favicons are visible immediately.

Moody

@GJS -
The info you provided are rich and accurate, Thanks!

I copied Favicons and Bookmarks files from my old storage (dated 1 week ago) into current Vivaldi profile path. All bookmarked pages were there, but Favicons are not, why? Because I lunched Vivaldi in Private mode!! Launching Vivaldi in Normal mode to find ALL Favicons had been restored to its last state. The last state means the state of a Favicon inside backed up Favicon file, whether the Favicon was saved previously during bookmarking associated page, or it was saved as NULL or as Vivaldi's default one.

I didn't notice any weird behavior, nor Vivaldi froze or crashed. I don't know where to read SQLite error message.

What's new for me, backing up pair of Favicons and Bookmarks files is a good way to restore big list of bookmarked pages without any mess. Private mode does not update Favicons file, not even save anything in it. To update a Favicon, I have to visit associated page in Normal mode.

GJS

@Moody -

Thank you for reporting your results. It's good to know that the Favicons file can be replaced with no ill effects. And the information on Private Mode not refreshing Favicons is something I had not known before.

I would think that SQLite error messages should appear in the Tools > Developer Tools > /Console\ tab, although I seldom look at that panel and have never noticed an SQLite message there.

csod64

@Pathduck I just downloaded vivaldi browser and am having problems accessing my chrome bookmarks HTML file. I can't code and have no idea what JSON means. So far vivaldi is pi**ing me off. Help!

Ayespy

@csod64 You don't access the file. You import it. You export bookmards as HTML from Chrome, to a location you know, and then import that file into Vivaldi using the Menu/File/Import Bookmarks and Settings route. Then you just have bookmarks within Vivaldi to use.

GJS

@csod64 -
Alternatively, Vivaldi can import bookmarks directly from a Chrome installation: File > Import Bookmarks and Settings > [Chrome]. I don't use Chrome, but the corresponding Firefox import loads HTML Meta Descriptions by opening each bookmark, which can take a while (and may or may not be what you want). Importing an HTML Bookmarks file does not import Descriptions.