How To Get Rid Of Bookmarks

Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers because it is fast and reliable, among providing other benefits to users.

The Chrome web browser does an excellent job of allowing its users to sync various devices used by the same account, enabling users to use the same bookmarks, browsing history, autofill data, and various other logs across multiple devices.

This synching feature is convenient and useful; however, it may cause the account profile to become cluttered with so many bookmarks that you stop using the bookmarks feature. When that happens, sometimes it's best just to clear out the clutter and start fresh.

Luckily, Chrome offers a few ways to clear out your bookmarks.

How to Delete Bookmarks in Chrome

Google's Chrome browser makes it easy to moderate and manage your bookmarks. No matter your end goal, you can easily organize, declutter, and delete all of your bookmarks.

Delete Bookmarks One-by-One from the Bookmarks Bar

Sometimes you just want to remove some bookmarks from your bookmarks bar. If you have only one or two bookmarks you'd like to get rid of, follow these steps:

Right-click the bookmark on the bookmarks bar.
Select Delete from the context menu.

Be aware that this method doesn't require any confirmation, so once you've selected Delete, the bookmark's gone.

Use the Bookmark Manager

The bookmark manager is a Chrome feature that allows you to view and organize all of your bookmarks. You can delete one bookmark at a time or use the Shift+Click command to highlight all of your bookmarks and delete them. Here's how

In Chrome, click on the three vertical dots in the right-hand corner.
Then, go to the Bookmarks pulldown menu and select Bookmark Manager, you can also type Ctrl+Shift+O.
Click on the three vertical dots to the right of the bookmarks you wish to delete.
Click Delete.
Note: There is no confirmation dialogue so be sure you're deleting one you don't need.

Alternatively, you could also type " chrome://bookmarks ." That will open the bookmark manager in your current tab. If you click the first bookmark, then hold the Shift key, and click the last bookmark, you can quickly delete them all by following the same steps.

How to Delete All Bookmarks on Your Google Account

If you've synced your devices and you access Chrome with your Google account, you will be able to browse through all bookmarks made on your other devices. Also, if you decide to use the bookmark manager, you can delete entire folders. This makes clearing your list a lot easier.

Head over to the bookmark manager just as we did above. Then, do this:

Click on the profile icon in the upper right-hand corner of Chrome. Sign into your Google account and make sure that Sync is turned on.
Once signed in you will see all of your bookmark folders on the left. Right-click the folder and click Delete to remove all bookmarks in that folder.

Alternatively, you can click on each folder and follow the same steps above to remove selected bookmarks rather than the entire folder.

From the bookmark manager page, you can also use keywords to search for specific bookmarks. This allows you to perform very accurate searches and delete just the entries you are sure about.

Deleting Browsing History or All Saved Data?

If you want to delete your browsing history and all information saved on your Google account, know that you can't delete your bookmarks using the same method. Using the Clear Browsing Data feature only gets rid of cookies, browsing and download history, autofill data, passwords, cached files, etc.

Chrome doesn't have a Profile folder, so deleting all bookmarks at once is a different process.

How to Delete the Bookmarks Folder in Windows

Open the Run dialog box or Search box, you can hit the Windows key + r or type run into your Start menu.
Type "%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default" and press Enter.
Locate the Bookmarks file, you might have to scroll down until you see it.
Right-click it and choose Delete.

This will remove all bookmarks ever created since you've installed Chrome on your device. However, it will not delete bookmarks saved on other devices, even if they are synced under the same account. Also, note that for this to work, you should close all instances of Chrome.

If you only want to delete bookmarks from a specific account and delete something important by accident, you can use the same folder path to recover it. On occasion, Chrome performs backups. These backups include bookmark data.

That data is found in the bookmarks.bak file under User DataDefault. If you change the extension of the .bak file to .old, you might be able to recover your recently deleted bookmarks.

How to Delete the Bookmarks Folder in macOS

If you feel comfortable with the command line, you can call up Terminal and go to the following directory in your user account.

$ cd ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/

Then remove the Bookmarks file with this command:

$ rm Bookmarks

Then next time you open up Chrome, there will be no bookmarks, and you can start fresh. Add your first bookmark to get started. If you go back to~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/ you'll notice that the Bookmarks file's been recreated. You can delete it again in the future if your bookmarks get too cluttered and you want a fresh start.

Frequently Asked Questions

If we didn't cover everything you wanted to know, here is some more information about Chrome's bookmarks.

I accidentally deleted a bookmark; how do I undo it?

At one time, it was nearly impossible to recover a bookmark in Chrome. Fortunately, now you can do a simple keyboard shortcut to undo your mistake.

If you delete a bookmark accidentally, use the Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Cmd+Z keyboard shortcut to recover your bookmark.

How do I delete bookmarks from the mobile app?

If you're a mobile Chrome user, follow these steps to delete your bookmarks:

1. Open the Chrome app and tap on the three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner.

2. Tap on Bookmarks.

3. Tap on the folder that contains the bookmarks you'd like to delete.

4. Long-press one of the bookmarks to bring up the option to select multiples.

5. Tap the trash can icon.

If you want to delete only one or two bookmarks in Chrome's mobile version, simply tap the three vertical dots next to the bookmarks you wish to delete. Then, tap Delete.

A Final Thought

Deleting the bookmarks file is a rather drastic measure. If you're concerned that your list of bookmarks has gotten too large to manage, deleting everything may not always be a good idea. You could also lose important shortcuts to pages that may take a long time to find in the future.

Sometimes deleting bookmarks one by one is better, even if it takes longer. Remember that a long list of bookmarks doesn't drain as many resources as having too many cached video files and cookies saved on your account.

Of course, if you want to be most efficient, it'd be ideal to organize all your bookmarks into specific folders and do so with all new bookmarks as soon as you save them.

If you have any tips and tricks for removing or organizing bookmarks, please leave us a comment below!