We ran into this the other day and this is what worked for us…
We were in the process of assigning new laptops to teachers at a school and came across one user who was not able to see all their bookmarks once logged in to Google Chrome. Knowing that you can export/import Chrome bookmarks we attempted to login to their old Macbook, but were unable to open the Chrome browser.
We needed a backdoor into the Chrome bookmarks. Following is a list of steps outlining how we made our way to the bookmarks file and what we did with it once we found it. Happily, we were able to move the bookmarks file to the new computer successfully allowing the user to see their bookmarks as they did on their old computer.
- Near the top of the window, just to the right of where it says “Finder,” select Go
- Select Utilities
- Select Terminal
- Once Terminal opens, type “chflags nohidden ~/Library”
- Press Enter
- Select Terminal near the top left hand corner of the window and select Quit
- Near the top of the window, just to the right of where it says “Finder,” select Go
- Select Home
- Select Library
- Select Application Support
- Select Google
- Select Chrome
- Select Default
- Locate Bookmarks.bak
“Bookmarks.bak” is the file the Chrome browser uses to know which bookmarks to display. In order to move this file to a new computer perform the following steps.
- Insert a USB jump drive into the computer on which you will be copying the file from
- Right click on the “Bookmarks.bak” file and select Copy
- Open the USB jump drive, right click in space, and select Paste
- Remove the USB jump drive and place it in the computer on which you will be copying the file to
- Perform the same steps listed above to locate the “Bookmarks.bak” file on the new computer
- Right click on the “Bookmarks.bak” file located on the USB jump drive and select Copy
- Right click on the “Default” folder and select Paste
- You will be prompted with a window letting you know there is already a file with the same name located in the folder. It will ask you if you want to replace the file, please select to replace the file
Now that the file has been copied to the same location on the new computer, close the Chrome browser and reopen it. You should now see your bookmarks as they were on the old computer.