Chrome cannot import bookmarks directly from a Notepad file, but you can create a file Chrome recognizes by saving your list in a specific format first

If you have a list of website addresses in Notepad, Chrome needs that list converted to an HTML file before it will read it as bookmarks. The conversion takes about five minutes and requires no special software — you do it by hand in Notepad itself, then import the result into Chrome.

The reason for this step is that Chrome's import tool looks for HTML code that describes bookmarks, not plain text. A Notepad file with just URLs and names looks like gibberish to Chrome's importer. Once you wrap your list in the right HTML tags, Chrome recognizes it when ready.

Key Takeaways

  • Notepad files must be converted to HTML format before Chrome will recognize them as bookmarks.
  • You create the HTML file by adding a few lines of code at the top and bottom of your Notepad list, then saving the file with a .html extension instead of .txt.
  • The import happens in Chrome's bookmark manager, which you reach through the menu or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+B on Windows or Command+Shift+B on Mac.
  • After import, you can organize the bookmarks into folders and delete the temporary HTML file from your computer.

Format your Notepad list as HTML

Open the Notepad file that contains your bookmarks. At the very top, before any of your URLs, add these three lines exactly as shown:

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <body>

Now look at your list. Each bookmark should be on its own line. For each one, you need to wrap it in a link tag. If your list looks like this:

Google www.google.com

Change it to this:

<a href="https://www.google.com">Google</a>

The href part is the actual web address (make sure it starts with https:// or http://), and the text between the opening and closing tags is the name that will show in Chrome. Repeat this for every bookmark in your list. If you have many bookmarks, this is the most time-consuming part, but there is no way around it — Chrome needs each link in this exact format.

At the very bottom of the file, add these two lines:

</body> </html>

Save the file with an HTML extension

Go to File and click Save As. In the filename field, give your file a name like "my-bookmarks" and add .html at the end, so it reads "my-bookmarks.html". Make sure you are saving it somewhere you can find it — your Desktop or Documents folder works well.

In the "Save as type" dropdown, select "All Files" instead of "Text Documents". This tells Notepad to save it as an HTML file rather than converting it back to plain text. Click Save.

You now have an HTML file that Chrome can read. You can close Notepad.

Open Chrome's bookmark manager

In Chrome, click the three vertical dots in the top right corner. Hover over "Bookmarks" and then click "Bookmark manager". On a keyboard, you can also press Ctrl+Shift+B on Windows or Command+Shift+B on Mac to open the manager directly.

The bookmark manager opens in a new tab. You will see your existing bookmarks on the left side (if you have any) and an empty main area on the right.

Import your HTML file into Chrome

In the bookmark manager, click the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the page. Select "Import bookmarks". A file browser window opens.

Navigate to the HTML file you just created — if you saved it on your Desktop, look there. Click the file once to select it, then click "Open". Chrome reads the file and imports every bookmark from it.

The bookmarks appear in a new folder called "Imported" in your bookmark list. You can now organize them into folders, rename them, or delete the ones you do not need.

Clean up after the import

Once the import is complete and you have confirmed all your bookmarks are in Chrome, you can delete the HTML file from your computer. You no longer need it — the bookmarks are now stored in Chrome itself.

To delete it, open your file manager (File Explorer on Windows, Finder on Mac), navigate to where you saved the file, right-click it, and select Delete. This removes the temporary file and leaves only your bookmarks in Chrome.

Organize your imported bookmarks

The imported bookmarks all land in one folder. To make them easier to find, you can create new folders and move bookmarks into them. In the bookmark manager, right-click "Imported" and select "Edit folder" to rename it, or create new folders by right-clicking in the left sidebar and selecting "Add folder".

To move a bookmark into a folder, drag it from the main area on the right into the folder name on the left. You can also right-click a bookmark and select "Move to" to choose a destination folder. Organizing as you go makes your bookmarks much more useful than leaving them all in one place.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if my Notepad file has the website address and name on the same line?

You can still convert it. For each line that reads "Google www.google.com", reformat it to <a href="https://www.google.com">Google</a>. The order does not matter as long as the URL is in the href part and the name is between the tags.

Do I need to add https:// to every URL, or will http:// work?

Both work. Chrome accepts either https:// or http://. If your Notepad file has URLs without either one, add https:// to be safe — most modern websites use it.

Can I import bookmarks from other browsers the same way?

No. Chrome has a built-in importer for Firefox, Safari, and Edge that works automatically. The HTML method is only needed when you have bookmarks in a plain text file like Notepad.

What happens if I make a mistake in the HTML code?

Chrome will skip any bookmarks with broken code and import the ones that are correct. If nothing imports, check that you added the opening and closing tags at the top and bottom, and that each link follows the <a href="URL">Name</a> format exactly.

Can I import the same HTML file multiple times?

Yes, but each import creates a new "Imported" folder with duplicate bookmarks. If you need to import again, delete the old "Imported" folder first or rename the new one so you can tell them apart.