How to save bookmarks across all your browsers and devices

Bookmarks split up quietly. Work links pile up in Chrome on the office laptop, recipes and travel ideas sit in Safari on the iPad, and a handful of reference pages live in Firefox because a project once needed it. On the phone, links get sent to yourself in a chat or left open in a tab for weeks. When you want one of them back, the first question is which browser it went into.

This guide looks at the usual ways people keep bookmarks in sync, where each one runs out, and how to put every link from every browser and device into one Fabric library that saves the page itself and makes it searchable.

How people usually keep bookmarks together

Browser sync is the obvious first answer. Sign in to Chrome on every machine, or use iCloud for Safari, and bookmarks follow you around. It works well inside one browser family. It stops at the edge of that family, so a Safari bookmark won’t show up in Firefox, and a work profile and a personal profile keep separate lists.

Some people export a bookmarks file from one browser and import it into another every so often. That gets everything into one place for an afternoon, then the lists drift apart again as new links get saved wherever you happen to be.

The other common approach is a messaging thread with yourself, a notes app, or a read-later service. These catch links from the phone quickly. The trouble shows up later: a bookmark is a title and a URL, and if the title was vague or the page has since changed, it’s hard to tell what you saved or why. Bookmarking vs. saving explains that difference in more detail.

Step 1: Bring in the bookmarks you already have

Start with the lists you’ve built up over the years. Most browsers can export bookmarks as a file, and Fabric can import a browser bookmarks file, so each browser’s collection can come across in turn. How to import your browser bookmarks walks through that part.

For a short list, pasting works too. Paste a link straight into Fabric and it becomes a bookmark. Fabric works out the content type itself, so there’s no form to fill in.

Step 2: Install the extension in each browser you use

The Fabric browser extension is available for Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Install it in each browser you use, signed in to the same Fabric account, and every browser saves to the same library.

From the extension you can save a whole website, a screenshot of the page, selected text, or images. Saving the whole page is the closest to a bookmark, with one difference that matters later: Fabric keeps the page for reading and search, so you can open it in the reader and search for words that were on it.

As you save, you can add a comment or tags. A line like “pricing example for the client deck” is often the detail that makes a link useful six months on.

If you use separate browser profiles for work and personal browsing, install the extension in both. The profiles stay separate in the browser, but the links you save from each end up in the one library, where you can keep them apart with a folder or a tag if you want to.

Step 3: Save from your phone and tablet with the share sheet

Install the Fabric app for iOS or Android from the mobile download page. In any app with a Share button (a browser, a news app, a messaging app) tap Share and choose Fabric. Links, files and text all go into the same library as your desktop saves.

This replaces the habit of messaging links to yourself. A link saved on the phone on the way home is there on the laptop the next morning, alongside the ones saved from Chrome and Firefox.

Step 4: Find a bookmark by what the page said

Once links are saved, Fabric processes them. It creates embeddings so search can match by meaning, writes a short summary, extracts topics, and suggests tags. Click Search or press Cmd+F (Mac) / Ctrl+F (Windows) and describe the page. Fabric search matches by meaning and by keyword, so “article about four-day weeks in Iceland” can find a page whose title you’ve forgotten.

Put words in quotes for exact matches, which helps with a product name or a specific phrase. Filters narrow results by tag, location, or kind of item, so you can limit a search to bookmarks.

If you like structure, folders, spaces and tags are all available. They’re optional. Smart collections can gather bookmarks on a topic as they arrive, and similarity search finds other saved items close to one you select.

Step 5: Read and annotate saved pages

Open a saved page in the reader, which strips ads and clutter and syncs your reading progress across devices. You can highlight passages and add comments, and those notes stay with the page.

The library is the same on the web, the Mac, Windows and Linux desktop apps, and the phone apps. How to save everything you find online in one place covers the same setup for images, documents and other things you collect while browsing.

Frequently asked questions

How do I sync bookmarks between Chrome and Safari?

Browser sync works within one browser family. To keep both in one place, install the Fabric extension in Chrome and in Safari and save from either one into the same Fabric library.

Can I import my existing browser bookmarks into Fabric?

Yes. Export a bookmarks file from your browser and import it into Fabric. Do this once for each browser you’ve used.

Which browsers does the Fabric extension support?

Chrome, Safari and Firefox.

How do I save a link from my phone?

Tap Share in the app you’re using and choose Fabric. This works on iOS and Android for links, files and text.

What’s the difference between a bookmark in Fabric and a browser bookmark?

A browser bookmark stores the title and the address. Fabric also saves the page for reading and search, writes a summary, and lets you add comments and tags.

Can I find a bookmark if I don’t remember its title?

Yes. Search matches by meaning as well as keywords and looks at the saved page, so describing the topic is usually enough.

Do I need to sort bookmarks into folders?

No. Folders and tags are optional. Fabric suggests tags, smart collections you set up fill themselves, and search works whether or not you file anything.

Is saving bookmarks free in Fabric?

Saving links, using the extension and the reader are part of the free plan, which has storage caps. Connections to other apps need a paid plan. See pricing for details.