# How can I back up my MSIE favorites?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-back-up-my-msie-favorites/103527>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 14, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-back-up-my-msie-favorites/103527 "2002-04-14T03:54:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-back-up-my-msie-favorites/103527/1 "2002-04-14T03:54:05Z")

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I’m formatting and I would rather not lose my “favorites.” Is there a way I can back these up as a text file or maybe an HTML file? Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Max\_Harvey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@Max\_Harvey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Harvey)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-back-up-my-msie-favorites/103527/2 "2002-04-14T04:05:47Z")

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All your favorites should be in Windows/Favorites. You can save that directory to a floppy (I have ~40 sites bookmarked and my Favorites directory is only 13K) and then when you want, you can simply copy that directory back to Windows/Favorites.

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**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-back-up-my-msie-favorites/103527/3 "2002-04-14T04:05:47Z")

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Just back up the C:/windows/favorites folder. When you are done with the clean install, just click and drag the whole folder into C:/windows.

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**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-back-up-my-msie-favorites/103527/4 "2002-04-14T04:28:23Z")

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Start IE, go to File \> Import and Export, then select Export Favorites. If you then choose Export to File or Address, you can save them to an HTML file of your choosing (e.g., c:\faves.htm).

After the re-install, start IE and go File \> Import and Export again to bring these favorites back.

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**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-back-up-my-msie-favorites/103527/5 "2002-04-14T04:39:21Z")

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I should also add that your Favorites is not always under the Windows folder. For example, in the Win2000 machine I’m on now, it’s in c:\Documents\_and\_Settings\MyUserID\Favorites. But once you’ve found it, copying the entire folder will work, too.