# Saving my IE bookmarks

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-my-ie-bookmarks/281346>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 23, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-my-ie-bookmarks/281346 "2004-12-23T17:14:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-my-ie-bookmarks/281346/1 "2004-12-23T17:14:47Z")

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My work comp has been wacking out on me for a bit, so I’ve decided to reformat. I lot of things have built up on it over the years, so I was going to burn a cd of the files I want to keep. Is there a way to save my explorer bookmarks?

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**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-my-ie-bookmarks/281346/2 "2004-12-23T17:39:03Z")

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> [@World Eater](#):
>
> My work comp has been wacking out on me for a bit, so I’ve decided to reformat. I lot of things have built up on it over the years, so I was going to burn a cd of the files I want to keep. Is there a way to save my explorer bookmarks?

Sure. Just go to [File], [Import and Export].  
Then follow the wizard to export your bookmarks (Favorites). You can import it back into another instance of IE.

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**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-my-ie-bookmarks/281346/3 "2004-12-23T18:59:32Z")

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You can also just copy the _contents_ of the “Favorites” folder to a CD or what have you. I say copy the contents as opposed to the actual folder because Favorites is one of those “special” folders and doesn’t like being replaced outright. Anyway, inside the Favorites folder you’ll find a bunch of files with a .URL extension. Those are your bookmarks. Find them at:

Windows 9x:

c:\Windows\Favorites (most likely)  
c:\Windows\Profiles\Username\Favorites (unlikely, only if each user has their own settings)

Windows NT:

c:\Windows\Profiles\Username\Favorites

Windows 2000 and XP:

c:\Documents and Settings\Username\Favorites