Pruning Edge Favorites

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I have hundreds of folders and thousands of saved Favorites. I am on Windows 11 and use the Edge Browser.

Is there any recommended software that would allow me to finally prune my folders and Favorites?

Thanks,

southieguy (aka Dick_Y)

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Is there a “Manage Bookmarks” tab in Microsoft Edge? If so, use it.

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southieguy

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These comments are for Windows 11. Win 10 is similar.

Start by saving your current Favorites in case of a problem:

1. In Edge, right click on a blank space in Favorites bar. Click on “Manage Favorites”. This opens the Favorites Bar like a web page.

2. Click on the three horizonal dots to the right of “Add Folder”. (Not the three dots at the very top right on the Edge toolbar.) This will bring up several menu choices including “Export Favorites”.

3. Click on “Export Favorites”. This will create an HTML file with all of your Favorites. Save the HTML file in a folder of your choice, just in case. That HTML file can be used to “Import Favorites” to go back to where you started.

I assume your current Favorites are in many folders. And many of those folders have a few Favorites you want to keep plus many you want to delete. If that’s the case, you’ll have to decide keep/delete Favorite by Favorite.

Using “Manage Favorites” as above, open the Favorites Bar like a web page.

Each folder that has Favorites will have an X at the right of its name. If you’re confident the entire folder can be deleted, click on the X. Otherwise, click on the folder to open it. This lists the individual Favorites within it, each with an X at the right. Click on the X to delete it.

If “Manage Favorites” shows some individual Favorites that are not in a folder, those Favorites will have an X on the right. Click the X to delete.

Instead of directly deleting by clicking on the X, you can add a bit more “insurance” by creating a “To Delete” folder and temporarily moving unwanted Favorites into that temporary folder. The temporary “To Delete” folder can be deleted in the future, once you’re confident you didn’t delete a Favorite you really want to keep.

To do this, in the “Manage Favorites” toolbar there’s an option “Add Folder”. Create “To Delete” (or any other name) folder. Then instead of clicking on the X at the right of each existing Favorite or folder, drag that Favorite or folder into the “To Delete” folder.

You could also use this drag-and-drop method to isolate those of your current Favorites you wish to keep. Once those keepers are dragged into their own folder, you can then delete all of the remaining Favorites folders.

If you’re not sure what one of your current Favorites is, you can click on any Favorite in “Manage Favorites” to open the URL as a web page.

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southieguy

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Thank you Paul for the lengthy, step-by-step response.  I had stumbled onto the gist of what you suggest. and had been doing things line by line.

I was hoping there would be a software tool to do things in more of a “bulk” fashion.

Oh well, I guess it’s back to line by line.

southieguy

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I’v tried this:

”

To manage bookmarks in the Edge browser, you can follow these steps:

• Go to Settings and more > Favorites¹
• In the Favorites window, go to More options > Manage favorites¹
• Press and hold (or right-click) anywhere on the Favorites page, and then select Sort by name¹
• You can also add, edit, delete, or move your bookmarks from this page²³⁴
• To sync your bookmarks across devices, you need to sign in with a Microsoft account and turn on sync settings.”
• Unless I am not using some feature of the above, correctly, I have to go 1 by 1.
• That’s why I’m looking for a better software tool or process.
• southieguy

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