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How Microsoft Edge Exports Favorites and What to Check If You Need Only Selected Bookmarks

How to Export Microsoft Edge Bookmarks

If you need to back up or move your Microsoft Edge bookmarks, Edge lets you export your full favorites collection to an HTML file. However, Edge does not natively support exporting only selected bookmarks or a single favorites folder. For that, you need a third-party extension such as selective bookmark export edge, which lets you choose the bookmarks you want to export instead of saving everything.

Microsoft Edge calls bookmarks favorites, but the terms mean the same thing.

This guide covers both options: using Edge's built-in export for your complete favorites collection and using a third-party extension when you only want to export specific bookmarks.

What does Edge's built-in export save?

When you use the built-in export option in Microsoft Edge, the browser creates an HTML file containing your saved favorites, including their folder structure.

This format is widely supported by browsers, making it useful for:

The important limitation is that Edge's native export is all or nothing. There is no built-in option to select a few individual bookmarks or export only one favorites folder.

The export also only contains your favorites. It is not a complete backup of your Edge profile and does not include passwords, browsing history, extensions, open tabs, or other browser data.

How to export all bookmarks from Microsoft Edge

If you want to export your complete favorites collection, you can use Edge's built-in option:

  1. Open Microsoft Edge.
  2. Open the Favorites panel using the Favorites icon in the toolbar.
  3. Click the three-dot menu at the top of the Favorites panel.
  4. Select Export favorites.
  5. Choose where you want to save the file.
  6. Give the file a recognizable name and click Save.

Edge will create an .html file containing all of your favorites.

The exact position of the Favorites icon or menu may differ slightly depending on your version of Edge. If you do not see the same options, open the Favorites panel and look for its three-dot menu.

For another walkthrough of exporting and importing browser bookmarks, see McMaster University's browser export and import guide.

How to export only selected Edge bookmarks

Microsoft Edge does not currently provide a native way to export only selected favorites.

The built-in Export favorites option exports your entire collection, even if you only need a few links or one folder.

For a selective export, you therefore need a third-party extension that adds this functionality.

A selective export tool can be useful when you want to:

This is especially useful if your Edge profile contains a mixture of personal, work, financial, shopping, and internal company bookmarks.

Why use a selective bookmark export extension?

A full HTML export is fine when you are moving browsers or creating a complete backup. It becomes awkward when you only need a small part of your collection.

For example, suppose you have 2,000 favorites but only want to send someone a folder containing 20 research links. Edge's native export would create a file containing all 2,000 bookmarks.

A selective export extension allows you to choose the bookmarks or folders you actually want before creating the export file.

That gives you a much cleaner file and reduces the risk of accidentally sharing unrelated or private bookmarks.

Where should you save the export?

Save the HTML file somewhere you will be able to find it again.

If you are creating a backup, consider keeping it in your normal backup location or encrypted cloud storage rather than leaving it in your Downloads folder.

It is also worth checking the exported file before deleting your original bookmarks. This lets you confirm that the favorites you expected are included.

Keep the original export until you have successfully completed your migration or restored the bookmarks on the destination browser.

Be careful before sharing an exported favorites file

A full Edge export may contain more information than you expect.

For example, your favorites could include:

If you are using Edge's built-in exporter and plan to send the HTML file to someone else, check its contents first.

Because Edge cannot natively export a selected subset, a full export may contain hundreds or thousands of links that have nothing to do with what you intended to share.

If sharing only a few bookmarks is the goal, using a selective export extension is usually the cleaner option.

How to import your Edge bookmarks later

When you need your favorites again, Edge can import bookmarks from the HTML file you created.

Open Edge's import options, choose the option to import favorites or bookmarks from an HTML file, and select your saved file.

The same applies whether the HTML file contains your full collection or a smaller collection created using a selective export extension.

For a complete browser migration or backup, Edge's native HTML export works well. If you only want to move, save, or share selected bookmarks, Edge does not support that natively, so you will need a third-party extension to perform the selective export.