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FAQ

General

What is Browser-Bookmark Checker?

Browser-Bookmark Checker is a cross-platform desktop application for merging and deduplicating browser bookmarks. It supports both GUI and CLI interfaces and handles multiple bookmark formats.

Is it free and open source?

Yes, Browser-Bookmark Checker is open source and free to use under the MIT License.

Does it send my data anywhere?

No. All processing is done locally on your machine. The tool is fully offline and does not make any network calls.

What browsers are supported?

The tool can import bookmarks from:

  • Chrome/Chromium (JSON format)
  • Firefox (HTML export)
  • Edge (HTML export)
  • Safari (HTML export)
  • Brave (HTML export)
  • Opera (HTML export)

Usage

How do I export bookmarks from my browser?

Chrome/Chromium:

  • Copy the Bookmarks file from:
    • Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Bookmarks
    • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Bookmarks
    • Linux: ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/Bookmarks

Firefox/Edge/Safari:

  • Use browser's export feature (usually in Bookmarks menu)
  • Export as HTML file

What similarity threshold should I use?

  • 85 (default): Good balance for most users
  • 90-100: Stricter matching, fewer false positives
  • 70-80: More lenient, may merge similar but different bookmarks
  • 0-50: Very lenient, use with caution

Start with 85 and adjust based on results.

Should I enable fuzzy matching?

Yes, unless:

  • Processing very large datasets (100k+ bookmarks)
  • You want strict URL-based deduplication only
  • Performance is critical

Fuzzy matching improves duplicate detection by comparing similar titles.

How long does processing take?

  • Small datasets (<10k bookmarks): < 1 second
  • Medium datasets (10k-50k): 1-5 seconds
  • Large datasets (50k+): 5-30 seconds (with fuzzy matching)

Use --no-fuzzy for faster processing on large datasets.

Technical

What Python version do I need?

Python 3.11 or higher is required.

Can I use it programmatically?

Yes, see API Reference for programmatic usage examples.

How do I add support for a new bookmark format?

See the "Extending Parsers" section in README.md or check the parser implementation in bookmark_checker/core/parsers.py.

Why are some bookmarks not merged?

Possible reasons:

  1. URLs are different after canonicalization
  2. Titles are not similar enough (if fuzzy matching enabled)
  3. Bookmarks are from different domains (fuzzy matching is domain-scoped)
  4. Similarity threshold is too high

Try lowering the similarity threshold or checking the canonical URLs.

Troubleshooting

The GUI won't start

See Troubleshooting Guide for platform-specific solutions. Common causes:

  • Missing PyQt6 dependencies
  • Display server issues (Linux)
  • Python version incompatibility

I get "No bookmarks found"

  • Verify file format (must be Netscape HTML or Chrome JSON)
  • Check file encoding (should be UTF-8)
  • Ensure file is not corrupted
  • Try exporting bookmarks again from browser

Processing is very slow

  • Disable fuzzy matching with --no-fuzzy
  • Process files in smaller batches
  • Close other applications to free memory
  • Use CLI mode (faster than GUI)

Memory errors with large files

  • Process files in batches
  • Disable fuzzy matching
  • Increase system RAM
  • Process one file at a time

Contributing

How can I contribute?

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines. We welcome:

  • Bug reports
  • Feature requests
  • Code contributions
  • Documentation improvements

Where do I report bugs?

Use the bug report template on GitHub.

How do I suggest a feature?

Use the feature request template on GitHub.

More Questions?