Bookmark sources

A source is one collection of bookmarks the dashboard can show. Bookmarks from different sources are never mixed together, and switching sources never moves or copies anything.

Kinds of sources

• Browser Source: the bookmarks your browser profile already keeps. It is listed as Browser bookmarks. Chrome and Firefox have it, but Safari does not (see Safari).
• Daemon Source: one Vault served by the local Bookmarks But Better daemon. A Vault is a folder of Markdown files on your computer. If the daemon serves several Vaults, each one is a separate source.
• Standalone Source: an older collection stored inside the browser. It is being retired. See The Standalone source is retiring below.

Enabled and active sources

You can enable several sources at once. Exactly one of them is the Active Source: the one the dashboard shows. Everything you do acts on the Active Source only:

• adding, editing, moving and deleting bookmarks on the dashboard
• saving a page from the extension’s toolbar popup
• searching from the address bar with bb (Chrome and Firefox)
• importing a file (see Import and export)

Your source settings belong to the current browser profile and are never synced. Another profile, or another computer, has its own settings.

Switch sources

• From the dashboard. When more than one source is enabled, a source switcher appears at the top of the dashboard. Pick a source there, or choose Manage sources to open Settings. With only one source enabled, the switcher is hidden because there is nothing to switch to.
• From Settings. Open Settings → Sources and click Use next to a source. The current one is marked Active.

Switching happens in place, without reloading the page. Your theme, layout width and nested folders stay the same. The root folder and per-folder layouts belong to each source.

Enable, disable and rename

In Settings → Sources, each source has:

• a switch to enable or disable it. Disabling a source keeps its settings, so you can turn it back on later. At least one source must stay enabled. If you try to turn off the last one, you get a Cannot disable message.
• a pencil button (Rename) to give it a display label. The label only applies in this browser profile. Renaming a Vault’s label does not rename the Vault itself.

Daemon Sources also have Forget daemon, which removes a daemon connection and all its Vaults from this profile. See Connect the extension.

When a source cannot be reached

If the Active Source is a Vault and its daemon is not running, the dashboard shows Bookmarks are unavailable. with two buttons: Retry and Switch source. The extension never quietly shows your browser bookmarks instead, because that would look like your Vault had lost its bookmarks. See Troubleshooting to get the daemon running again.

The Standalone source is retiring

The Standalone source is an older collection that was stored inside the browser itself. It is being removed in the next major version:

• New users cannot choose it.
• If your profile was already using it, you keep access until that release. While it is active, the dashboard shows a notice titled Standalone bookmarks are going away.
• Moving your bookmarks is a copy. Your Standalone bookmarks are never deleted, and you can still read them in Settings until the removal.

Copy your Standalone bookmarks to another source

1. Open the migration using any of these:
   • Migrate now in the dashboard notice
   • Migrate Standalone bookmarks… under Legacy in Settings → Sources
   • Migrate… in Settings → Data & Migration
2. Under Copy to, choose Browser bookmarks or a connected Daemon Source.
3. Optionally, choose a Destination folder. If you leave it on the default, the copy goes where an import into that source would go.
4. Click Preview the copy. The preview shows how many bookmarks and folders will be copied, how many are duplicates, and how many bookmarks are already in the destination (those stay).
5. Click Copy now. If there are duplicates, the button says Resolve duplicates instead, and you choose what to do with each one (see Duplicates).
6. When the copy is checked and correct, you see Copy verified. Click Switch to the destination to start using it, or Stay here to keep using Standalone for now.

The copy only adds bookmarks and never removes anything from the destination. If it could not be fully checked, you can run the migration again safely.