Exporting bookmarks with start.me has become even better

It’s always been possible to export bookmarks from your start.me page. That’s because we strongly feel that your data should be yours. Now, our developers have improved this feature to make it more robust for power users, and also easier to manage. And best of all: it’s a free feature for all our users!

Data portability

Pretty much all modern browsers are aware of the usefulness of bookmarks. That’s why they all support them, in one way or another. Usually, you can access them through a Bookmarks bar, a sidebar, or a speed dial.

All browsers are also aware of the fact that your bookmarks are a valuable asset. They are a personal record of everything you consider important enough to visit more often. That’s why all browsers also support the possibility to make a backup of your bookmarks to the industry standard: an HTML-file.

With this file, you can always import your bookmarks to a new browser (like Opera, see screenshot) or another bookmarking solution, like start.me, later.

We’ve always followed this standard.

Export bookmarks

Instructions to export bookmarks:

1. Click the User icon in the top right corner of your window.
2. Click Account details to open the Account menu.
3. Select the fifth option Export data.
4. In the first tab, you’ll see all your pages, including the archived pages. You can also see the date they were last changed. Select all or just the pages you want to export.
5. Click the Export bookmarks button to start your export.

start.me will now open the third tab of your Export data page, called My exports. Here you can see the progress of your latest exports. You also find a download link to the HTML-file, when the export is ready. If you’ve got a big collection of bookmarks, this might take a while. Once ready, you’ve got 48 hours to download your data, and store it locally or wherever you want to.

Export Feeds

Less widely used, but no less interesting is the use of RSS readers or New feeds. In start.me you can follow many sites at once, which will save a lot of time and distraction. That’s why we thought it would be great to make it possible to create a backup of your News widgets too.

Instructions to export News feeds:

1. Click the User icon in the top right corner of your window.
2. Click Account details to open the Account menu.
3. Select the fifth option Export data.
4. In the second tab, you’ll see all your pages, with the number News widgets in the second column. You can also see the date they were last changed. Select all pages or just the pages you want to export the News widgets from.
5. Click the Export feeds button to start your export.

start.me will now open the third tab of your Export data page, called My exports. Here you can see the progress of your latest exports. You also find a download link to the OPML-file, when the export is ready. Once ready, you’ve got 48 hours to download your data, and store it locally or wherever you want to.

Import options

Once you’ve exported your bookmarks or news feeds, there are several options:

• Import bookmarks to a new browser.
• Import bookmarks to a new start.me account or another Bookmarking app.
• Import feeds to a new start.me page or account, or another RSS reader.

What do you think?

So that’s it: our more robust export feature for Bookmarks and News widgets. We’d love to hear what you think about this improvement, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.

Status Update July 29, 2021