Restore Lost Bookmarks due to Chrome Update

"I installed the free upgrade to Windows 10. Now, I see that I've lost all of my files (pictures, videos,..), and more importantly in my case, the content of my bookmarks in Google Chrome. How can I get back the lost bookmarks?"   

This a scenario from Super User. According to this scenario, it seems quite common for Chrome users to lose or delete important bookmarks for various kinds of reasons. However, still, quite a number of users may feel puzzled when their newly updated Chrome or the Windows OS update removes or deletes their files and bookmarks.

If you happen to lose bookmarks or favorites in Chrome after updating to the new version, here below, you'll find professional solutions to restore lost bookmarks due to Windows or Chrome update. 

Fix 1. Find lost Chrome bookmarks from Chrome backups in PC

Chrome usually creates a local file folder to back up all your browsing histories and bookmarks in your PC. So when you lose important bookmarks or delete favorites in Chrome, you may still have a chance to find them on your PC. 

• Step 1: Open Windows Explorer and plug the following location into its address bar, please replace "NAME" with the name of your Windows user account:
• C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
• Step 2: Here, you will see two bookmark files – Bookmarks and Bookmarks.bak. The latter is the most recent backup which was taken when you opened your browser the last time.
• Step 3: To restore the backup, close all open Chrome browser windows. With Chrome closed, rename the Bookmarks file to Bookmarks.old and rename Bookmarks.bak to Bookmarks.
• Step 4: You'll see your deleted bookmarks when you relaunch Chrome. Any bookmarks you've created since the last time you launched Chrome will be lost.

If you don't find the .bak file extension but just see two files named Bookmarks, try to change the settings to uncheck the "Hide extensions for known file types" option. 

That's what ended up restoring the bookmarks. For good measure, it is also advised to disable the Google Stars bookmarking tool. 

Fix 2. Restore lost bookmarks due to Chrome update from PC

When Chrome update thoroughly deleted all files including bookmark on your PC and you can neither find any tracks in the Chrome browser, then you can try a free recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free Edition. It is a professional tool that can recover deleted, formatted, inaccessible data from different data loss situations from your local devices. Try this software to restore the deleted Chrome histories/favorites from your PC. 

Step 1. Select a location to start finding data

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, please select a location where you lose your data and start to scan, like Desktop, Libraries, hard drive, external storage devices or lost partitions.

Step 2. Scan your partition

Click the "Scan" button and the software begins to scan your partition to find as much lost data as possible.

Tips for finding wanted data

• Extra Files: find files that lost names or paths
• Filter: a quick way to your wanted files
• Search: e.g. file name/file extension

Step 3. Preview and recover lost files

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard allows you to preview specific recoverable files. After the preview or file filtering, you can target the tracked files and press the "Recover" button to get everything you want back. 

When you get lost Chrome bookmarks or histories back, you can copy the bookmarks to the local backup folder in your PC as a backup and then browse each one of them to set as bookmarks again in new Chrome browser.

Fix 3. Use DNS Cache to find lost Chrome favorites after the browser update

• Step 1: Press Windows + R, type cmd and click OK. Or you can also type cmd in the Windows search bar.
• Step 2: Open Command Prompt, type ipcongif /displaydns and click Enter.

All recent websites that you've visited will be listed and you can browse them and set them as bookmarks in Chrome again.

Fix 4. Restore lost favorites after Chrome update via Google History

This fixing method only works when you didn't clean up your Google History. If you have cleaned up all browsing histories in Google, things may not work at all by following below steps:

Go to Google History > Sign in Google account > Tab History

You'll find all your browsing histories and then you can add them as your Chrome favorites or bookmarks again.

How to prevent losing your Chrome bookmarks again

Do remember to back up your Chrome bookmarks or its local files in PC regularly into another hard drive or storage device. Then, you can copy the backups into your PC Chrome backup folder and restore bookmarks with ease when you happen to lose Chrome bookmarks.

• Step 1: In the top-right corner of the browser window, click the Chrome menu enter image description here.
• Step 2: Select Bookmarks > Bookmark Manager.
• Step 3: Click the Organize menu button in the center pane of Bookmark manager.
• Step 4: Select Export bookmarks to HTML file...
• Step 5: Chrome will export your bookmarks as an HTML file, which you can then import into Chrome or another web browser.