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I simply want to search through the bookmarks in Google Chrome as I type in the address bar. I don't want to have to type the full URL just to hit a site already stored in my bookmarks.

Google Chrome doesn't seem to catch the bookmark entries and I usually have to type a full URL if I know it.

Is there any way to turn it on to search through the bookmarks or an extension that can do this?

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2
  • 1
    Firefox offers a setting to search for bookmarks in the address bar. It's one of my most used productivity tools with Firefox.
    – AdamHurwitz
    Commented Sep 30, 2022 at 15:06
  • I suggest sorting answers by "Date modified (newest first)" if you don't want to learn about how Chrome worked in 2010.
    – Noumenon
    Commented Feb 3, 2023 at 8:18

10 Answers 10

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153

No bloated extensions necessary. Simply add a new Search engine in Chrome options:

Chrome Settings > Basic > Search > Manage Search Engines > Add

  • Search Engine Name: Chrome Bookmarks
  • Keyword: b
  • URL: chrome://bookmarks/?q=%s

That will allow you to easily search your bookmarks by simply pressing b then a SPACE or TAB.

enter image description here

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  • 3
    If you also use Firefox a lot you could make the keyword '*' so that you can use the same keystrokes in both Firefox and Chrome.
    – Sam Hasler
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 12:46
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    A footnote to the most common answer: The omnibox now searches bookmarks by default. See my answer for a tad more details.
    – Chris
    Commented May 1, 2013 at 18:40
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    So, you find this "great". But what you have: 1. press b and space. 2. enter keyword. 3. press enter. 4. double click on bookmark shown. That all instead of just open the site I need. Is this really that great? Google just want you to open google.com more often.
    – Andrey
    Commented Dec 2, 2013 at 12:21
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    Thanks a lot! I use it with keyword * just like in firefox!
    – Laurin Herbsthofer
    Commented Dec 2, 2019 at 9:45
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    On Chrome 91.0.4472.106 this only works until you type the second character: after the third character it stops searching in bookmarks and only proposes search results
    – Marco Lackovic
    Commented Jun 19, 2021 at 6:54
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Go to Tools -> Options -> Basic -> Default Search Manage -> Add...

You can use:

Name: Chrome History (or whatever you want)
Keyword: h
URL: chrome://history/#q=%s&p=0

Now if you want to search for superuser in your history just type "h superuser" into your addressbar. You can use whatever keyword you'd like when you create the link, "h" is just an example. I use this quick search for everything... a-amazon, i-imdb, e-ebay, g-I'm feeling Lucky Google search... You can even be more specific with it, like I use "ipeople" to do a people search on IMDB instead of a regular IMDB search. Just make sure you don't use a keyword you might normally want to search for... I use mostly single letter keywords.

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    I'd like to have it auto complete the URL from the bookmark, just as it does with Safari. (Say, you have superuser.com bookmarked and as soon as I start typing 'sup' in the address bar, it will show candidate bookmarks below the bar including 'sup' and auto completes them as I type more specifically.
    – h1d
    Commented Jul 7, 2010 at 13:31
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    This seems to search the history, not bookmarks?
    – Zoredache
    Commented Feb 1, 2011 at 23:50
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    The OP wants to search bookmarks, he doesn't want to search in the history...
    – Sk8erPeter
    Commented May 6, 2013 at 22:09
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This must have been a common feature request, because at least as of Chrome 26, the omnibar does automatically search both bookmarks and search history in addition to the normal integration with Google search. Bookmark matches are marked with a star in the predictive search dropdown.

For what it's worth (not much) see Google's omnibox documentation.

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    Unfortunately, at the time of this comment, the suggestion list seems a bit broken in this regard. Even with numerous bookmarks matching my query, only maybe one or two bookmark entries are shown - even after changing the chrome://flags/#omnibox-ui-max-autocomplete-matches to a maximum of 12 entries.
    – MikMak
    Commented Jul 4, 2019 at 15:40
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    Now in 2021, I'm seeing bookmarks appear in search results but they are no longer marked with a star. They are at the bottom of the list of suggestions, and you can tell they're from bookmarks because they include a URL.
    – Jon Onstott
    Commented Jan 18, 2021 at 17:45
  • This feature works well in Firefox's browser FWIW!
    – AdamHurwitz
    Commented Sep 30, 2022 at 15:14
7

The Bookmark Search extension should meet your needs.

Screenshot

Just to clarify, I actually wrote this extension. It is not bloated and source code available at GitHub, with a simple permissive license.

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2
  • Works great, I recommend this better than the custom search query solution. In the other solution the first result is just "search bookmarks" which always requires another arrow-down keystroke.
    – Arad
    Commented Dec 17, 2014 at 15:18
  • This is the best solution: the search doesn't mix with history/web search, the results come in the omnibox itself, rather than an extra page of found bookmarks, like the custom search engine solution. I install this addon everywhere I go.
    – Benny Bottema
    Commented Feb 12, 2021 at 9:48
6

The solution is the Fauxbar Extension, which brings Firefox-navbar behavior to chrome/chromium:

enter image description here

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0
3

well,actually chrome has provided this function

visit chrome://flags/ ,and turn on the two function "Omnibox short bookmark suggestions" and "Omnibox Bookmark Paths"

just search "bookmark" and you will see all of them just search "bookmark" and you will see all of them

or just use the url below "chrome://flags/#omnibox-short-bookmark-suggestions" "chrome://flags/#omnibox-bookmark-paths"

just turn it on. Then you can search bookmark from url bar without other steps

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3

In 2023, you can search Chrome bookmarks by typing "@" in the address bar and hitting "Tab".

enter image description here

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0

I created plugin for Chrome to access bookmarks "programmatic way". It was inspired by Intellij IDEA ctrl+shift+n dialog way to access files. I hope you'll like it!)

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-1

Press [Ctrl]-[E] and start typing the name of the bookmark. As the match from your Bookmarks is found it will be listed as second item, below the Google Search entry. You can go to that item by pressing [Arrow-Down] and then [Enter].

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    That does not work in recent Chrome (85.0.4183.121). Ctrl-E just forces a Google Search.
    – yeliabsalohcin
    Commented Sep 29, 2020 at 9:21
-2

You can search through your bookmarks by pressing CTRL-SHIFT-B. Unfortunately Chrome omnibar is not as efficient as Firefox awesomebar.

Note that there is an issue opened to make Chrome omnibar as "intelligent" as Firefox awesomebar, making it remember the most used keys with associated selected websites (example: if you constantly type "b" in Firefox awesomebar and selects Facebook from it, it would make Facebook be the first shown website when you press "b"). The issue can be viewed here: http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=367, but as today it is not resolved.

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    CTRL-SHIFT-B in current Chrome appears to hide or unhide bookmark bar, not search bookmarks!
    – LeBleu
    Commented Jun 27, 2012 at 21:01

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