Troubleshooting and FAQ

Using the popup

• The popup says "Unsupported page" or "No scope".. You are on a page that is not http or https (for example chrome://, a new tab or a local file). Open a normal website.
• A bookmark I know I saved is not listed.. Check the scope switch: Page only matches the exact page address. Widen to Host or Domain. Also clear the search box, and remember the popup lists only the first 20 rows.
• The star is not filled, but I bookmarked this page.. The star compares the exact address of the tab with your bookmarks. A bookmark of the same page with a different query string, fragment or trailing slash is not the same string. Search for the site in the popup instead.
• The toolbar badge number differs from what I expected.. The badge follows your default scope (Page, Host or Domain) and the URL-matching options in Settings.

Searching and filters

• The dashboard shows nothing for my search.. Dashboard search is exact substring matching with AND logic, in the title, address and folder only. Check for an active filter chip or tag chip too; press Esc to clear layers. The popup, not the dashboard, has fuzzy fallback.
• Searching tag:work does nothing.. There is no tag operator. Click a tag chip in the Tags strip above the list.
• health:broken finds nothing.. That filter matches only bookmarks with a recorded result. Run a check first, and note results expire after 7 days.
• Two bookmarks are marked duplicates that I consider different.. They resolve to the same page address under your matching options. If a query string is the only difference, make sure Ignore query string is off.
• Two obvious duplicates are not flagged.. Differences in scheme (http vs https), a www. prefix, a non-default port, letter case in the path, or the query string make them different pages. See the examples.

Link health and permissions

• "Health scans need temporary site access. Permission denied".. You declined Chrome's site-access prompt. Start the check again and accept, or grant access from the extension's Details page.
• Lots of "Broken 403" / "401" / "429".. Those statuses mean the site refused an automated request. Open a few in your browser before drawing conclusions.
• A bookmark shows as Redirected but the page looks the same.. The site really answered with a redirect, for example from http to https or to a new path. A different #fragment or letter case in the host alone is not counted. Check Redirects to in the detail panel before you repair; a redirect to a sign-in or consent page is not a fix. See Repairing redirects.
• My scan stopped when I closed the tab.. Manual scans run only while the dashboard is open. Reopen Library tools and choose Resume scan. Use the scheduled scan for hands-free checking.
• The scheduled scan did not run or did not notify me.. It must be enabled, site access must be granted, and Chrome must be running when it is due. It notifies you only when bookmarks have newly turned broken since the last result. Check the status line in Settings.
• I enabled the scan but the checkbox turned itself off.. Saving asks for site access; declining switches it off again and shows Background scan needs site-access permission. It was not enabled.

Deleting, Undo and recovery

• Undo has gone.. Undo exists only while the toast is on screen and the page that created it stays open. Pressing Esc, starting another action that shows a toast, reloading or closing the tab ends it. Restore from a snapshot instead.
• After Undo the bookmark looks new, or is no longer "old".. Chrome gives restored bookmarks a new ID and a new date added. That cannot be changed.
• The toast says "Deleted: 3. Failed: 1.". One bookmark could not be removed (for example it was already gone or protected). Undo covers only the three that were deleted.
• The duplicate merge stopped with "Preview changed; reopen it before merging".. A bookmark in the preview was edited, moved or deleted, or its tags changed, after you opened it. Reopen Duplicate preview.
• The merge says the tag limit was exceeded.. The union of tags would exceed 20 on the survivor. Remove a few tags from one copy, then try again.

Tags

• My tags are gone after reinstalling or on another computer.. Tags live in the extension's local storage, which uninstalling deletes and which is not synced. Export a snapshot before uninstalling; a snapshot restore recreates tags on the restored bookmarks.
• Tag text changed case or lost spaces.. Tags are normalised to lower case with single spaces and a limit of 32 characters.
• I can't add a tag from the row.. Click the row first so it becomes active; the + add tag box appears only on the active row. Press Enter or comma to add. For many bookmarks at once use Bulk tags; see Organizing.
• Bulk tags affected too many (or too few) bookmarks.. With nothing selected it targets all visible bookmarks. Read the count in the dialog before applying, and use Undo tag changes if needed.

Import, export and restore

• The import preview shows zero supported bookmarks.. The file had no http/https addresses the importer understands, or its format was not recognised. Browser bookmarks.html files are supported; check that the file really is a bookmarks export (it should contain folders and links) and that its addresses are http or https, because bookmarklets, place: and about: entries are excluded. See Backup and restore.
• "Import file is too large (max 10 MB).". Split the file into smaller ones.
• My restore created a second copy.. Restore is additive and never deduplicates; each run creates a new folder. Delete the extra folder in Chrome's bookmark manager.
• A restore or import stopped half way.. Download the Recovery journal, look at what was created in Chrome's bookmark manager, and only then decide whether to retry.

Language and appearance

• Some dialogs are in English though I picked another language.. Some newer strings fall back to English until they are translated and reviewed. See Appearance and languages.
• The popup is the wrong width.. Choose Popup width under Settings → Behavior defaults: Compact is 380 px wide and Comfortable (the default) is 420 px. Reopen the popup after saving.
• Colors do not follow my system theme.. Set Theme to System in Settings. A fixed Light or Dark choice overrides the system.

When nothing helps

1. Reload the dashboard tab.
2. Disable and re-enable the extension in chrome://extensions , or press its reload icon if it is unpacked.
3. Create a diagnostic export , check it, and open an issue on GitHub (opens in a new tab) .

FAQ

• Does Bookmark Scope upload my bookmarks?. No. There is no server. See Privacy, permissions and data.
• Does it change my bookmarks without asking?. No. Deleting, merging, editing, moving, repairing redirects, importing and restoring are all explicit actions. The scheduled scan only reads.
• Does it sync between my devices?. Your bookmarks sync through Chrome as usual. Bookmark Scope's tags, views and history do not.
• Does it work in Firefox, Edge or Brave?. Edge: yes, from Microsoft Edge Add-ons. Brave: yes, from the Chrome Web Store page. Firefox: there is an experimental build for desktop Firefox 140 or newer. Its Firefox Add-ons listing is in review, and I tested it on Firefox 157 on Windows only. To try it, follow Firefox (experimental) in the installation guide. It works like the Chrome version, with these known differences: lists show letter tiles instead of site icons; the buttons that open Chrome's bookmark manager (such as Open Chrome bookmarks and Show in bookmarks) are hidden, because Firefox does not let extensions open its Library; snapshots leave out Firefox's bookmark separators, so they are not restored; the pin hint wording follows Chrome; and Firefox removes a temporary add-on when it closes, so you load it again each time. I did not test Firefox's own site-access prompt for link checks by hand, or the toolbar popup panel. Safari is not supported.
• Is it free?. It is MIT licensed, and the support link is optional.
• Can I change the 730-day threshold for "old"?. Not in the current version.