Bookmarks to Shortcuts (Python)

A powerful, user-friendly tool to export your Brave bookmarks as Windows .url shortcuts, HTML files, or text lists. Designed with a modern GUI, it offers granular control over your exports and helps keep your bookmarks organized.

Key Features

🖥️ Modern GUI

• Intuitive Interface: Browse your bookmarks, select export options, and monitor progress.
• Dark/Light Theme: Toggle between ☀ Light and 🌙 Dark modes to match your system preference.
• Persistent Config: Remembers your Bookmarks file and Export Destination between sessions.

📂 Flexible Export Options

• Formats: Export as Windows Shortcuts (.url), a standalone HTML document, or a plain text list.
• Folder Selection: Choose exactly which folders to export—no need to export everything.
• Structure Modes:
  • Preserve Hierarchy: Mirrors your Brave folder structure exactly.
  • Combined: Flattens all bookmarks into a single folder for easy scanning.
• Duplicate Handling: Choose to Skip, Overwrite, or generate Unique filenames for duplicates.

🧹 Clean Up & Safety

• Delete After Export: Optionally remove exported bookmarks from Brave automatically.
  • Safety First: Checks if Brave is running (and blocks execution if it is) to prevent database corruption.
  • Optional Backup: Choose whether to create a timestamped .bak copy of your Bookmarks file before deletion.
  • Smart Pruning: Automatically removes empty folders left behind after deletion.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ (No external dependencies required).
• Windows (Optimized for Windows file paths and .url shortcuts).

Running the Application

1. Setup the Environment: Double-click setup.bat. This will create a virtual environment and install any necessary development tools (like pytest for testing).

2. Launch the GUI: Double-click run_bookmarks_to_shortcuts_gui.bat.

   Or run from the command line:

   python -m bookmarks_to_shortcuts.gui

3. Select Source & Destination:

   • Brave Bookmarks File: The app attempts to auto-locate this. Typically found at: %LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\Bookmarks
   • Destination Folder: Where you want your exported files to go.

4. Customize Options:

   • Check the Export Shortcuts, HTML, or Text boxes.
   • Toggle "Include root name" if you want the top-level folder names in your path.
   • Enable "Delete exported bookmarks" if you want to move them out of Brave (Brave must be closed!).

5. Select Folders:

   • Expand the tree view and check the boxes for the folders you wish to export.
   • Use Select all / Deselect all for quick bulk actions.

6. Export:

   • Click Export. The status box will show the results.

Development

Run the test suite with:

pytest

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Footnote: CLI Usage

For automation or headless environments, a minimal CLI is available:

python -m bookmarks_to_shortcuts.cli "<path-to-Brave-Bookmarks>" "<output-directory>" [options]

Options

• --include-roots <root1> <root2> ...: Limit export to specific roots (e.g., bookmark_bar).
• --include-full-path: Include root folder name in output path.
• --duplicate-strategy unique|skip|overwrite: Handle naming conflicts.