How Do I Transfer My IE Favorites From My PC to My New Mac?

Over time most people save websites in their PC browser as Favorites in Internet Explorer or as Bookmarks in most other browsers. Wouldn't it be great to not lose all those favorites you've saved on your PC when you switch to your new Mac? Don't worry, it's really pretty easy to accomplish. You should be set up with your old favorites in no time.

The process is the roughly the same using browsers on both platforms, so this advice really goes both ways. First you Export your favorites. Next you transfer them to your new Mac. Lastly, you Import them into your Mac browser.

Start on your PC by launching IE or whatever browser you have been using. Below are the instructions from Microsoft's site on exporting your favorites. I suggest you keep the name Bookmark.htm and save to your desktop for easy access.

To export your PC favorites

Follow these steps on the computer that you're exporting your favorites from.

1. Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Internet Explorer.
2. Click the Add to Favorites button , and then click Import and Export.
3. In the Import/Export Wizard, click Next.
4. Select Export Favorites, and then click Next.
5. Select the favorites folder that you want to export. If you want all of your favorites, select the top level (Favorites) folder, otherwise, select the individual folder. Click Next.
6. By default, Internet Explorer creates a file called Bookmark.htm in your Documents folder. If you want to use a name other than Bookmark.htm or to store the exported favorites in a folder other than Documents, specify the new file and folder name.
7. Click Next. If you already have a file by the same name, Internet Explorer will ask you to replace it. Click Yes if you want replace the file or click No and type in a new file name.
8. Click Finish.

The goal here is to have a file called Bookmark.htm on your desktop for transport. Now, use your preferred method to get the file onto your new Mac. See Moving Files Between a Mac and a PC the Easy Way for explicit instructions. Super easy way: Email the file to your mail account on your Mac.

Now on your Mac, open the browser you prefer. In Safari, go to the File menu ans select Import Bookmarks… then navigate to your file. If you sent the file to your email account, save the file to your desktop for easy discovery. In Firefox, go to the File menu and select Import… and follow the same process. Once you click through the process your favorites should show up in your Mac browser as bookmarks. You may want to use the Bookmarks manager to organize them in the way you want.

This process moves your favorites to your new Mac. It doesn't sync your bookmarks between computers. If you are looking to keep your bookmarks in sync between a Mac and PC, you may want to use Foxmarks , which is changing its name to Xmarks. This is a syncing service much like MobileMe. You may also want to use a social bookmarking service like Delicious .

Happy surfing!

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