Is there a way to manually import exported bookmarks.html into iPhone's Safari web browser?

TidBITS Talk
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Without online clouds.

Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)

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I’m interested in this, too. A major iPadOS version or two ago, I could open a bookmarks.html file in Files and follow the links. I wish Apple hadn’t broken that capability.

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Preparation

  1. install this simple shortcut I made just now specifically for this purpose https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ad91e90e195641a5b1d5a111732e4150 (it opens all links on any page it receives)
  2. save your current tabs to a new bookmark folder as a backup (triple line list icon)
  3. close all your existing tabs (tap and hold double square icon)

Opening your bookmarks as tabs

  1. view your bookmarks.html (QuickLook using Files app, cc @Will_M)
  2. run the shortcut (share menu)
  3. all the links are now open
  4. screen recording of this part

Saving your bookmarks

  1. save the tabs to a new bookmark folder (triple line list icon)
  2. close all open bookmark tabs (tap and hold double square icon)

Restoring your original tabs

  1. open all tabs in your original backup folder (triple line list icon)
  2. or start from a fresh set of zero tabs
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Thank you. If I understand correctly, that should work for @ant, and I appreciate the effort.

But, in retrospect, I wasn’t clear, and my post was even off-topic. (I go off-topic all the time, but usually I realize when I do. Not so in this case.)

I don’t want to import the bookmarks. I want to open the bookmarks.html file in Safari and be able to follow the links. I was able to do that a major version or two ago, but I cannot figure out how to do now.

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Right. What you want to do is one small step of the process above: the single line that I mention you on.

It’s shown in my screen recording linked above. I open bookmarks.html by using QuickView in Files app. At that point you can scroll the page and tap the links and they will open in Safari.

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@Will_M, I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking, but if you use Dropbox, OneDrive, or something similar, you should be able to open a bookmarks.html file from the associated iPhone app. Once you open it, you can open links in Safari.

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Well, thank you. I had been at that step (QuickLook using Files) many times in the past, but I would hold the link, thinking that I needed to do something like select Open in a new tab. Of course, I didn’t get that option, and I gave up. It hadn’t occurred to me that I could just tap and it would take me to Safari. (In case anyone is following this to do something similar, Files actually asked, “Leave Files and open this link?” It showed the link and did not mention Safari; of course, the link was opened in Safari.) Thanks again.

Thanks. I’m actually using iCloud, so the associated app is Files, and it does work, just not how I had expected it to work.

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