How to organize bookmarks on a Mac when you use more than one browser

Why your bookmarks get lost

Every browser has its own bookmarks bar and its own folders. Its sync only talks to itself. Safari syncs through iCloud. Chrome syncs through a Google account. Firefox syncs through a Firefox account.

So you save a link in one browser, and the others never see it. A week later you open the wrong one and the link is not there. You start keeping links in notes, in chats and in open tabs. Then one day you need a site and you search all of them.

I did this too. There are three ways out. Each one costs something different.

Option one: pick one browser for bookmarks

Save every link in the same browser, even when you read in another. On a Mac, Safari is the easy pick, since its bookmarks sync through iCloud to your other Apple devices.

The cost is the copying. When you find a link in Chrome, you copy the address, switch to Safari and save it there. That works if you spend most of your day in one browser. It falls apart when your work lives in another.

Option two: move bookmarks between browsers

Most browsers can export their bookmarks as a file and import a file from another browser. That is good for a one-time move, like when you switch browsers for good.

It does not keep them in step. The next link you save stays where you saved it. To stay in sync, you would export and import again and again, and clean up the copies each time.

Option three: keep links outside the browser

A bookmark app keeps your library apart from any browser. Every browser saves to the same place, and every link opens in the browser you are using. This is the reason I made Tejuelo.

In Tejuelo, one keystroke saves the page you are reading, from any browser. Nothing is added to the browser. Another keystroke opens a search panel over the app you are in. Type a few letters and the link opens. Results rank by what you open, so the links you use most come first.

The library syncs through your own iCloud account, so it is the same on every Mac you sign in to. There is no account to make. Tejuelo is free and runs on macOS 15 or later.

It is a Mac app only. If you also need your links on Windows or Android, look at Raindrop.io. I wrote an honest comparison of Tejuelo and Raindrop.io.

A small system that holds up

Whatever tool you pick, the habits matter more than the folders. Five of them do most of the work.

Save first, file later

Do not stop to choose a folder when you save. Drop the link in an Inbox and keep working. Once a week, go through the Inbox and file what you want to keep.

Keep a few broad categories

Deep folder trees are where links go to hide. A handful of broad categories, like Work, Tools and Reading, is enough. In Tejuelo a link can sit in more than one category, so you never have to pick the one right place.

Keep a place for links you have not read

Some links you want to check, not keep. Tejuelo has Later for those. It keeps them out of the Inbox and out of your categories until you decide.

Clear dead links

Sites go away. A dead link is noise every time you search. Tejuelo tests your links and flags the dead ones, so you can clear them out.

Search, do not browse

Folders help you file. Search helps you find. When you want a link back, type part of its name. You will not remember which folder it is in, and you do not have to.