How to Edit the Bookmarks Bar in Chrome

The bookmarks bar is the horizontal strip just below the address bar. It has limited space, so editing it well means choosing what belongs there, keeping labels short, and knowing how to rearrange quickly. Every edit described here happens with a right-click or a drag.

Rename a bookmark on the bar

Shorter names mean more bookmarks fit on the bar. You can rename any bookmark to a single word, an abbreviation, or nothing at all.

1. Right-click the bookmark on the bar.
2. Select Edit.
3. Change the Name field to whatever you want.
4. Click Save.

Tip: If you clear the name entirely and save, Chrome will display only the site's favicon. This is the fastest way to fit more bookmarks on the bar.

The favicon-only trick

You can fit dozens of bookmarks on the bar by removing the text label from each one. Every site has a unique favicon, so you can still recognize them at a glance.

1. Right-click each bookmark on the bar.
2. Select Edit.
3. Delete everything in the Name field so it is blank.
4. Click Save.

The bookmark will collapse down to just the small icon. Repeat for every bookmark you want to shrink. You can always add the name back later by editing it again.

This works best for sites you visit daily and recognize by icon. For less familiar sites, keep a short label so you do not have to guess which icon is which.

Rearrange bookmarks on the bar

Drag and drop is the only way to reorder bookmarks on the bar.

1. Click and hold a bookmark on the bar.
2. Drag it left or right to the position you want.
3. Release the mouse button.

A small arrow indicator shows where the bookmark will land. Be careful when dragging near folders. If you drop a bookmark on top of a folder icon, Chrome moves it inside the folder rather than placing it next to it. If that happens, open the folder, find the bookmark, and drag it back out onto the bar.

Add a bookmark to the bar

There are a few ways to get a bookmark onto the bar:

• Bookmark the current page to the bar. Press Ctrl+D (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+D (Mac). In the popup that appears, change the folder to Bookmarks bar and click Done.
• Drag a URL to the bar. Click the lock icon (or the tune icon) to the left of the URL in the address bar and drag it directly onto the bookmarks bar.
• Move an existing bookmark to the bar. Open Bookmark Manager (Ctrl+Shift+O on Windows/Linux, Cmd+Option+B on Mac). Find the bookmark, then drag it into the Bookmarks bar folder in the left sidebar.

Add a folder to the bar

Folders let you group related bookmarks under one icon on the bar, saving space.

1. Right-click an empty area on the bookmarks bar.
2. Select Add folder.
3. Give the folder a name and click Save.
4. Drag bookmarks into the new folder, or right-click a bookmark and use Edit to change its folder.

Click a folder on the bar to see a dropdown of the bookmarks inside it.

Remove a bookmark from the bar without deleting it

This is an important distinction. Removing a bookmark from the bar means moving it to a different folder. Deleting a bookmark erases it completely from Chrome. If you just want to free up bar space without losing the bookmark, move it instead of deleting it.

1. Open Bookmark Manager (Ctrl+Shift+O on Windows/Linux, Cmd+Option+B on Mac).
2. In the left sidebar, click Bookmarks bar.
3. Find the bookmark you want to remove from the bar.
4. Drag it to Other Bookmarks or any other folder in the sidebar.

The bookmark is now in a different folder. It will no longer appear on the bar, but you can still find it through Bookmark Manager or the bookmark search.

If you right-click a bookmark on the bar and select Delete, the bookmark is permanently removed from Chrome. There is no trash folder. Ctrl+Z (or Cmd+Z) can undo the deletion, but only immediately. Once you navigate away or close Chrome, the undo window is gone.

Edit a bookmark's URL from the bar

If a bookmark points to the wrong page (for example, after a site redesign), you can fix the URL without deleting and re-adding it.

1. Right-click the bookmark on the bar.
2. Select Edit.
3. Update the URL field.
4. Click Save.

What is "All Bookmarks" on the right side of the bar?

If you see an All Bookmarks button on the far right of the bookmarks bar, that shows bookmarks stored in the "Other Bookmarks" folder. It is not a separate location. Anything you put in the Other Bookmarks folder appears there. If the Other Bookmarks folder is empty, the button disappears.

Quick reference

If you have more bookmarks than the bar can display, organizing your bookmarks into folders helps keep the bar useful. For finding bookmarks that are not on the bar, Chrome's Bookmark Manager search or the @bookmarks address bar filter can locate them across your entire library. TrueBookmark's Quick Find popup gives you even faster access to any bookmark without needing to keep it on the bar.