What Is the Bookmarks.bak File in Chrome?

Bookmarks.bak is Chrome's automatic backup of your bookmarks. It sits in the same folder as your main bookmarks file and holds your bookmarks' previous saved state. It is useful for recovering a recent accidental deletion, but it has one important limit: it only ever keeps a single previous version, and that version is replaced the first time Chrome saves a change after you launch it.

Where the file lives

Chrome stores bookmarks in a file named Bookmarks (no extension) inside your profile folder, with Bookmarks.bak right beside it:

• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/
• Linux: ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/

If you use more than one Chrome profile, swap Default for the matching Profile 1, Profile 2, and so on. For a fuller tour of these locations, see where Chrome bookmarks are stored.

What the file actually contains

Both Bookmarks and Bookmarks.bak are plain JSON text. Open either in a text editor and you will see your folder structure, each bookmark's title and URL, and timestamps. The .bak file is not encrypted or special. It is simply a copy of the main file taken at a particular moment.

How and when it gets overwritten

This is the part that catches people out. The cycle works like this:

1. You launch Chrome, and it loads your Bookmarks file.
2. The first time Chrome saves a bookmark change after starting, it copies the existing Bookmarks over Bookmarks.bak.
3. From then on it updates the live Bookmarks file in real time while you browse.

So Bookmarks.bak reflects the previous session until your first change in the current one. If you delete bookmarks today and have not restarted Chrome, the .bak still holds the older, complete version. Once Chrome restarts and saves a change, that good copy is overwritten with the now-incomplete one. This is why the recovery window is narrow.

How to recover from Bookmarks.bak

If your main Bookmarks file is missing entries but Bookmarks.bak still has a good copy, restore it carefully:

1. Close Chrome completely. On macOS use Cmd+Q; on Windows confirm no Chrome process is left running. This stops Chrome from overwriting the file.
2. Open the profile folder for your platform from the list above.
3. Make a copy of Bookmarks.bak somewhere safe first, in case you need a second attempt.
4. Rename the current Bookmarks file to something like Bookmarks.old.
5. Rename Bookmarks.bak to Bookmarks.
6. Reopen Chrome. The bookmarks from that backup should appear.

For a step-by-step version with screenshots of related cases, see how to restore bookmarks in Chrome.

A quick way to check the file is good first

Before you rename anything, it is worth confirming Bookmarks.bak actually holds what you want. Two checks take a moment:

• Look at the date. Right-click the file and check its modified date. If it predates the loss, it is the version you want. If it was modified after, Chrome may have already overwritten it.
• Peek inside. Open a copy of Bookmarks.bak in a plain text editor and search for the title or part of the URL of a bookmark you lost. If it is in there, the restore will bring it back. If it is not, restoring will not help, and you should move to sync or an export instead.

Doing this on a copy, never the original, keeps the file untouched in case you need it again.

When Bookmarks.bak will not help

The file is a one-generation snapshot, so it cannot help in a few common situations:

• You restarted Chrome and kept using it after the loss, which overwrote the good .bak.
• Sync pushed the deletion to the server and then back down, replacing both files.
• The whole profile folder was deleted, taking Bookmarks.bak with it.

In any of these, your remaining options are Chrome Sync, another signed-in device, or an HTML export you saved earlier. How to recover deleted bookmarks in Chrome covers those paths.

Why a single backup is not enough

Bookmarks.bak is a thoughtful safety net, but it was never meant to be a real backup. It keeps one version, and that version is gone soon after Chrome reopens. If your bookmarks matter, an independent backup that keeps multiple dated versions removes the race against Chrome's next save. TrueBookmark, a Chrome extension, backs up on install, lets you back up anytime, and saves a safety backup before risky changes - keeping multiple versions so you can restore an earlier point instead of hoping a single .bak file survived.