Safari in iPhone iOS 10, moving all bookmarks out of Favorites to a different folder?

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Level 1

10 points

Safari in iPhone iOS 10, moving all bookmarks out of Favorites to a different folder?

On the iPhone (iPhone 6 to be exact, running iOS 10.3.1), I have been bookmarking links in Safari for some time. By default it put them under Favorites, and now there are hundreds in there.

I would like to move all the bookmarks currently inside of Favorites into a different folder, sync them to my computer (Windows 10, either Firefox or IE would be fine), and then delete them off the iPhone.

On the iPhone I tap the Bookmarks icon and the first item listed is Favorites (with a star icon).

I tap Edit to move around items, but the Favorites folder is grayed out and I can't relocate it to under another folder. I can't open it or anything, so I click Done to exit edit mode.

I tap Favorites to open the folder and see my hundreds of bookmarks, and tap Edit. For each bookmark I see a delete button (red circle with a minus in it), a move handle, and a > button to see the details. But I don't see a way to select all bookmarks, so I can move them into another folder. The only option I see is to move each one individually, by tapping > and tapping the folder under LOCATION. It will take *FOREVER* to move them all this way!

So it seems like my bookmarks are all stuck in Favorites.

Can someone please explain a fast way to move them all to a different folder in one step?

Thanks

iPhone 6, iOS 10.3.1, Windows 10 Pro

Posted on Apr 13, 2017 12:08 PM

Reply

Answer 1

sterling r

Community Specialist

Apr 14, 2017 10:26 AM in response to apple-o

Hi apple-o,

I understand that you want to move all of the bookmarks currently in your Favorites folder on your iPhone to your Windows 10 PC. I'm happy to provide some help for this.

Instead of having to move all of these to a new folder and then sync the bookmarks, I would recommend using iCloud to sync your bookmarks to your PC:

What you can do with iCloud for Windows

Keep your Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Google Chrome bookmarks on Windows the same as your Safari bookmarks.

What is iCloud for Windows? - Apple Support

You can find out more about how to set up iCloud with the steps in this article:

Set up and use iCloud for Windows - Apple Support

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Cheers!

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Answer 2

apple-o Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 14, 2017 7:41 PM in response to sterling r

Dear Sterling,

Thanks for your reply.

I did enable iCloud syncing of bookmarks for Safari on the iPhone, and for IE, Mozilla, & Chrome, on the PC. I had to install iCloud plugins or add-ins for the latter 2 browsers, which I did.

This was over 24 hours ago, and I still haven't seen all the bookmarks appear for all the browsers, only Mozilla so far. If it complete, it looks like my Favorites folder on iPhone's Safari contains some 9,000+ items.

Does it take a while to sync with all browsers?

Sterling, having 9,000 bookmarks in a single folder is unmanageable - I need to either move them out of there or delete them off the device. I am okay with wiping all bookmarks from my iPhone's Safari, but I need to know how to do it. If I clear all the bookmarks out of my PC's browsers, will this wipe carry over and clear what's stored on the iPhone? I can't possibly delete 9,000+ bookmarks one at a time using the phone, it will give me carpal tunnel syndrome and by the time I'm done my children will be grown and out of the house. Please help me find a way to remedy this quandry I find myself mired in.

Yours,

Ap'l

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