BookmarkTrash

BookmarkTrash

BookmarkTrash User Manual

Installation

  1. Visit the Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons, or Edge Add-ons
  2. Click Add to browser and confirm the permissions
  3. Pin the extension icon to your toolbar for quick access

How It Works

BookmarkTrash records bookmark deletions in the background. Whether you delete a bookmark or folder from the bookmarks bar, the bookmark manager or another extension, it goes straight into the trash — no action needed.

Deleted bookmarks are kept for the retention period you set and can be restored at any time until then; expired bookmarks are cleared automatically every day.

Opening the Trash

Click the BookmarkTrash icon in your toolbar to open or close the side panel. The home page has two cards:

  • By Batch — Undo recent deletions a whole batch at a time, the fastest fix after a mistake
  • By Bookmark — Every bookmark in the trash, to find, restore or clear one by one

Restoring by Batch

Deletions are grouped into batches, newest on the left, each showing its bookmark count and deletion time.

  • Undo — Hover over a batch and click Undo to put its bookmarks back where they were, in their original order
  • Large deletion warning — For 24 hours, any batch of 20 or more bookmarks is tagged Mass deletion, so a folder deleted by mistake or a sync glitch never goes unnoticed
  • Batches shown — Use the menu in the top-right corner of the card to show the last 1, 3 or 5 batches (3 and 5 are Pro features); each can be undone on its own
  • Undo with a shortcut — Press the keyboard shortcut to undo the latest batch without opening the side panel; the toolbar icon briefly shows the result. You can view and change the shortcut under Settings → Features

When undoing a deleted folder, Pro puts the folder back along with its structure; the free version restores only the bookmarks inside, placing those whose original folder no longer exists in the orphan bookmark folder.

Batches are set by the Group deletions setting: by default, whatever one action deletes counts as one batch. Switch to By minute (Pro) and everything deleted within the same minute counts as one batch — handy for a cleanup done in several steps.

Restoring by Bookmark

Each bookmark in the list shows:

  • Site icon — Chrome and Edge read the browser's icon cache; Firefox shows a letter tile by default, and you can turn on Site icons in Settings
  • Original path — The folder the bookmark used to be in. Bookmarks deleted along with their folder carry a folder mark, and the deleted folders in the path are struck through
  • URL and deletion time — Shown when the side panel is wide enough
  • Days left — Red at 3 days or fewer, orange at 7 days or fewer; bookmarks kept forever show ∞
  • Summary line — The total in the current list and how many are expiring soon

Click a bookmark's name to open the page in the current window or a new one, depending on the Click behavior setting.

Search and Sort

  • The search box filters by name, URL or original path as you type
  • Click Title, URL, Deleted or Days left in the list header to sort; click again to reverse the order, and a third time to clear the sort

Restoring and Clearing

  • One item — Hover over a row and click the restore or clear button at its end
  • Several items — Select them, then click the restore or clear icon in the list header
  • Context menu — Restore, delete permanently, or change how long this item is kept: reset to the current setting, or extend or shorten by 10 days (on the free version, an extension can bring the days left up to 60 at most)

If the original folder still exists, the bookmark goes back there; otherwise it is placed in the orphan bookmark folder in the bookmarks bar (named "Recovered By BookmarkTrash" by default, which you can change in Settings). Cleared bookmarks cannot be recovered.

Folder Restore

When restoring a bookmark that was deleted along with its folder, the Folder restore mode setting decides what happens:

  • Bookmark only — Restores just this bookmark, without recreating the folder
  • Whole folder (Pro) — Restores the folder structure along with every bookmark inside
  • Ask (Pro) — Asks each time whether to restore just the bookmark or the whole folder

Settings

Features

  • Retention days — 3, 7, 14, 30, 60 or 90 days, or Unlimited (90 days and Unlimited are Pro features). Expiry is based on the setting in effect at the time of deletion
  • Site icons (Firefox only) — Whether to fetch bookmark icons from a third-party icon service; your consent is asked before it turns on

FAQ

A deleted bookmark did not appear in the trash

  • Make sure the BookmarkTrash extension is enabled
  • Empty folders that hold no bookmarks are not kept

Does the trash sync across devices?

  • No. The trash stays on the device where the bookmarks were deleted
  • If you turn on sync in Storage settings, only your settings are synced