For a while I’ve had an issue with Chrome saving my bookmarks, but only until I close the browser and open it the next time to find them gone. After uninstalling and reinstalling several times, and then months of simply giving up on bookmarking with Chrome, I found a suggestion in their Support site that I might have a corrupted user profile. I can’t believe the fix is as simple as this… yeesh. Lo and behold, it works. If you’re having the same issue, here are the instructions to fix it:
Creating a new browser user profile
If your browser user profile is corrupted, you can create a new user profile to replace the broken one:
Windows instruction
- Exit Google Chrome completely.
- Go to the Start menu > Run.
- Enter one of the following directories in the text field, then press OK.
- Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\
- Windows Vista/ Windows 7: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\
- Locate the folder called “Default” in the directory window that opens and rename it as “Backup default.”
- Try opening Google Chrome again. A new “Default” folder is automatically created as you start using the browser.
If you wish, you can transfer information from your old user profile to your new one. However, this action is not recommended, since a part of your old profile was corrupt. With that in mind, to transfer your old bookmarks, copy the “Bookmarks.bak” file from the “Backup default” folder to your new “Default” folder. Once moved, rename the file from “Bookmarks.bak” to “Bookmarks” to complete the migration.
Mac instructions
- Quit Google Chrome completely.
- Go to the Go menu > Go to Folder.
- Enter the following directories in the text field, then press Go.~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default
- Locate the folder called “Default” in the directory window that opens and rename it as “Backup default.”
- Try opening Google Chrome again. A new “Default” folder is automatically created as you start using the browser.
If you wish, you can transfer information from your old user profile to your new one. However, this action is not recommended, since a part of your old profile was corrupt. With that in mind, to transfer your old bookmarks, copy the “Bookmarks.bak” file from the “Backup default” folder to your new “Default” folder. Once moved, rename the file from “Bookmarks.bak” to “Bookmarks” to complete the migration.
Linux instructions
- Exit Google Chrome completely.
- Go to Computer.
- Select Go > Location.
- Enter the following directory in the text field:~/.config/google-chrome/
- Locate the folder called “Default” in the directory window that opens and rename it as “Backup default.”
- Try opening Google Chrome again. A new “Default” folder is automatically created as you start using the browser.
If you wish, you can transfer information from your old user profile to your new one. However, this action is not recommended, since a part of your old profile was corrupt. With that in mind, to transfer your old bookmarks, copy the “Bookmarks.bak” file from the “Backup default” folder to your new “Default” folder. Once moved, rename the file from “Bookmarks.bak” to “Bookmarks” to complete the migration.
From http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=142059
