Netscape bookmarks

2016-01-20T19:01:01Z

Ma95032:

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Web
|subcat2=Web browser files
}}

Netscape kept its bookmarks in a file named '''bookmarks.html''' (or '''bookmark.htm''' in versions for archaic operating systems permitting only 8+2 filenames) in the user profile directory. It was (kinda, sorta) [[HTML]], with a weird doctype specific to Netscape and some offenses against HTML decency like odd nesting of elements. It used some particular combinations of tags and attributes to represent the bookmark structure. Specific items changed over time in different versions as new features were added, but the basic structure remained similar to allow bookmarks to be shared between different browser versions. The format remained in use in early Mozilla browsers before switching to the [[DB (SQLite)|SQLite]]-based bookmark database (with automatic backups in a [[JSON]]-based format) used in the current Firefox (since version 3.0).

Doctype: '''<!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>'''

== Date format ==

Netscape bookmark file dates, e.g., the <tt>ADD_DATE</tt> field, are in ''seconds'' since January 1, 1970.

== See also ==
* [[Firefox bookmarks]]

== References ==
* [http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/import-bookmarks-html Import bookmarks from Netscape to Firefox]
* [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa753582%28VS.85%29.aspx Documentation of Netscape bookmark format] (in Microsoft site, weirdly enough)

Chrome bookmarks

2016-01-20T18:56:32Z

Ma95032: chrome bookmark file and Netscape exported bookmark HTML file date format details

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Web
|subcat2=Web browser files
|released=2008
}}

Bookmarks in Google Chrome are stored in a file named '''Bookmarks''' (with no extension) in a data directory with a location that is system-specific, but in Windows Vista can be found in the directory '''\Users\''username''\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default'''. A backup copy of the previous version of the file is saved in '''Bookmarks.bak'''.

The format does not appear to be documented anywhere, but it is apparently in [[JSON]] format, using a hierarchical structure corresponding to the bookmark folder structure. Attribute names in a bookmark entry include "date added", "id", "name", "type", and "url". The "id" values are numeric, probably assigned sequentially as bookmarks are added.

== Character set ==

The file appears to be expressed in [[ASCII]], with line breaks as CRLF (0D+0A), though the file examined was from the Windows version; it is possible that bookmark files from other systems could use line-break conventions appropriate to those systems. Non-ASCII characters are given as escape sequences like '''\u00ED''', representing the [[Unicode]] character given by a four-digit hexadecimal number following "\u" (in this case the accented letter í).

== Date format ==

The date format consists of huge numbers like 12871673787657328 or 12605573593000000. These examples are taken from an actual bookmark file; the one with six zeroes at the end is a clue that perhaps the time units are some tiny fraction of a second. Stripping the zeroes yields 12605573593, still one digit longer than current [[Unix time|Unix-style timestamps]], but stripping the final 3 gets a timestamp that translates to Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:49:19 GMT, which may be the correct timestamp for the bookmark; this means that the timestamps are expressed with seven digits of precision beneath the seconds (in other words, in ten-millionths of a second). Or perhaps the added digits have some other specialized meaning; apparently only Google knows.

The chrome bookmark file date format, e.g., the <tt>date_added</tt> field, is in ''microseconds'' since January 1, 1601. See the open-source [http://dev.chromium.org/Home Chromium] source code, and search for <tt>MicrosecondsToFileTime</tt>. Sample conversion code can be found on stackoverflow [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19074423/how-to-parse-the-date-added-field-in-chrome-bookmarks-file "How to parse the date_added field in Chrome bookmarks file?"]

Please note the internal chrome bookmark file date format differs from the Netscape exported bookmark HTML file date format. Netscape exported bookmark HTML file dates, e.g., the <tt>ADD_DATE</tt> field, is in ''seconds'' since January 1, 1970.

== Source code ==

It's possible more info about the format could be gleaned by looking through the open-source [http://dev.chromium.org/Home Chromium] source code, if that deals with bookmarks the same way as Chrome itself. Try searching on "bookmarks". The code there says that timestamps are milliseconds since the epoch, but as seen above there seem to be way more digits than that.

[[Category:Google]]

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Netscape bookmarks

Chrome bookmarks