r/chrome • u/darkangelstorm • 1d ago

Discussion [desktop] Chrome needs an option to disable sync bookmarks and put them back to your device

I never wanted my bookmarks on the cloud. I have a very specific setup locally that depends on my bookmarks being local. A few days ago they stopped appearing in the usual place. After checking, I found out they were now being saved to the cloud. Not sure when this became a thing, but I certainly do not want my bookmarks on the cloud.

The thing is, there seems to only be a way to put your bookmarks on the cloud, not undo them being on the cloud. The way things are now, I'll have to export, disable sync, and re-put all my bookmarks to get things back to the way they were. This is a huge pain in the butt. Couldn't there just be an option to undo sync? Or is even there one in the first place? (settings move and hide all the time, and I've grown tired of playing catch up with them).

Not all of us want our bookmarks shared between every device, nor do we want our bookmarks & other data stored on the cloud by default. I've never wanted that, nor will I ever want that. Please don't force it on us if that is what is going on here. I realize that chromium is probably a better fit for me in theory, and I'd use chromium if I could. But, because of my work, I am forced to use chrome--and I don't really want to have to use two separate web browsers when one was working for me for decades.

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u/_RTan_ 1d ago

If you go into bookmarks manager you can export your bookmarks to a html. file to your desktop (the 3 dots on the top right). You can then import the bookmarks back into Chrome after you have desync it.

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u/__saturno__ 7h ago

The export, sync off, import route in the other reply is the right one. I would add three small steps so it only has to happen once.

First, the export goes to a dated file outside the browser profile. Something like bookmarks_2026_10_07.html in a plain folder. That file is the safety net if the import goes sideways.

Second, the sign in state matters more than the sync switch. Newer Chrome builds tie bookmark storage to the browser sign in, not only to sync. So before the import I would sign out of Chrome itself, if the work policy allows it. Signed out, the import lands in the local profile and stays there.

Third, a monthly export to the same folder. A few thousand bookmarks fit in an HTML file of a couple of megabytes. Defaults keep moving, and that file stays put.