Can I recover Google Chrome bookmarks from a stolen laptop?
December 5, 2012 5:56 PM
As part of a thesis project for my masters degree, I had bookmarked a bunch of pages in Google Chrome. My laptop was stolen yesterday -- is there any way to get those bookmarks back?
My laptop was taken yesterday in a home break-in. The machine itself was a junker -- battery didn't hold a charge, plastic case was broken around one hinge where I had dropped it, etc., so I'm not too sad.
However, I had several years worth of important bookmarks on it, including a huge folder of bookmarks assembled recently while working on my halfway-finished thesis. Searching askme and google itself was inconclusive, and I'll admit I don't quite understand how my google chrome account works or whether it is a separate thing from my gmail account. Is there any way to recover those bookmarks? Or is that data stored locally and now in some pawn shop?
My laptop was taken yesterday in a home break-in. The machine itself was a junker -- battery didn't hold a charge, plastic case was broken around one hinge where I had dropped it, etc., so I'm not too sad.
However, I had several years worth of important bookmarks on it, including a huge folder of bookmarks assembled recently while working on my halfway-finished thesis. Searching askme and google itself was inconclusive, and I'll admit I don't quite understand how my google chrome account works or whether it is a separate thing from my gmail account. Is there any way to recover those bookmarks? Or is that data stored locally and now in some pawn shop?
Google.com > Your name > Account > Under the "Services" heading click the link to the right of "view, enable, or disable web history". 'bookmarks' is the last link on the left.
(This assumes you use google bookmarks. If you're trying to view your "Chrome" bookmarks you will need to re-install it and sign in, like the comment above says.)
posted by anewnadir at 7:15 PM on December 5, 2012
(This assumes you use google bookmarks. If you're trying to view your "Chrome" bookmarks you will need to re-install it and sign in, like the comment above says.)
posted by anewnadir at 7:15 PM on December 5, 2012
To clarify, if you:
(1) have a Google account
(2) were using Google Chrome on your laptop
(3) were logged into your Google Chrome using your Google account (not logged into a Google website using Chrome, but Chrome itself from "Settings"); AND
(4) asked Google Chrome to sync your bookmarks (which I think it does by default if you log into your Google Chrome at all)
Then your bookmarks are synched and you can access them by downloading Chrome onto a new computer and signing into that one. The bookmarks will automatically sync.
At this point, you might as well try.
posted by ethidda at 10:16 PM on December 5, 2012
(1) have a Google account
(2) were using Google Chrome on your laptop
(3) were logged into your Google Chrome using your Google account (not logged into a Google website using Chrome, but Chrome itself from "Settings"); AND
(4) asked Google Chrome to sync your bookmarks (which I think it does by default if you log into your Google Chrome at all)
Then your bookmarks are synched and you can access them by downloading Chrome onto a new computer and signing into that one. The bookmarks will automatically sync.
At this point, you might as well try.
posted by ethidda at 10:16 PM on December 5, 2012
Thanks for your suggestions. I was able to ascertain that thought I was logged into Gmail, I was not logged into Chrome, as they are two separate things. So no recovery. Oh well. :(
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 9:07 AM on December 8, 2012
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 9:07 AM on December 8, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jadepearl at 6:10 PM on December 5, 2012