When you use your Apple ID on your iPad, iPhone, and Mac computer you make it much easier to share information between all of those devices.
One type of information that is shared is the bookmarks that you save in Safari.
Our guide below will show you how you can use the Safari browser on your Mac computer to export the bookmarks from your iPad to your Mac.
How to Export Browser Bookmarks from an iPad
- Confirm that you are signed into iCloud and your Apple ID on your iPad.
- Go to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud and make sure that Safari is checked.
- Select the Apple icon at the top of the screen > System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud and make sure the Safari option is checked.
- Open the Mac Safari Web browser.
- Click File, then Export Bookmarks.
- Give the file a name and click Save.
Our guide continues below with additional information on how to export iPad Safari bookmarks, including pictures of these steps.
Related: Visit this page about Chrome bookmarks location if you use Google’s browser and would like to save or back up your bookmark file.
Do you find that you are doing more and more Web surfing on your iPad?
You are definitely not alone, as an increasing number of people are finding that the ease of using an iPad for normal Web browsing is far more convenient than getting out a laptop computer and waiting for it to boot up.
As a matter of fact, I find that I use my iPad more frequently than my laptop, and tend to only use my laptop if I need to specifically use a powerful program on the computer, like Photoshop, or if I have to do a lot of typing.
But my increase in iPad Web browsing has led to the majority of my bookmarks being located on the iPad, which can make it inconvenient to find that bookmark later on my computer.
You can rectify this problem by using iCloud to export bookmarks from your iPad to your computer.
Check out our how do I delete favorites in Safari article if you would like ot learn more about managing the favorites in the Safari Web browser on your MacBook.
How to Export Safari Bookmarks from iPad (Guide with Pictures)
The first thing you need to do is configure iCloud on your iPad. You can do this by tapping the Settings icon on your iPad. Note that this process is also a good way for you to learn how to backup your iPad Safari bookmarks.
Tap the iCloud option at the left side of the window, type your Apple ID and password into the fields at the center of the window, then tap the Sign In button. You will receive a few notifications about merging contacts and uploading some data to iCloud, so choose the options that you would like to use.
Tap the Bookmarks button so that it says On.
You are now done configuring your iPad to share the bookmarks from your Safari browser. The next step is to get iCloud on your PC and configure that to store your iPad Safari bookmarks.
How to Transfer Bookmarks from iPad to PC
While it would seem like you could control iCloud from iTunes, that is not the case. You actually need to download an extra program to your Windows PC called the iCloud Control Panel. Fortunately this program is available for free, and you can download it at Apple’s website from this link.
Click the Download button at the right side of the window, then save the file to your computer.
Double-click the downloaded file, then follow the instructions until the installation process has completed.
Once the iCloud Control Panel has been installed, you can click the Start button at the bottom-left corner of your screen, then click the Control Panel button at the right side of the menu.
Click the drop-down menu at the top-right corner of the window, click the Small icons option, then click the iCloud option. Take note of this location, as you may be inclined to look for the program in the All Programs menu.
Type your Apple ID and password into their respective fields at the center of the window (these need to be the same values that you used when you set up iCloud on your iPad) then click the Sign In button at the bottom of the window.
Check the box to the left of Bookmarks, then click the Merge button to merge the bookmarks on your computer with the bookmarks on your iPad.
Click the Options button to the right of Bookmarks, then select the browser that you want to use your iCloud bookmarks with. After selecting the desired browser, click the OK button.
This will return you to the original iCloud Control Panel window. Click the Apply button at the bottom of this window to apply the changes that you have just made.
You should now be able to open the browser that you selected and see all of your iPad Safari bookmarks have been exported to the chosen browser on your PC.
Additional Sources
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.