I received a memo from the “It’s Only Obvious If You Know How It Is Done” Department this morning pointing out how something that should be incredibly simple to do is actually relatively hard to figure out – how do you delete Bookmarks in Safari?

You have to save the bookmarks first

On a Mac, you can save new bookmarks in lots of ways:

• Tap the Share icon and choose Add Bookmark.
• Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Add Bookmark there.
• Hover your cursor in Safari’s Smart Search field (where the URL is) until the Plus (+) button appears, move your cursor to that plus button and tap and hold the plus. You will then be able to choose a Bookmarks folder in which to stash the URL.
• Use the Add Boomark menu in your Safari toolbar if you’ve figured out that you can customize those tools by pressing Control while clicking on the bar and choosing Customize Toolbar.
• On iOS just use the Share icon and choose Add Bookmark.

How to manage and delete Bookmarks in Safari

Now you have a bunch of Bookmarks, you’d imagine it would be easy to delete or otherwise manage them, right?

Using iOS

To an extent, it is. On iOS, at least. Open your Bookmarks folder, tap Edit, and you can delete bookmarks by tapping the red icon, move them into a new order by tapping and dragging the three-line ‘burger’ icon to the right of the name, or tap a bookmark to change its name, URL in the next window, or tap Location to easily stash that item in a different folder.

That’s iOS.

WWDC: How to use Safari’s brand-new Start page

Using Mac

On a Mac, there are two ways:

#1:

Open the Bookmarks Menu, select Edit Bookmarks and you will be able to move and rename those marks on the next page. To delete a bookmark, select it and tap the BackSpace key, or choose Delete in the Edit menu.

#2:

Alternatively, you can open the Safari Sidebar and then tap the book icon to access your Bookmarks. Select a bookmark and you can move it using your cursor – but how do you delete it?

Simple.

Select the item again, only this time press the Control key. So, hover your cursor above the bookmark item in the Sidebar and then press Control at the same time as you click. A new contextual menu appears in which you can open the website, change its name or URL, pop it into a folder or tap Delete to delete the Bookmark.

Tip: Want to delete all your bookmarks fast? (You’ll regret it, so don’t do it). Just click the top bookmark, scroll down to the bottom of the list, and  tap the final bookmark while also pressing the Shift button. Then click backspace. Please don’t delete all your bookmarks unless you really want to do so, but if you do so accidentally, I recommend tapping Command-Z (Undo) as your very next action.

Sure hope this helps 🙂

How to delete bookmarks in Chrome, Firefox and Opera on Mac and iOS

There are several alternative browsers for Macs, iPhones and iPads to replace Safari. If you want to delete bookmarks in this, we’ve got you covered. Here is how to delete bookmarks in Chrome, Firefox and Opera on Mac and iOS devices.

How to delete bookmarks on Chrome (Mac)

If you like to slow even M1 Mac performance then you’ll need to use Chrome. To delete bookmarks on that browser, do this:

• Open Chrome>Bookmarks>Bookmark Manager.
• Find and double click the folder that contains the bookmark you want to delete.
• Right click the bookmark and select Delete, or select multiple bookmarks by pressing the Command key and selecting them all, then press Delete.

How to delete bookmarks on Chrome (iOS)

Open the app and tap the three vertical dots at upper right of your screen.

• Now you’ll be able to open the Bookmarks menu
• Select and choose the folder that contains the bookmark you want to lose.
• Tap and hold the bookmark you want to delete, then tap Edit Bookmark in the options that appear.
• Then tap Delete.

How to delete bookmarks on Firefox (Mac)

If you use the fine Mozilla browser and want to delete bookmarks do this:

• Open Bookmarks
• Locate your bookmark folder
• Control-Click the bookmark you want to remove, or use a swipe gesture on iOS, to find the Delete button.
• Tap Delete.

How to delete bookmarks on Firefox (iOS)

• Open the bookmarked page
• Tap the three dots in the address bar to find the pages action menu
• Tap Remove Bookmark.

How to delete bookmarks on Opera

Opera users, do this:

• Tap Menu>Bookmarks
• Find and open the folder containing the bookmark(s) you want to delete.
• Select the bookmark and press Delete, or use the Command key while selecting multiple bookmarks and then delete them all.

Do you need more Mac, iPhone, iPad and other tips? Take a look at these.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.