Tips & tricks to organize bookmarks on a new tab

Make bookmarks do more

Pikamark runs on your browser’s real bookmarks, so a plain bookmark can stand in for features it doesn’t build in

Turn a bookmark into a launcher. The palette’s Search the web for… row has no suggestions, Lens, Images or AI mode. For the full thing, bookmark your engine’s home page (google.com, duckduckgo.com) at the top of your first column, or in pinned links (Pro), and one click lands in the real search field. The same trick works for meet.google.com, a calendar, or an inbox
*.new shortcuts. Bookmark meet.new, docs.new, sheets.new, cal.new, or github.new and keep them together in one folder, or in pinned links (Pro). Each one opens a brand-new doc, sheet, or meeting in a single click
Paste a whole list of links. Copy any text that contains URLs and press Ctrl+V (⌘+V) on the board, outside a text field. Pikamark imports every http(s) link it finds, with an undo toast in case it grabbed too much

The command palette in a minute

Press F. A first character narrows the search to one scope, and Backspace on an empty field drops it again

> runs an action. Add a note, switch to the gallery, open any Settings page, or switch the theme without opening Settings: type > and theme, then pick Theme: Dark, Light or System (Pitch black needs Pro)
# filters the board by color or tag (tags are Pro). It shows as a chip under the header, and Clear all drops it
@ switches workspace (Pro). Type @ and the first letters of a name, then Enter
/ jumps to a folder, nested ones included, with the parent shown beside each name
Shift+Enter shows a result on the board instead of opening it

Organize by meaning, not just by folder

A folder keeps a link in one place. These tools group things by what they’re for

Color labels as a status system. Pick a convention — green for active, yellow for on hold, red for needs attention — then filter the board to one color at a time
Tags cut across folders (Pro). Tag items scattered through ten folders reading or q3, then filter the whole board to that tag and see them all together without moving anything
Split a busy folder into its own column. Drag it onto the strip at the board’s edge, or the gap between two columns — or use ⋯ menu → Arrange → Move to next column. A project you’re living in gets a permanent panel
Keep a checklist next to the links it’s about. Add a checklist note — “morning routine”, “weekly review” — in the same column as the bookmarks it refers to, so the list and the links travel together
Fit a long folder on screen. View → Rows → Compact packs more bookmarks into each column

Everyday workflow

Small habits that keep the board working for you instead of silting up

Pin Pikamark’s icon to your toolbar to find or save a bookmark from any page without opening a new tab. You can also decline the new-tab replacement and open the board from the popup
Save open tabs as a folder to park a research session. Unlike browser tab groups it survives a restart, and you can come back days later and trim what you didn’t need
Use “Recently added” to catch anything you forgot to file. Switch it on in Settings → Board & gallery → Extra folders: your 20 newest bookmarks, wherever they ended up, ready to move into a real folder
Let “Most visited” show what you actually use. It counts clicks inside Pikamark, not your browser history. Promote those links and archive the ones you never open
Sort by date to prune, then switch back. Sorting → Date, ascending, floats your oldest bookmarks to where you’ll see them; clear out the dead ones and switch back to Manual to keep your arrangement
Open a folder in the gallery as a reading mode. Choose Gallery in the folder’s ⋯ menu, set View → Density → Extended for large tiles, and keep the Widgets tab open beside them for notes and checklists
File from the gallery’s Folders tab. Open the sidebar, switch to Folders, and drop a tile onto a top-level folder to move it without leaving the folder you’re in. For anything deeper use Move to…
Hide Chrome’s new-tab footer. Chrome pins a bar with Pikamark’s name to the bottom of every new tab. Turn off Footer under Customize Chrome (bottom-right); it’s a browser setting, so Pikamark can’t do it for you

Move faster

Four keys do most of it. F opens the palette, N drops a new note, V flips between board and gallery, S turns on selection mode. They do nothing while you’re typing in a field, and ? lists the rest
Clean up in bulk. Press S, then click, Shift-click, or drag across a run of bookmarks and tag (Pro), recolor, move, or delete the whole lot from one bar
Share a folder as a list. In selection mode, Copy links can put the URLs on the clipboard as Markdown, HTML or CSV (Pro), ready to paste into a doc or a message
Tidy titles in one go. Rename (Pro) finds and replaces across the selected bookmarks and shows a preview first, and one Undo takes it back
File from the keyboard. ⋯ menu → Arrange → Move to… has its own search, so you can send a bookmark deep into the tree without dragging

Make it yours

Give each workspace a mood (Pro). Theme, accent and background save per workspace in Settings → Appearance. Give Work a calm Mist background and Hobby pitch black with a rose accent, and you can tell which board you’re on before you read a label
Turn animations off on a slow machine. Settings → General → Animations removes motion and transitions throughout the interface

Back up your stuff

Your browser account syncs the bookmarks themselves, but notes, tags, color labels, comments, columns and workspaces live only in Pikamark. Losing them means rebuilding them by hand, so do these before you need them. The manual has the full picture

Start with Export, it’s free. Settings → Backup & restore → Export writes one JSON file with all of that. Save it somewhere that syncs, and again after a big cleanup
Connect a backup folder (Pro, Chrome and Edge). Pikamark writes a snapshot into a Pikamark sub-folder of a folder you pick, so a copy outlives the browser profile
Choose “Allow on every visit” the first time the browser re-asks. After a restart the browser drops folder access back to a prompt; granting it once means the folder backs up unattended after that. Miss the prompt and Pikamark shows a notice with a button to restore access
Cloud roots can be fussy. Some synced folders only let you select a sub-folder, not the top of the drive. Pick any folder inside your synced area — Pikamark makes its own Pikamark sub-folder wherever you land
Name your devices before you have three of them. Files are named after the device that wrote them, so the folder reads correctly in Finder or Explorer, not just in Pikamark. Rename by clicking the name on the This device row of the backup list; a short name such as work-laptop beats chrome-macos
Take the backup reminder seriously, especially on Firefox. Without a backup folder, what Pikamark keeps lives and dies with the browser profile. Once you have real data, a notice offers Save a copy — the same file Export writes — after a day, then a week, two weeks and monthly if you dismiss it. Put the file somewhere that syncs
Moving to a new computer? Install Pikamark, sign in to your browser so the bookmarks arrive, then import the file or connect the same folder. Steps are in the manual