Adding searchable notes to bookmarks in Firefox

tl;dr : You can use the name or tags fields in firefox bookmarks to save permanent "notes". These notes are searchable using the firefox address bar by prepending a * to search all bookmark fields or a + to search only the bookmark tags field.

I was trying to figure out the best way to save notes or comments alongside my bookmarks without using a browser extension. It seems that the two best fields for saving this info are the bookmark name field and the bookmark tags field. Both of these have the advantage of being saved alongside your bookmarks when creating a JSON bookmark backup from the Bookmark Library. The notes are also searchable from the Firefox address bar, which makes finding specific bookmarks pretty easy. It's just a personal preference for which of these fields to use based on the differences below.

• Character Limit: Based on my testing, the limit for the bookmark name field is around 4000. The character limit for individual items in the tag field is 100. You can have a large number of tags (I tested having at least 20 of max length). So unless you are writing novel-length comments, this is probably not a huge factor.


• Commas: If you want your notes to be in complete sentences using commas, you'll have to use the name field. Both fields seem to allow all characters except for commas, since these are used in the tags field to separate tags.


• Searchability: Both of these fields can be searched using the firefox address bar. To search all bookmark fields, prepend an * to your search. To search only the tag field, prepend a + to your search. This might be a minor advantage to using the tags field if you want to be able to search only your notes without including other bookmark data.


• Aesthetics: Appending a paragraph of text to the end of bookmark titles really clutters your bookmarks. It makes browsing through them messy and more awkward, especially if you are adding very long notes. This alone makes me lean toward tags as a better solution.


• Management: Both of these fields are easy to edit, but the name field is a bit more forgiving when it comes to editing. It is way too easy to accidentally delete a tag with a single click in either the bookmarks library or the "edit bookmark" context menu, and it is basically unrecoverable after doing so unless you fully restore your bookmarks from backup. This is true because since the tags are unique notes, the tag is removed from the bookmark library's tag "database" when you delete the only instance of the tag. At least with the name field, it is harder to save accidental edits that delete your notes.


• Backup: When backing up your bookmarks to a JSON file using the bookmarks library, both of these fields are completely saved. So no real difference here.

In the end, using the tags field is a bit more appealing simply because it's cleaner looking and allows me to search notes exlusively. Maybe there is a better way to save notes to bookmarks without using a browser extension, but this is the best practical method I could come up with.

Published: September 4,2023

Last updated: September 4,2023

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