Save “Clicks”… Bookmark It!

Updating the Bookmarks Bar to make accessing frequently-used sites fast and easy.

At the beginning of each school year or term, I recommend students update their Bookmarks Bar (or “Favorites) to reflect their current classes. This takes about 15 minutes to get set up, and only a few seconds to update as students progress through their classes. Students will appreciate saving time and “clicks” as they complete classwork, and organizing the Bar also encourages them to recognize and group important sites.

What should be in the Bookmarks Bar?

Most frequently used “school” sites
Ie. School launch site (Canvas), Grade Book, Gmail, Drive, etc.

Class Folders filled with important sites
Ie. “Math” folder: class syllabus, daily agenda, online textbook, etc.

Find instructions for updating your Bookmarks Bar on Chrome below.

• 1. Enable "Show Bookmarks Bar"

  Open a tab in Chrome. Can’t see the Bookmarks Bar at the top of your page? Click the three dots in the top right of your browser under the tabs, scroll to “Bookmarks and Lists”, and click “Show Bookmarks Bar”.

• 2. Clean out your Bookmarks

  Here are two ways to quickly delete sites from previous years.

  Option 1
  Right click (or two finger click) on the site name in the Bar. Press <Delete>.

  Option 2
  In a new tab, open the "Bookmarks Manager”. Under the “Bookmarks Bar” category, delete the old bookmarks. You can also quickly delete “Other Bookmarks” this way.

• 3. Bookmark your most frequently accessed school sites

  1. In a different tab, open up one of your most frequently used school sites (ie. school launch site, grade book, Google Drive, etc.).

  2. Click the star next to the URL and save the site to “Bookmarks Bar”.
  (If you’re not given options after clicking the star, go to the “Bookmarks Manager” to manually drag the site from “Other Bookmarks” to “Bookmarks Tab”. )

  3. Repeat for your 2-3 top visited sites. You should be able to see them pop up just under the URL box.

• 4. Create folders in the Bar for each class

  As you access sites you’ll be visiting often (assignment pages, syllabus, online textbooks, etc.), click the star next to the URL and add it to the corresponding folder. When you click a folder, you’ll be able to choose the site you want to go to.

Tip: To quickly edit your bookmarks, right click/two finger click on the site in the bar.