Updated for Safari 4

Do you have hundreds of bookmarks in Safari? Are you wasting time every day trying to find the bookmarks you need? If the answer is yes to either of these questions, this short tutorial can help you organize and find your bookmarks in Safari.

Creating Folders for Bookmarks

The first step in organizing your bookmarks should be the creation of folders for storing the bookmarks in the Bookmarks Bar or Bookmarks Menu.

1.  Select Show All Bookmarks from the Bookmarks Menu or click the Bookmarks button on the Bookmarks Bar. The Safari window will change to display the Bookmarks Window composed of two panes: your Bookmarks Library in the left pane and your bookmark folders and bookmarks in the right pane.

Safari bookmarks window

2.   Select the Bookmarks Menu or Bookmarks Bar in the left pane to add bookmarks to one of those collections or click the plus symbol in the lower left corner of the window to create a new collection.

3.  Click the plus symbol below the right pane to add a new folder to your selected collection. Add folders for groups of bookmarks, such as "Download Sites," "News Sites," "Apple Information," and so on.

4.  Move your bookmarks to the appropriate folders by dragging them with your mouse.

5.  Create separators between categories of folders by creating a new folder and naming it with dashes (------------). Press the Option key and drag your new folder to the location you want for a separator in your bookmarks list. Repeat this step until your bookmarks collection is neatly organized in groups of folders.

Organized bookmarks list

Searching Bookmarks

Even if your bookmarks are well-organized, you might still have the need to quickly search for a particular bookmark. Fortunately, Safari provides a quick and easy way to search for specific bookmarks.

1.  Open the Bookmarks Window and select a collection in the Library Pane.

2.  Type a search term in the search box. Safari will search for the term in the names and URLs of your bookmarks and a list of bookmarks containing the term will appear instantly in the Bookmarks Window.