Pocket offers tools to import URLs that you’ve saved elsewhere into Pocket. You will first need to export the items from the source (Instapaper or your web browser) and then import the bookmark list into Pocket. The import file must be in HTML format.

While Pocket has the ability to import your items, we strongly discourage importing thousands of items as this can cause issues to arise during the import process. If you run into trouble importing your items, you can always save links using one of our browser extensions.

Browser bookmarks

Exporting your browser bookmarks

Open your browser's bookmark manager and export your bookmarks as an HTML file. If you're not sure how to do this, please follow the directions below to export bookmarks from the most popular browsers.

Export your bookmarks from Google Chrome

1. Open Chrome.
2. In the top right of the Chrome window, click the overflow button (three vertical dots).
3. Select Bookmarks > Bookmark Manager.
4. In the manager, click the Organize menu.
5. Select Export bookmarks.
6. Choose a name for the file and location to download.
7. Click Save.

Chrome will export your bookmarks as an HTML file, which you can then import into another browser. See this Google Support article for more information about exporting from Chrome.

Export your bookmarks from Firefox

1. Click the menu button to open the menu panel. Click Bookmarks and then click the Manage bookmarks bar at the bottom.
2. In the toolbar of the Library window click the Import and Backup button
   
   Import and Backup and choose Export Bookmarks to HTML… from the drop-down menu.
   
   
3. In the Export Bookmarks File window that opens, choose a location to save the file, which is named bookmarks.html by default. The desktop is usually a good spot, but any place that is easy to remember will work.
4. Click Save. The Export Bookmarks File window will close.
5. Close the Library window.

Instapaper

Export your items from Instapaper

1. Log into your Instapaper account.
2. Click your email address at the top right corner, and select Settings.
3. In the Export section, click the Download .HTML button and save the file to your computer.

Once you have your exported file, you are ready to import into Pocket. To import the articles, log into Pocket, then follow the instructions on this page: Import from Instapaper into Pocket.

Importing

After downloading your browser bookmarks file to your computer, you are ready to import your bookmarks into Pocket using the tool linked here.

Common Questions

I'm trying to import to Pocket but I’m seeing a blank page

Our importer will occasionally time out due to the size of an exported file. This will cause the screen to go blank. However, items should be successfully imported. Please check your Pocket List to see if all your items were imported.

If your export is larger than 1 MB, you'll need to split your list into smaller pieces to be able to import. Pocket Support is sadly not able to split bookmark files. Additionally, we highly encourage you to edit your list of saved links before proceeding to import into Pocket.

If you're still having trouble importing your bookmarks, we recommend hand selecting the links you plan to get back to and saving them using our browser extensions.

I have two Pocket accounts. Can I import one Pocket account into another account?

You can move items from one account to another by exporting your saves in one account, then manually saving them to the other. We sadly don't support importing an HTML export file.

Can I import emails or files stored on my computer?

Pocket does not support saving emails or uploading files from your computer. Pocket supports saving links (URLs) from your internet web browser. See What can be saved to Pocket? to learn more about what you can save to Pocket.