How to Organize and Sort Bookmarks in the Safari Sidebar

This article provides a quick and easy guide on how to manage your saved websites in the Apple Safari web browser. You will learn how to access the Bookmarks sidebar, create nested folders for detailed categorization, move your links, and automatically sort your bookmarks and folders in alphabetical order.

Accessing the Bookmarks Sidebar

Before you can organize your links, you need to open the Bookmarks view in the Safari sidebar.

  1. Open the Safari browser on your Mac.
  2. Click the Sidebar icon located in the top-left corner of the window (next to the back and forward arrows). Alternatively, press Control + Command + 1 on your keyboard.
  3. Click on Bookmarks in the sidebar menu if you are not already in the bookmarks view.

Creating Nested Bookmark Folders

Nested folders (subfolders within a main parent folder) allow you to group your bookmarks by broad topics and then break them down into specific categories.

  1. Create a main folder: Control-click (or right-click) in an empty space within the Bookmarks sidebar and select New Folder.
  2. Type a name for this main parent folder and press Return.
  3. Create a subfolder: Control-click (or right-click) directly on the main folder you just created and select New Folder. If the new folder appears outside of your main folder, simply click and drag it directly on top of the main folder until it highlights, then release the mouse button.
  4. Click the arrow next to the main folder to expand it and view your nested folder inside.

Moving Bookmarks into Folders

Once your folder structure is set up, you can easily file away your loose bookmarks.

  1. Locate the bookmark you want to move in the sidebar.
  2. Click and hold the bookmark, then drag it over the desired folder or nested subfolder.
  3. Wait a brief moment for the folder to highlight (or spring open), then release the mouse button to drop the bookmark inside.

Sorting Bookmarks Alphabetically

Safari allows you to automatically alphabetize the contents of any bookmark folder, saving you the trouble of manually dragging links into order.

  1. In the Bookmarks sidebar, locate the folder or nested subfolder you want to alphabetize.
  2. Control-click (or right-click) on the folder name.
  3. Hover your cursor over Sort By in the pop-up menu.
  4. Click Name.

All bookmarks and subfolders inside that specific folder will immediately rearrange themselves into alphabetical order. Note that if you have loose bookmarks at the very bottom of your sidebar that are not inside a folder, you will either need to drag them into alphabetical order manually or place them into a folder to use the automatic sort feature.