When you import the Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 bookmarks file to a system running Internet Explorer 7 or earlier, the following error occurs when you click Finish in the Import/Export Wizard.

Not a valid bookmark file

I could fully reproduce the problem in my Windows XP SP3 system running Internet Explorer 7. The source computer runs Windows Vista with Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 installed. Thinking that this could be due to incorrect formatting or missing tags in the HTML file, I opened the file using Notepad but couldn’t find any errors in it. Eventually I spotted that this issue is caused by incorrect encoding used by Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 to create/write to bookmark.htm. With that said, the fix is very simple.

To resolve the problem, save the bookmarks file as ANSI text. To do so, use the following steps:

Start Notepad, and then open the bookmarks file (bookmark.htm)

Click Save As on the File menu.

In the Save As dialog box, click ANSI in the Encoding list, and then click Save.

Click Yes when prompted to overwrite the file.

You should be able to import the bookmark file successfully using the Import/Export Wizard in Internet Explorer.

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82 Responses to “Error “Not a Valid Bookmark File” When Importing IE8 Bookmarks (Favorites) to IE7” Subscribe to comments!

  1. Charles A
    said this on Saturday, June 13th 2009 1:19 am

    Brilliant – saved me loads of time. I appreciate the assistance of someone more intelligent on computer matters.

  2. Bookie
    said this on Monday, June 8th 2009 4:07 pm

    Elegant, thank you.

  3. Alex
    said this on Monday, April 27th 2009 11:15 pm

    Worked like a charm!! Thank you.

  4. Mike
    said this on Friday, April 24th 2009 8:01 pm

    You’re a lifesaver. I too thought that I was going to have to re-type all of my bookmarks. Thanks!

  5. Mark
    said this on Friday, April 24th 2009 5:03 pm

    Wow, so simple and really worked – thanks.

  6. Andrew
    said this on Wednesday, April 8th 2009 1:12 pm

    Thank you very much! Worked perfectly :-)

  7. Jeremy
    said this on Wednesday, April 8th 2009 2:40 am

    That was fantastic. I sure thought i was gonna have to retype them all.

  8. Steve Keefe
    said this on Tuesday, April 7th 2009 8:44 pm

    Thank you; you’re a lifesaver.

  9. Venkat
    said this on Thursday, March 5th 2009 2:29 am

    Thanks.. Great solution.

  10. Tony
    said this on Wednesday, March 4th 2009 10:19 am

    Thanks so much. I’m sure many others are seeing the same problem.

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