How to fix favorites bookmarks that are duplicating and corrupted

Question

How to fix favorites bookmarks that are duplicating and corrupted

Ron King 30

my Favorites Bookmarks are replicating outside their folders. I have turned off the sync setting butr the problem persists,. How can this problem be repaired?

Frank Tekstar 40 Reputation points

2026-03-16T14:58:56.0666667+00:00

I found that the junk was coming from Icloud for Windows' Bookmark sync setting. Turning that off prevented Icloud from merging its Bookmarks into Edge's Favorites. Using ONLY Microsoft's Sync features, my Favorites (after cleaning out the junk) have been clean for over a month on my desktop, laptop, and I-phone Edge instances.

Answer accepted by question author

Edward Schlobohm01 10,210 Independent Advisor

Hi,

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft community and explaining what’s going on. To better understand the issue, could you let me know if you recently imported bookmarks from another browser or device, or if the duplication started after a Windows or Edge update? This will help us figure out whether the problem is caused by sync conflicts, import errors, or profile corruption after an update.

This kind of issue usually happens because of corrupted bookmark data or leftover sync conflicts, even when sync is turned off. Here’s what you can do to fix it:

First, back up your favorites by opening Edge and pressing Ctrl + Shift + O to open the Favorites manager. Click the three dots and choose Export favorites, then save the file somewhere safe.

Next, use Edge’s built-in duplicate cleaner. Type edge://favorites/ in the address bar, click the three dots, and select Remove duplicate favorites. Confirm the cleanup.

If the problem persists, reset your sync data on Microsoft’s servers. Go to Settings > Profiles > Sync, click Reset sync, and confirm. Make sure you sign out of Edge on other devices before doing this so duplicates don’t come back.

If corruption still remains, repair the local bookmark file. Close Edge, then go to

C:\Users<YourName>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default

Rename the file called Bookmarks to Bookmarks.old, then restart Edge. It will create a fresh bookmarks file.

After that, re-import your clean backup from the Favorites manager. Finally, turn sync back on carefully, start with one device, let it upload the clean set, then enable sync on your other devices one by one.

If nothing works, you can repair Edge itself by going to Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Microsoft Edge > Modify > Repair.

Hope this helps! Let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,

Edward

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2 additional answers

Your answer

Frank Tekstar 40 Reputation points

2026-03-16T14:58:56.0666667+00:00

I found that the junk was coming from Icloud for Windows' Bookmark sync setting. Turning that off prevented Icloud from merging its Bookmarks into Edge's Favorites. Using ONLY Microsoft's Sync features, my Favorites (after cleaning out the junk) have been clean for over a month on my desktop, laptop, and I-phone Edge instances.

Answer 1

Ron King 30

I tried everything that was suggested except the option to repair the Windows 11 O/S.

The problem has not been resolved. Duplicate bookmarks are still re-appearing faster than I can delete them.

Another point: about my profile settings, it says "Synic is on" despite having toggling it off.

How do I get to Microsoft Support, a live person?

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Answer 2

To address the issue of duplicating and corrupted favorites bookmarks in Microsoft Edge, you can try the following steps:

Check for Duplicates: Manually review your favorites to identify duplicates. You can do this by going to the Favorites menu and checking each folder.
Remove Duplicates: Delete any duplicate bookmarks manually. Right-click on the duplicate bookmark and select "Delete."
Reset Sync: Since you've already turned off the sync setting, consider resetting the sync data. Go to Settings > Profiles > Sync, and select "Reset sync". This can help resolve issues related to synchronization that may be causing duplicates.
Export and Re-import Favorites: If the problem persists, you can export your favorites to an HTML file, delete all favorites in Edge, and then re-import the HTML file. To export, go to Ctrl + Shift + O, click on the ellipsis (...), and select "Export favorites". After cleaning up, you can import them back using the same menu.
Check for Updates: Ensure that you are using the latest version of Microsoft Edge, as updates may contain fixes for bugs related to favorites.
Clear Browser Data: Sometimes, clearing the browser cache can help resolve issues. Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data and select what you want to clear.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, you may want to consider reaching out to Microsoft support for further assistance.

References: