After You Import: The 7-Day Second-Save Playbook

Importing 3,000 bookmarks feels like finishing. It is not. Success is whether you still save new links a week later — the metric we care about internally as import cohort → second save within 7 days.

This is a short playbook for the week after a big import. No growth hacks — just steps that make Cowpin the default save target again.

Day 0 — import without silent zeros

Settings → Bookmarks → Import — pick the format that matches your export (Pinboard JSON, HTML, Instapaper/Pocket CSV, Karakeep JSON, Readwise Reader CSV, etc.).
Watch the result count. If you expected 2,000 rows and see 0, stop — fix the file or format before blaming “the product.”
Run Find duplicates once if you merged two exports.

Guides: Leaving Pinboard in 2 minutes, Readwise Reader vs Cowpin.

Day 1 — one bundle, one search

Create one tag bundle for how you actually work (e.g. read-later + work + unread).
Run a search for a topic you know is in the import. If nothing finds, tags may be thin — add tags to ten high-value links manually (painful once, teaches the system).

Day 2–3 — move the save muscle memory

Install the Chrome extension (or use mobile share / quick-add API).
Save three new links you would have lost to the void — not re-imports, new tabs.
Optional: set Pinboard-compatible API token and point one script at Cowpin — Automate your bookmarks.

Second save usually happens here if the extension is installed.

Day 4–7 — prove the library is alive

Open reader mode on one long import you never finished reading.
Export highlights to Markdown if you use Obsidian/Notion — Export highlights.
If you code with Cursor, connect MCP once and ask one search question over your tags — Connect Cowpin to Cursor.

If none of that happened, the import is a museum, not a workflow.

What we do not claim

Import does not auto-fix tag chaos from a decade of Pocket “favorites.”
We do not bulk AI-reorganize your tree — what we ship instead.
Free tier has limits on AI tag suggestions — upgrading is optional; saving and export are not.

If you are stuck

Email help@cowpin.com with import format + row count expected vs received. “Silent zero” imports are a bug; we treat them that way.