Import Every Bookmark Export in One Sitting: The 2026 Importer Matrix

Most people don't have a bookmark library. They have five: a browser full of folders, a Pocket queue they stopped reading in 2023, a Pinboard account from the last decade, a Raindrop trial, and a few thousand X bookmarks they never looked at again.

Moving all of them is usually a weekend of half-working converters. It doesn't have to be. Every file below goes into the same upload box in Cowpin (Settings → Bookmarks → Import), one after another, in a single sitting. Duplicates are skipped by URL, so the order doesn't matter much.

What each export carries

Every row in this table is a real export shape we test on every build. A format that silently imports nothing fails the build instead of shipping.

From	File to export	Tags	Read-later state	Original date	Notes / extra
Pinboard	JSON export, or HTML	✓	✓ (`toread`)	✓	Descriptions kept; your public/private choice is kept per bookmark
Pinboard (live)	Your API token, no file	✓	✓	✓	Pulls straight from Pinboard
Pocket	CSV (the 2025 shutdown export) or `ril_export.html`	✓	✓ (Unread → read later)	✓	Archived items are not dumped into your queue
Instapaper	CSV	Folders → tags	✓ (Unread folder)	✓	Your highlighted passage becomes the description
Diigo	CSV export	✓	—	✓ where the file has it	Your comments and highlighted annotations become the bookmark's notes
Raindrop.io	CSV or HTML	✓, folders → tags	—	✓	CSV notes become the description
Chrome / Edge / Firefox / Safari	Bookmarks HTML	Firefox tags ✓	Folders named like "Read later" → read later	✓ where the file has it	Folder names become tags
Delicious, Linkding	Netscape HTML	✓	Linkding `TOREAD` ✓	✓ where the file has it	Linkding notes kept
Karakeep	Backup JSON	✓	✓ (unarchived)	✓	Links only: text notes and uploaded files are skipped, and the import tells you how many
Wallabag	JSON	✓	✓ (unarchived)	✓
Readwise Reader	CSV	✓	✓ (Inbox/Later/Shortlist)	✓
X / Twitter	Archive `bookmark.js` or `like.js`	Optional tag	—	✓
Reddit	Saved-items export	Optional tag	—	✓

Privacy: apart from Pinboard (which tells us what you shared), every import follows your account setting, which is private by default. Nothing you import becomes public unless you say so.

The format we couldn't read, until now

Until this week, Diigo's CSV export imported zero bookmarks. It was the one format our test suite listed as a known gap. It's supported now: tags, descriptions, your comments and your highlighted annotations all come across. If an export of yours still lands with nothing imported, the import history says so, and we'd like to see the file's header row.

A one-sitting plan

Export everything first. Each service's export can take minutes to arrive by email (Pocket and Pinboard especially). Start them all, then make coffee.
Import the oldest, best-tagged library first. If the same link is in Pinboard and Pocket, the first import wins and the second skips it. Put your most carefully tagged source first.
Then the queues. Pocket, Instapaper, Wallabag and Readwise bring their unread state, so your read-later list fills with what you actually meant to read, not everything you ever archived.
Last, the social saves. X and Reddit exports are big and messy; give them their own tag so they don't drown the rest.
Check the import history. Each run reports how many bookmarks it imported and skipped, so a file that matched nothing says so instead of looking like success.

Files up to about 10 MB go in one upload. Larger libraries are rarely a problem in practice. If yours is, split the file and upload the halves.

After the move

Imported pages get a readable text copy in the background, so they stay searchable even if the original site disappears later. And everything you bring in can go back out: Cowpin exports to the same standard HTML file browsers and Pinboard use, plus JSON and Delicious-style XML, whenever you want.

Ready? Open Settings → Bookmarks → Import, or start with the guide for your old service: Pocket, Pinboard, Instapaper, Raindrop, your browser, or X.