Convert exported bookmarks (HTML) into mindmap

D-7 · September 23, 2021, 7:14pm

Create a mindmap of bookmarks is something that I’m really interested.

Right now you can use Mindmap plugin to see the md file in a mindmap.
The problem is that bookmarks are exported in html format.

So it will be great a plugin that convert with the right indentation the html into md and then use the mindmap plugin.

Convert HTML to MD

<!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<TITLE>Bookmarks</TITLE>
<H1>Bookmarks</H1>
<DL><p>
    <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1627316565" LAST_MODIFIED="1630526712" PERSONAL_TOOLBAR_FOLDER="true">Folder 1</H3>
    <DL><p>
        <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="1630367628">Folder 1.1</H3>
        <DL><p>
            <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="0">Folder 1.1.1</H3>
			<DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="0">Folder 1.1.2</H3>
            <DL><p>
                <DT><A HREF="https://www.example.com" ADD_DATE="1630030257">Link</A>
            </DL><p>
		</DL><p>
    </DL><p>
        <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="1630367628">Folder 1.2</H3>
        <DL><p>
	        <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="0">Folder 1.2.1</H3>
			<DL><p>
                <DT><A HREF="https://www.example.com" ADD_DATE="1630030257">Link</A>
            </DL><p>
			<DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="0">Folder 1.2.2</H3>
            <DL><p>
                <DT><A HREF="https://www.example.com" ADD_DATE="1630030257">Link</A>
            </DL><p>
		</DL><p>
    </DL><p>
	
	<DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1627316565" LAST_MODIFIED="1630526712" PERSONAL_TOOLBAR_FOLDER="true">Folder 2</H3>
    <DL><p>
        <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="1630367628">Folder 2.1</H3>
        <DL><p>
            <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="0">Folder 2.1.1</H3>
            <DL><p>
                <DT><A HREF="https://www.example.com" ADD_DATE="1630030257">Link</A>
            </DL><p>
            <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="0">Folder 2.1.2</H3>
            <DL><p>
                <DT><A HREF="https://www.example.com" ADD_DATE="1630030257">Link</A>
            </DL><p>
		</DL><p>
    </DL><p>
	<DL><p>
        <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="1630367628">Folder 2.2</H3>
        <DL><p>
            <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="0">Folder 2.2.1</H3>
            <DL><p>
                <DT><A HREF="https://www.example.com" ADD_DATE="1630030257">Link</A>
            </DL><p>
            <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1630367628" LAST_MODIFIED="0">Folder 2.2.2</H3>
            <DL><p>
                <DT><A HREF="https://www.example.com" ADD_DATE="1630030257">Link</A>
            </DL><p>
		</DL><p>
    </DL><p>
</DL><p>

Create an MD with this form inside to nested folders and links

# Bookmarks
## Folder 1
### Folder 1.1
#### Folder 1.1.1
- [Link](https://www.example.com/)
#### Folder 1.1.2
- [Link](https://www.example.com/)
### Folder 1.2
#### Folder 1.2.1
- [Link](https://www.example.com/)
#### Folder 1.2.2
- [Link](https://www.example.com/)
## Folder 2
### Folder 2.1
#### Folder 2.1.1
- [Link](https://www.example.com/)
#### Folder 2.1.2
- [Link](https://www.example.com/)
### Folder 2.2
#### Folder 2.2.1
- [Link](https://www.example.com/)
#### Folder 2.2.2
- [Link](https://www.example.com/)

Execute the mindmap plugin. And you’ll get a beautiful mindmap of your bookmarks like this.

image1600×482 52.4 KB

I write this suggestion because I don’t know very much of coding, but it doesn’t seem very difficult. Convert an HTML to MD with the right indentation to see correctly the mindmap.

ichmoimeyo · September 23, 2021, 10:49pm

Use …

Lets you export your bookmarks in markdown

Unfortunately you will still need to do some indenting as bookmarks.html does not conserve the folder hierarchy as you can see when you open it in a browser. [Explanation]

Then use this interactive plugin instead …

to be able to edit both from markdown as well as the mind map by dragging nodes.

D-7 · September 23, 2021, 11:26pm

I also use Enhancing mindmap, but the problem is that I’ve got the bookmarks in raindrop.io and the extension only works for chrome. I’m looking for a better way to visualize content like mindmaps.

ichmoimeyo · September 23, 2021, 11:49pm

Understood - unfortunately getting the bookmarks.html folder hierarchy is the problem as mentioned in. [Explanation]

I have been looking into this myself as the indenting has become tiring - although as I know my bookmarks folder and sub-folder structure I have been able to speed up the process my multi-selecting and batch indenting.

If I find any other method I’ll report back.

D-7 · September 23, 2021, 11:51pm

I tried what you said with my previous bookmarks of chrome and it works. But I have another problem the list of bookmarks is so big that the Obsidian app crash with enhancing mindmap and with mindmap is very slowly the zoom and not efficient.

And this with normal zoom

ichmoimeyo · September 24, 2021, 12:09am

In that case you might want to create a new chrome profile that has no bookmarks and install the Bookmarks Exporter into it.

Then go back to your regular profile and right-click on one of your bookmarks folders & copy

Go to your new profile, open the bookmark manager & paste into it.

You should now have a bookmarks list that Obsidian can handle.

You just have to repeat the process and eventually stitch them all together.

D-7 · September 24, 2021, 12:13am

Ok I see, if I want to do with the main 14 folders that’s an option.

The list of bookmarks that I use is public and is from raindrop.io/interneto which I’ve been collecting for more than a year, a long project of collecting webs by myself. The problem is the visualization that is very wide and you can only see the links inside of a folder.

ichmoimeyo · September 24, 2021, 12:38am

If I were on Windows I would use this …

https://github.com/dipesh4edutopia/Exe-of-Curation-Tools/tree/master/Import%20Chrome%20Bookmarks

I could export the mind map file as .mm and then transform it if I wanted into markdown .md for Obsidian via “MindMup for Google Drive” OR via “markdown .md ↔ freemind .mm” R program:

using …

to run it.

EDIT: … just remembered I still have an old windows 7 device lying around … will give this a try sometime.

D-7 · September 25, 2021, 12:48am

Thanks a lot, I’ll take a look.

D-7 · September 25, 2021, 3:01am

I had tried the Ex-of-Curation-tools and doesn’t work very well only only add one row of nested collections in the mindmap. Like this one:

And Mindr the problem is that I need to convert to MD before, the best would be convert the html directly to midmap.

ichmoimeyo · September 25, 2021, 5:37am

The Ex-of-Curation-tools not doing all mind map hierarchy levels is pretty useless - didn’t know that.
yes the Mindr R program is purely once you have either the validated .md file or the .mm file (… that I expected we get from Ex-of-Curation.)

So I guess the only way at the moment is to use Bookmarks Exporter with each of your 14 main folders but even then you’ll have to indent each subfolder. Actually since “Bookmarks Exporter” adheres to markdown rules and only allows 5 heading levels including the top bookmarks bar one only gets 4 real sublevels & the rest is flattened.

oh well, I’ll continue looking for a solution …