Subject sums it up. Just curious if there is a trick to be able to export your reading list from Safari, any format. Where on the HD is the info stored? bookmarks.plist?
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I'll bet that once the iCloud drops, we'll see this sync between your computers automatically. Not sure if that was where you're going with this, but it's semi-related. – NReilingh Sep 13 '11 at 05:59
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1I have this question for Safari on iOS. – Nicolas Barbulesco Sep 03 '14 at 13:57
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You can convert it into XML in a Terminal/command window using:
cd ~/Library/Safari/
cp Bookmarks.plist Bookmarks.plist.xml
plutil -convert xml1 Bookmarks.plist.xml
alexwlchan
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Ashok
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Yes. The file is called Bookmarks.plist and it is located in ~/Library/Safari/. This houses not only your Reading List bookmarks, but all your bookmarks.
You'll want to look for entries under the key ReadingList. They will look something like this (file viewed in xCode 4):
Unfortunately, the plist file is stored as a binary, and you'll either have to open it using xCode or another tool that can handle binary plist files.
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You can't export from Safari but you can import from Chrome
Here it is on Google support: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/96816?hl=en
Alternatively you can open the Terminal application on a Mac (search it in Launchpad if you can't find it) and paste this:
/usr/bin/plutil -convert xml1 -o - ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist | grep -E -o '<string>http[s]{0,1}://.*</string>' | grep -v icloud | sed -E 's/<\/{0,1}string>//g'
Hit return and it will list all your Reading List links as text which you can copy and paste elsewhere.
grg
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At some point this stopped working as intended. On Mojave it dumps all URLs in the file, not just the reading list. – Fuzzy76 Nov 14 '18 at 16:51
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If you append ' > ~/Desktop/safariReading.rtf' to the Terminal line from above, you will get a rich-text format file on your Desktop.
This file contains the Safari Reading List & Bookmarks URLs in clickable format. The file could be used for archiving or for creating a project file with notes on what the URLs are for, etc.
/usr/bin/plutil -convert xml1 -o - ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist | grep -E -o '<string>http[s]{0,1}://.*</string>' | grep -v icloud | sed -E 's/<\/{0,1}string>//g' > ~/Desktop/safariReading.rtf
user6458800
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It’s helpful if you explain what the command actually does - it helps others understand how this works. – Allan Jul 21 '23 at 13:07
