How to Export Your Mastodon Bookmarks

Mastodon has a built-in bookmark export. In the web interface, open Preferences, go to Import and export, then Export, and download the Bookmarks CSV. That file only contains the address of each post, one per line, with no text, author or date. If you want the post text in the file, or a copy that still works after a post or server disappears, Birdfeeder exports your Mastodon bookmarks with the full text as CSV, Excel, TSV or JSON, free for any signed-in user.

Below are both routes and what you get from each.

How do I use Mastodon's built-in bookmark export?

1. Log in to your Mastodon server in a web browser.
2. Open Preferences from the menu.
3. Go to Import and export, then Export.
4. In the table, find the Bookmarks row. It shows how many bookmarks you have. Click CSV to download.

The file is ready right away. Each line is the address of one bookmarked post, newest first.

What's missing from Mastodon's bookmark CSV?

Only the address is in there. No post text, no author name, no date the post was written, no date you bookmarked it. To see what a post said, you have to open each link.

That works as long as the post exists. If the author deletes it, or the server it came from shuts down, the link stops working and the CSV has nothing else to show you. On Mastodon servers closing is a real thing, and I wrote about what that means for bookmarks in What Happens to Your Mastodon Bookmarks When an Instance Shuts Down.

Does the Mastodon account archive include bookmarks?

The same Export page has a "Request your archive" button. That archive is meant for your own posts and uploaded media, and you can request one every seven days. It also has a bookmarks file, but like the CSV it only lists post addresses. The text of other people's posts isn't in it.

Also keep in mind that some servers run modified versions of Mastodon, or older ones, so menus can look slightly different.

How do I export Mastodon bookmarks with the full text?

With Birdfeeder:

1. Go to getbirdfeeder.com and choose to sign in with Mastodon.
2. Enter the address of your server, like mastodon.social.
3. Your server asks you to approve read access for Birdfeeder.
4. Add your email and pick a time for the weekly summary.
5. Birdfeeder imports your whole Mastodon bookmark history in the background.
6. Open Settings, find "Download your archive", and pick CSV, Excel, TSV or JSON.

Birdfeeder only asks for read access. It can't post, boost, favourite or follow anyone on your behalf.

What's in the Birdfeeder export?

One row per bookmark, newest first, with these columns:

• url: the link to the post on the server it was posted on
• author: the account that posted it
• text: the full post text
• tweeted_at: when the post was published (same column name for every network)
• note: your private note, if you added one in Birdfeeder
• tags: your tags, comma-separated
• bookmarked_at: when the bookmark was added to your Birdfeeder archive

Mastodon doesn't share the date you bookmarked a post with outside apps, only the order. So for the bookmarks from your history, bookmarked_at is the date of the import, while the row order matches the order you saved them in. For bookmarks you make after signing up, it's close to when you saved them.

Images and videos are not in the file. They're stored in your Birdfeeder archive, but the export has text and links only.

Is it really free?

Exporting Mastodon, Bluesky and Nostr bookmarks is free for every signed-in Birdfeeder user. You don't need a card for the 14-day trial, and the download keeps working after the trial ends, even if you never pay.

The paid plan ($5 a month or $45 a year) is for what happens after the first import. On the trial and on a paid plan, Birdfeeder keeps saving new bookmarks, and you get full-text search, the weekly summary email, notes, and more. If the trial ends and you don't subscribe, new bookmarks stop coming in, but your archive stays and you can still download it.

If you also connect an X account, X bookmarks are only included in the export on the yearly plan. Reading from X costs me money per request, while Mastodon servers don't charge for it.

Why would I want the text and not only the links?

A list of links is fine as long as every server stays online and every author keeps their posts up. A file with the text is useful on its own. You can search it, sort it by author, or keep it as a record long after the original post is gone. And inside Birdfeeder, the stored copy means a post you bookmarked stays readable and searchable even if its server disappears.

If what you're after is finding a post again, search is quicker than a spreadsheet. Birdfeeder searches the full text of all your bookmarks, and an AI assistant like Claude can search them through Birdfeeder's MCP server (Claude Can Now Search Your Bluesky and Mastodon Bookmarks Too).

More details are on the Mastodon bookmark export page and the Mastodon bookmark backup page.