Bookmarklets are little bits of code that you can add to your browser’s bookmarks bar. They are not webpages, but they will make webpages do things for you. For example, if you are required to make a page load faster or use less bandwidth, you can use a bookmarklet. There are many different kinds of bookmarklets out there that can make things like text bigger or smaller, open up a new tab, visit a site anonymously, and more.
Browser Link Shortcut
This one is a bit ambiguous, but it’s useful if you spend a lot of time on the web. The browser link shortcut bookmarklet allows you to open any URL directly in your default browser without copying and pasting it. This is especially beneficial if you use multiple browsers because Chrome doesn’t always have a great selection of extensions (like Pocket), and Firefox can sometimes be laggy.
To set up this bookmarklet, drag its link from this page onto your bookmarks bar:
After that, click on it when you see an external link to open it directly in your preferred browser.
Copy Link Address
The Copy Link Address bookmarklet will copy the address of any webpage you currently view. This bookmarklet is handy if you want to share a link (or part of it) with someone else but don’t want them to see what page it links to. It’s also useful if you want to keep track of where something links to later on when you revisit the page.
Copy Email Address
This bookmarklet will copy the email address of the current page. This is useful for emailing someone about a page you’re reading on the web. You can also use it to put an email address into your clipboard. To use this bookmarklet, click it while viewing a page with an email address. The address will automatically be copied to your clipboard, and you can paste it into your preferred email program or use it elsewhere on your computer.
Send Link to Pocket
This is a handy bookmarklet for when you find an article or page you want to read later. It lets you send links directly to Pocket, where they’ll be organized by category and appear in the app’s read-it-later list. To get this bookmarklet, visit the Pocket site on your mobile device and click “Add to Home Screen.” Then, follow the steps. When it’s finished, tap on the new icon, and you should see a popup that looks like this:
The bookmarklet should be visible in the box on the right side of the screen; click on it and press “Add” at the bottom of your screen. That’s it!
Send Link to Instapaper
Instapaper is a great service for saving articles and websites for later reading if you’re unfamiliar with it. It was started by the same people who created Delicious, another popular website aggregator. Send Link to Instapaper is a handy bookmarklet that lets you send any link to your Instapaper account in a single click. If you want to save an article or web page later, click on this bookmarklet once it’s installed, and then click on the link you want to save. The bookmarklet will add an “Instapaper” button next to the URL bar, which you can click to load up an editor window where you can fill out some details about what you’re saving. Users can select if they need or do not need not to include images in your saved content (and include them in full resolution), add tags for finding later, and add comments if you want to explain why you saved something so someone else can see it later on. Once you hit “Submit” on that page, your content will be added directly to your Instapaper account and appear as soon as possible — usually within seconds!
Send link to email
This is one of the most useful bookmarklets ever created. If you have a link open in your browser, this bookmarklet will send that page as an email to someone you specify. It’s great for sending links to people who aren’t necessarily tech-savvy or for sharing something with someone who does not have access to the internet yet. To install this on Chrome, go to this page and click on “Save.” For Firefox, click here (the link will open in a new tab). Then go back to the original tab and click on the bookmarklet icon to send it off!
Search Highlighted Text in Google
There are many ways to highlight text on the web (for example, by using Ctrl+C), but most don’t work on Google. This bookmarklet will change that. It will highlight any text you’ve selected (or highlighted) and search for it on Google, so you can find other sources or information related to what you’re reading. It also works in most other browsers like Firefox and Opera.
To use this bookmarklet, you must drag it to your bookmarks bar and click it whenever you want to use it. There are two versions: one for Chrome/Internet Explorer/Safari/Opera and one for Firefox.
Translate Selection with Google Translator (also supports Bing Translator)
This simple bookmarklet allows you to translate multiple words or sentences at once. The selection is passed to the Google Translate API, and the result is displayed below the page. Users can copy and paste the text into this window to translate it, which makes it convenient for translations on sites like Twitter or Facebook, where text cannot be selected.
Copy HTML of Current Page
Copy HTML of Current Page is probably one of the most useful bookmarklets. It copies all the HTML from your current page into your clipboard, so you can paste it into an email or chat message without worrying about formatting or losing any important information. This is especially helpful when trying to send someone a link with an image on it — otherwise, they might not be able to view it properly unless they have direct access to the server where it’s hosted (i.e., if it’s on Imgur).
Decode Base64 Text Encoded Data into Plain Text
Base64 encoding is mostly used to represent binary data in an ASCII-compatible text format by translating eight-bit characters into 64 different characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9). If you ever encounter base64 encoded data (for example, when downloading files from FTP sites), use this bookmarklet to decode it into plain ASCII text!
