How to get everything you've saved into one place
Bookmarks, Slack saves, Figma, Drive, screenshots, and saved posts, pulled into one searchable library. Source by source, with and without an AI assistant.
TLDR
- Your best references are spread across a browser, Slack, Figma, Drive, a screenshots folder, and four apps’ “saved” tabs. Nothing searches all of them.
- Pick one place that takes every kind of thing, then move stuff over biggest pile first: bookmarks and old apps by import, files by drag and drop.
- The scattered bits (links in Slack threads, docs, and notes) are where an assistant connected over MCP earns its keep. Paste the mess, it files it.
- Then stop the sprawl: save new things to the one place, from your laptop and your phone.
Where it all lives right now
Be honest, it’s something like this:
- Browser bookmarks, across Chrome at work and Safari at home
- An old bookmark app (Raindrop, Pocket, Pinboard) you stopped opening
- Slack, in Saved, or Later, or whatever Slack is calling it this quarter
- Figma, in your Community saves and in files called “inspo (old)”
- Google Drive, a starred folder of PDFs and decks
- Your desktop, a screenshots folder with 600 files called “Screenshot 2024-03-11 at 14.02.11”
- Social apps, in the saved tabs on Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and Reddit
- Your inbox, where good newsletters go to die
The problem isn’t that you saved too little. It’s that you can’t search “pricing page with a slider” across eight apps, so you end up googling for something you already have.
Step 1: pick the one place
It has to take everything, or you’ll keep a second place for “the stuff that doesn’t fit”. That means links, images, PDFs, notes, emails, and videos, with search that reads inside them. That’s what we built Savepad for. Whatever you pick, check it can do that before you start moving things.
Make your top-level split first. In Savepad that’s spaces: Work and Personal is plenty to start. Don’t plan folders yet. You’ll see what you need once it’s all in.
Step 2: the big piles, by import
No AI needed for this part.
- Browser bookmarks. Export each browser to an HTML file and import them one after another. Folders come across as folders, and links you already have aren’t saved twice, so importing Chrome and Safari into the same space is fine.
- Old bookmark apps. Raindrop, Pocket, Pinboard, and Instapaper all export a file Savepad reads. Import from other apps has each one step by step.
- Spreadsheets of links. Any CSV with a
urlcolumn works, with title, tags, folder, and note columns if you have them.
Every imported link gets fetched again in the background, so you get fresh previews and the page text for search. Free keeps 150 saves, so a move this size wants Light.
Step 3: files, by drag and drop
- The screenshots folder. Drag the whole thing in. Every image gets its text read, so that 2024 screenshot of a checkout page turns up when you search “checkout”.
- Drive. Download the starred PDFs and images and drop them in. A link to a private Drive file won’t preview for anyone but you, so keep the file itself.
- Figma. Export the frames you actually care about as PNGs and drop them in. For Community files, open the Saved tab on your Community profile and copy the links.
Step 4: the scattered stuff
This is the slow part, and where an assistant helps.
Without AI: go through each source and paste links into Savepad one by one (⌘V anywhere saves it). For saved posts, there are guides for Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and Reddit. For newsletters, forward the good ones to your Savepad email address, and here’s how to get them out of your inbox for good.
With AI: connect Claude or ChatGPT to Savepad and paste the mess in bulk. Slack doesn’t export saved items, but you can open them, copy the lot, and drop it into a chat:
Here are my saved Slack messages. Save every link in them to my Work space. Put the message text in each save’s note, so I know why I kept it.
Same for a Notion page of links, a Google Doc called “resources”, or the notes app list you’ve been adding to since 2021. The Claude guide and ChatGPT guide have more prompts.
Step 5: sort it once
Now you can see what you’ve got. Make folders for the things you look for most (Landing pages, Onboarding, Pricing, Ads) and tags for what cuts across them (#b2b, #mobile, #competitor).
Doing it by hand works fine with a few simple rules. With an assistant, ask for a plan, check it, then let it move things in batches. That’s all in organizing bookmarks with AI.
Step 6: stop it spreading again
- On a laptop: copy, ⌘V in Savepad. That’s the whole habit.
- On your phone: share to your Savepad email address from any app. Save from your phone has the setup.
- From chats and threads: ask your assistant to save the good links as they come up, instead of saving the thread in Slack.
If you want to go further than links and screenshots, and keep notes and ideas next to them, the second brain post is about exactly that.
FAQ
What's the best way to keep all my saved links in one place?
Pick one library that takes every kind of thing you save (links, screenshots, PDFs, notes), import the big piles first, then move the scattered stuff over a source at a time. After that, save new things straight there.
Can I combine bookmarks from different browsers?
Yes. Export each browser's bookmarks to an HTML file and import them all into the same place. Savepad spots links you already have and doesn't save them twice.
Do I need AI to do this?
No. Imports, drag and drop, and email cover most of it. An assistant connected over MCP helps with the messy bits: links buried in Slack threads, docs, and notes, and the sorting afterwards.
How do I get my Slack saved items out?
Slack has no export for saved items. Open them (Saved in Home, or Later or To-dos depending on your workspace), copy the ones worth keeping, and paste the links or the text into your library or your assistant.