Delicious Bookmarks: My One-Click Bookmarklets and Today’s Alternatives
In 2007 I shared a set of one-click bookmarklets to post delicious bookmarks without filling any form. Del.icio.us was then the most popular social bookmarking service. This article covers what those bookmarklets did, what happened to Delicious, and the fastest ways to save and share bookmarks today.
Quick answer: Delicious no longer accepts new bookmarks. Pinboard bought it in June 2017 and made it read-only, so the old posting API and bookmarklets no longer work. Today you can save pages quickly with your browser’s own bookmarks and sync, or with a bookmarking service such as Raindrop.io or Pinboard.
Table of Contents
My one-click delicious bookmarks bookmarklets
I often wanted to save a page to Del.icio.us in one click, with no tags or a default tag like “Unfiled”, and tidy it up later. So I built a set of bookmarklets on the official Del.icio.us API. You dragged one to your bookmarks toolbar and clicked it on any page. Versions included:
- Quick Post: saved the page with no tags.
- Quick Post with tags: added one or two default tags such as “Unfiled” and “Technology”, which you could edit in the bookmarklet code.
- Quick Post without sharing: saved the bookmark as private.
- Quick Post any URL: asked for a URL in a prompt, so you could add many links in a row.
- Quick Post with date: saved the bookmark with a set date, useful for sorting links by date.
Each came in a same-window and a new-window version. I preferred the new-window ones, so I could keep reading while bookmarks were added in the background. The API showed result code=”done” when a post worked.
These grew out of an even earlier set I made in February 2005, called Post.icio.us. Besides quick posting, it had one-click tools to delete the current page from your bookmarks, delete any bookmarked URL typed into a prompt (handy for removing many links in a row), rename any tag by entering the old and new names, and a resizable pop-up version of the official “experimental post” screen that closed itself after saving. The first time you used them, Del.icio.us asked for your username and password for its API.
What happened to Delicious
Delicious launched in 2003 and was bought by Yahoo in December 2005. Yahoo sold it to AVOS in 2011, and it changed hands again in 2014 and 2016. In June 2017 Pinboard bought Delicious and turned it into a read-only site, inviting users to move to Pinboard. That ended the posting API, so these bookmarklets and the many Delicious tools from that era stopped working.
Fastest ways to save bookmarks in 2026
The idea behind my bookmarklets still holds: save in one click, organize later. These options do that today:
- Browser bookmarks: press Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on Mac) in Chrome, Firefox or Edge. Sign in to your browser to sync bookmarks across devices.
- Raindrop.io: a bookmark manager with browser extensions, collections, tags and apps for phones.
- Pinboard: a simple paid bookmarking service, and the home of the old Delicious users. It offers its own bookmarklets.
Our guide to the fastest way to bookmark web pages and find them later covers these in more detail, and our list of Firefox extensions for social media has tools for sharing links.
Can bookmarklets still save bookmarks today?
Yes. A bookmarklet is a small piece of JavaScript saved as a bookmark, and many services still offer them. Pinboard, for example, has official bookmarklets for quick and pop-up saving, much like my old Del.icio.us ones. Drag the bookmarklet to your bookmarks bar and click it on any page.
Tips for quick bookmarking
- Keep one “Inbox” or “Unfiled” folder for quick saves, and sort it once a week.
- Pin your most used bookmarks to the bookmarks bar so they are one click away.
- Use tags or folders, not both, to keep things simple.
FAQ
Can I still log in to Delicious?
No. Delicious has been read-only since June 2017 and no longer accepts new bookmarks.
Do the old Del.icio.us bookmarklets still work?
No. They relied on the Del.icio.us posting API, which stopped working when the site became read-only.
What is the best Delicious alternative?
For most people, browser bookmarks with sync are enough. If you want tags, collections and sharing, try Raindrop.io or Pinboard.
What is a bookmarklet?
A bookmark that runs a small JavaScript command instead of opening a page, for example saving the current page to a bookmarking service in one click.
Who owns Delicious now?
Pinboard bought Delicious in June 2017.
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Thanks for sharing the tips, it makes bookmarking process on delicious become more easier ever after!
These bookmarks are now defunct, probably because of API changes. A pity, I love the one-click add.
Does not work for me. I get “This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.” Help?
Nice tips about delicious bookmarking but I want to know, what is the way of making popular a bookmark on delicious, how a bookmark can take place on delicious home page?
Continuing my previous post…
Actually it would be very nice if quick bookmarklet could directly open user’s own del.icio.us page. Then user could check that bookmark is really saved. Sometimes this is not the case when using Opera Mini. I don’t know the reason for this but I suspect it has something to do with cached pages.
Quick del.icio.us links do the job but they open empty page on Opera 9.5 and on Opera Mini. Is there any way to reload the saved page or some other page where one could have a history back button?
I have to login again every time I re-start Firefox. Is this normal?
Because of your work, so many people can work together, so many people have discover each other than you open a new world of communication between people.
Thanks! Awesome tool… I saw “API” and I got scared – thought I had to have applied for some sort of API keys from delicious – didn’t realize it was just my regular delicious account.
Gabe – You need to login once to your del.icio.us account otherwise how will the API post links to your account. Once you are logged in, then it keeps working.
Seems cool, but when i try open the bookmarklet after dragging it to my firefox menu bar, i get a pop-up saying i need to enter my username/password for the yahoo/delicious api….
what am i doing wrong?
Nice tip!. For me, I just install it on my toolbar and click on it whenever I found a good site.
@Jeff – The del.icio.us API has no way to autoclose the window or go back automatically. I personaly use the pop up one and then close the windows. Any suggestions on how to do it are welcome.
Is there any way you can return to the previous page with the same-window method? I get some XML returned back, and have to manually go back to the previous page. I’m using IE7.
is there a chance to develop such posting-feature to post all open tabs?
sometimes I would post all open tabs not only one a time.
Or is there another tool for this?
Thanks a lot!
Daniel
yeah..the new del.icio.us firefox extension replace your original bookmarks. so you just drag the tab to the bookmark toolbar
Nice stuff. Thanks for sharing. Some people might also be interested in the del.icio.us Firefox extension )
cool. I have delicious configured for daily link postings and this will definately make my posting job faster and easier. thanks
There is also a right-click context menu (mouse version) to post to del.icio.us or to see your del.icio.us page:
This is great because you the page you are bookmarking doesn’t even have to be open.
Just move the cursor to the hyperlink and right-click for easy adding.