Bookmark management in Anytype instead of Raindrop.io

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In today’s digital world, bookmarking has grown from a simple convenience into a vital part of managing information.

For years, I used Raindrop.io as my primary bookmark manager. It’s a great tool, but as I dove deeper into the Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) world, my priorities shifted toward privacy, security, and offline accessibility

The 2021 Notion outage, which locked users out of their data for hours, made me wary of cloud-only services. I realized I needed a local-first solution for my “internet dumping ground.” In late 2023, I discovered Anytype and was drawn to the platform, particularly its direction in collaboration. At that time, I was already using Obsidian and didn’t switch my PKM system to Anytype, but I explored its features. I experimented with adapting parts of my workflow to Anytype, but it didn’t stick, mainly because anytype wasn’t polished enough yet. I continued using Obsidian while keeping an eye on Anytype.

The release of the Anytype Web Clipper finally gave me a clear use case: a bookmark system that could replace Raindrop while delivering the privacy, security, and offline benefits I wanted. I immediately began planning how to implement this system in Anytype. I’m sharing this post to showcase what I’ve done so far and to offer insights for anyone who might find it useful.

Why Anytype works for me:

  • Local-First & Encrypted: My bookmarks are mine, stored on my machine, and accessible without an internet connection.

  • No Browser Bloat: It keeps my browser lean while making my library extremely searchable.

  • Advanced Workflows: Using Queries (formerly Sets) and Collections, I can build custom views that a standard bookmark manager can’t touch.

My Workflow

  1. Capture: I use the Web Clipper on desktop and the “Share to Anytype” function on mobile.

  2. Organize: I use a dedicated “Bookmarks” Space. Everything gets tagged based on how I’ll search for it later.

  3. The Research Funnel: This is my favorite use case. Anytype acts as a “triage” center for my literature reviews. I clip everything, filter for what’s worth reading, and only move the essential stuff into Zotero for final referencing.

The Trade-offs

It’s not perfect yet. There is no built-in duplicate checker (which can lead to multiple entries for the same link), and the clipper occasionally needs a second or sometimes multiple “nudge” to pull data. Also, it lacks the visual “card” previews of Raindrop, but honestly, for a fast, local-first system, I don’t miss the images.

Bottom Line: If you want a private, offline-ready home for your digital resources that doubles as a powerful database, Anytype is a game-changer. I plan to write a dedicated article that showcases additional use cases and provides a clear, step-by-step breakdown of how to implement this system, so keep an eye out for it.

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Thanks for writing this.

I use Raindrop.io for all my bookmarks too. I have 1000+ bookmarks in there all sorted well into respective folders in Raindrop. Is there any easy way to migrate all the Raindrop bookmarks into Anytype?

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Maybe this is a little bit off-topic. I think Anytype will have a browser function in the future.

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what makes you think that?

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I just have the feeling that Anytype is trying to be a P2P ecosystem in the future. If this is true, it may add different common functions in the P2P form in the future.

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Nice use case! Do you move bookmarks into other spaces? Or you just move to Zotero?

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I am a happy user or Raindrop.io, and I also miss the offline nature. Right now I use the Raindrop app on macOS as a workaround, but you’d have to run it frequently so that it can catch up with the web version.

More than once, I have been thinking about writing a tool that uses Raindrop’s and Anytype’s APIs to mirror all Raindrop bookmarks to Anytype. Yet, I lack the time (respectively, the skills to hack this sort of tool into my keyboard on a rainy/snowy Sunday afternoon).

Anybody working on this, by chance?

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Everything I bookmark goes directly into Anytype, where I’ve set up a dedicated space for this purpose.

I use Zotero specifically for research-focused work. During literature review, I create a tag for the topic and then set up a bookmark query that filters all bookmarks related to that tag. I assign a to-do tag to these bookmarks, and once I decide which ones are worth keeping, I open them and move the selected resources to Zotero.

This approach helps prevent clutter in Zotero, allowing me to focus only on materials that are truly relevant, since not everything I bookmark ends up being used in the final paper. If I later need to revisit previously bookmarked resources for a new purpose, I return to Anytype and repeat the same workflow.

I find this system really exciting, the query and filtering features in Anytype make it especially powerful. I also maintain a monthly backup task for the space in case of data corruption. The main feature I currently miss is duplicate detection, but I’m considering solving this soon, possibly with a script that searches for duplicate files. Overall, the system is still a work in progress, and I refine as I go.

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My main reason for using Anytype is privacy. The offline functionality is an added advantage.

I still have many bookmarks stored in Raindrop, as I haven’t had the time to move them yet. I’ll likely automate the migration process with the help of an AI model.

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I haven’t found a simple way to do this yet. I’m considering using an AI chat model, possibly Claude, to help automate the process. I want to avoid losing the tags and notes associated with my bookmarks, and doing this manually would be extremely inefficient.

If you come across a solution, please let me know, I’ll do the same if I figure one out.