Papaly: a complete bookmarks manager… but dormant

In a world where we are increasingly mobile and use more and more connected devices, it's sometimes useful to be able to access your internet favorites anywhere, on any machine… That's exactly what [the service] offers. papal, a free online tool which, since its launch, has never changed its mission: to save your links and make them accessible everywhere.

But that's not all, since Papaly also incorporates a social dimension, allowing you to share your favorites or links with the community. This reveals a true monitoring tool for specific topics… but we'll come back to that.

Indeed, the uses of Papaly are multiple!

Papaly, a very complete favorites manager

One of Papaly's greatest strengths lies in its management of your internet bookmarks. When you're starting out (and at any time thereafter), you can import your bookmarks from an HTML file generated by your browser; Papaly explains how to do this step by step. You can also retrieve "popular" bookmarks by selecting categories, and then do some sorting yourself later.

Your links are grouped into boards that you can organize as you see fit: a personal board, a professional board, or even a board by theme. Within each board, subcategories allow you to further refine the classification.

A practical option: sharing a board using a simple public URL, ideal for offering a selection of links to colleagues or friends.

Papaly as a monitoring tool

Beyond a simple manager, Papaly becomes a micro-network for curating content. You make your boards public; other users follow your discoveries, and you follow theirs. The button "Explore" facilitates the discovery of themed boards; some remain static, others behave like feeds that grow richer over the days.

Retrieve the links shared on your social networks

Papaly can also connect your Facebook, X, LinkedIn, or YouTube accounts to archive the URLs you publish. This is handy for finding an article or video shared months ago without having to search through your history.

Current limitations to be aware of

Papaly still works perfectly today, but the service is running at a reduced capacity:

• No major updates for several years The official Chrome extension has disappeared from the Web Store, replaced by a simple bookmarklet.
• Silent user support : the help center has not been updated since 2020 and no roadmap is public.
• Uncertain security and sustainability : we have no recent information on data encryption or GDPR compliance.
• Risk of closure without notice Like any project that isn't maintained, Papaly could disappear; remember to regularly export your favorites (menu). Settings → Export).

If these reservations are holding you back, take a look at zuluZulu is an ergonomic and collaborative bookmark manager, but slightly less comprehensive. It benefits from regular updates, a modern Chrome extension, and active support.

Should we abandon Papaly?

Papaly remains an excellent toolkit for managing and sharing bookmarks, with a clear interface and numerous sorting options. However, its stalled development calls for caution: keep your backups up to date and have a fallback solution if you plan to rely on your bookmarks long-term. More demanding readers may want to consider Zulu or other more dynamic alternatives.

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