Beginning
1
This guide assumes that you have already created a GPO called "Browser Shortcuts" and linked it to the root or the OU containing users.
In "Administrative Tools," open "Group Policy Management"
2
Locate the "Browser Settings" GPO, right-click, then "Edit."
Mozilla Firefox
3
Navigate to User Configuration → Policies → Administrative Templates → Mozilla → Firefox → Bookmarks
4
For Each favorite you wish to add, you need to edit Bookmark ##.
5
Enter the Title, URL, Placement, and Folder name. When complete, click "OK." You can add additional favorites by editing additional Bookmark ## settings. There is a limit of 50 bookmarks.
Google Chrome
6
Navigate to User Configuration → Policies → Administrative Templates → Google → Chrome. Then right-click on "Managed Bookmarks" and click "Edit."
7
Click into the "Managed Bookmarks" field and then Ctrl + A to select all, then copy and paste into a text editor.
8
Be careful when editing this information as the syntax needs to be exact. Below is an example of how to modify it. The "toplevel_name" is for the folder name. "name" and "url" are for the title and URL respectively. When adding additional favorites, make sure that you add a comma at the end of the }, only the last } does not receive a comma. Most importantly, the field will only allow a single line, you need to remove all extra spaces and carriage returns before pasting. Note the example notepad image below on how it needs to look before pasting.
\[\
{\
"toplevel_name": "Company Shortcuts"\
},\
{\
"name": "Google",\
"url": "google.com"\
},\
{\
"name": "Youtube",\
"url": "youtube.com"\
}\
\]
9
Paste the changed JSON into the "Managed Bookmarks" field and click "OK."
Microsoft Edge
10
Navigate to User Configuration → Policies → Administrative Templates → Microsoft Edge. Then right-click on "Configure favorites" and click "Edit." The follow the same steps for Google Chrome. You can use the same JSON that you editied.
11
Once browser favorites are updated, you can close this out. You will need to either wait for the user to log off and back on again, or run "gpupdate /force" for the change to take effect immediately.