[Qt-creator] Bookmarks across multiple instances of Qt Creator?

[Eike Ziller]

> On 24. Mar 2026, at 08:17, Schimkowitsch Robert <Robert.Schimkowitsch at andritz.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
>  bookmarks in Qt Creator are pretty important to me. They were important enough that I enabled file history so I could recover them in the (so far rare) cases where they simply disappeared for unknown reasons.
>  /digression
> Now I noticed that Creator isn’t well suited to work on the same project in different branches. It is simply too easy to open a file the in the wrong branch and edit it. If the locator has a filter, I’m not aware of it. The search dialog is certainly not equipped for branches: When I want to select a single project to search in, I can choose between “MyProject”, “MyProject” or “MyProject”. No branch name given ☹
> /end digression

I can see that it is inconvenient that the project name is not deduplicated if you open the project from multiple different locations.
Even though the branch is shown in the project tree, that doesn’t seem to be propagated to other places…
I’ve created https://qt-project.atlassian.net/browse/QTCREATORBUG-34308

>  Anyway, the perfect solution to me is working in multiple windows. Everything works for the branch I’m currently working on, switching between windows is easy and clear.
> But since Qt Creator is storing bookmarks in a config file, I’m really worried I’ll run into “last instance to close wins” kind of scenario. And I’d like to know before that happens.
>  And no, I don’t want to organize my branches in different sessions with separate bookmarks. I switch branches so often, the session system simply isn’t suitable for that. And I want all my bookmarks in one place.
>  So…
> 1)  Do I have to expect trouble with bookmarks running multiple instances?

Bookmarks are in principle saved in the _session_. In principle you are right that "last Qt Creator instance wins", but if you use different sessions for different branches of the project you should be fine in this case.

> 2) If so, what are good ways to work around them?

Otherwise the main workaround for settings clashes is to use Qt Creator with different settings by passing "-settingspath <alternative_settings_basepath>" when starting one of the instances. But as said above, for bookmarks you should be fine with separate sessions.

Br, Eike

— 
Eike Ziller
Principal Software Engineer

The Qt Company GmbH
Erich-Thilo-Str. 10
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eike.ziller at qt.io
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