Using Bookmarks for Map Views
Spatial Bookmarks are a useful tool to save views of your map canvas at chosen scales and extents.
Included in this tutorial:
Creating Bookmarks
Using and Managing Bookmarks
Software version in examples: QGIS-LTR 3.40.5 Bratislava
Tutorial Data: The tutorial includes demonstration with sample data available here and the 2020 Census Tracts shapefile downloaded from NYC Open Data.
Credits: Sally Kaye and L. Meisterlin (2025)
This is especially useful when creating multiple layouts of your data at various scales, when frequently zooming as you are working within your project, or when you have multiple specific areas of interest within a single project.
For your reference, the data layer used in this tutorial’s demonstration which is not included in the sample datasets is…
New York City Department of City Planning. (2025). New York City Census Tracts (2020 US Census) (25B) [shapefile]. BYTES of the BIG APPLE - Archive. Accessed from New York City Open Data: https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/2020-Census-Tracts/63ge-mke6.
Creating Bookmarks
Once you have established the scale and position of the map view you would like to bookmark, you can create a new bookmark by clicking the New Spatial Bookmark icon in the Map Navigation toolbar.
This will summon the Bookmark Editor dialogue where you can name the bookmark (for easy reference later) and save it by clicking Save. Bookmarks can be saved in the project-specific Project Bookmarks folder or in User Bookmarks, which is accessible from any project a user opens.
creating a new bookmark
Note: Bookmarks will take on the CRS of the Map Canvas from which they were created. User Bookmarks may not apply to a project that uses a different CRS.
Using and Managing Bookmarks
You can find bookmarks under the Spatial Bookmarks tab in the Browser panel. Double-clicking the name of a bookmark will reset your map canvas to match the scale and location established by the bookmark.
resetting a map canvas scale and location with a bookmark
To access options to delete a bookmark or edit a bookmark’s name, extent, or scale, right-click the bookmark name.
managing bookmarks in the Browser panel