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Print Article: KA-05450

How can I bookmark a BLAST search page?

Bookmarking your custom settings on your BLAST® search page allows you to reuse and share your search strategy.
To use the bookmark feature, follow these steps:
  • Step 1 - Set up a search in the BLAST suite of your choice:
    • Input your query. (Omit this step if the query is a FASTA sequence longer than 2 kb.) 
    • Select a database to search. (Change from the default selection if you need to.)
    • For blastn and blastp only: Select a program.
    • Adjust the search parameters.
  • Step 2 - Bookmark the page:
    • Click the Bookmark button (in the top right corner of the search page).  
    • Click OK to confirm the informative message that was displayed.  
    • Bookmark or copy the resulting URL that you see in your browser.
    • Optionally: Send the copied URL to your recipients.

Web page titled "Standard Nucleotide BLAST" with several tabs on the top. The blastn tab is in blue. The page is divided into two sections. The top section is called "Enter Query Sequence" and it has a box that contains a nucleotide sequence. The bottom section is called "Choose Search Set" and contains several radio buttons for Database selection. It also has a box to enter an organism name. The top right corner of the page contains two buttons, called "Reset page" and "Bookmark".

Figure 1: An example of a BLAST search page with the Bookmark button (boxed in red).


The URL embeds all your inputs, including your query if provided. If you are teaching a BLAST class, the shared URL will ensure all your students have the same setup.
Bookmarked URLs work well for queries with a single (short) sequence. For large queries with multiple sequences download and share search-strategy files instead.