What you will do
Wallet labels turn a list of addresses and transaction IDs into a record you can understand later. A short label such as “salary October”, “hardware wallet test” or “conference ticket” can help you select the right coin, explain an old payment and avoid combining unrelated funds.
This guide uses Sparrow Wallet 2.5.5, the latest published non-prerelease when checked on 28 October 2026. Its official release record dates the release to 17 September 2026. You will add labels, export them as a BIP 329 JSON Lines file and inspect the structure without exposing it to an online service.
The steps were checked against Sparrow’s released 2.5.5 source and the current BIP 329 specification. No wallet file, private key, recovery phrase, address, transaction or funds were used. The Sparrow interface itself was not executed, so button placement is described from the released source and may change in a later version.
Before you start
You need:
- Sparrow Wallet 2.5.5 with the intended wallet open
- several minutes to write labels that will still make sense months later
- an encrypted local folder or removable drive for the exported file
- a plain-text editor that works offline
Do not put recovery phrases, private keys, passwords, full customer details or authentication secrets in a label. Labels are wallet metadata, not a secret manager.
Choose a naming pattern before editing. Useful labels describe purpose and context without collecting unnecessary identity data. “Savings transfer 2026-10” is usually safer and more useful than a person’s full name, phone number and home address. Keep the wording consistent so related records can be found together.
1. Label the records you will recognize later
Start with one small group of records rather than trying to document the entire wallet at once.
Open Transactions, UTXOs or Addresses, depending on what you want to describe. Sparrow’s released 2.5.5 tables have a Label column. Right-click a label cell and choose Edit Label..., or edit the cell directly where the table allows it. The released label-cell source confirms the Copy Label, Paste Label and Edit Label... actions and trims surrounding whitespace when a label is saved.
Use the narrowest accurate label:
- label an address before receiving when you already know the purpose
- label a transaction when the description applies to the whole payment
- label a UTXO when one output needs a distinct spending or accounting note
For example, a transaction can be “exchange withdrawal 2026-10”, while one output from it can be “long-term savings”. The two labels answer different questions.
Check the label after saving it. A label on the wrong row can be worse than no label because it can influence a later coin-selection decision. Compare the transaction ID, address or output reference before moving on.
2. Review labels before exporting
Search for vague labels such as “test”, “mine” or “payment”. Replace them with a short description that distinguishes the record from similar ones. Avoid assumptions you cannot verify. If you do not remember an old payment, use “unknown 2025-04” rather than guessing who sent it.
Pay particular attention to UTXOs. A UTXO is a specific spendable output, not the wallet’s total balance. Our guide to using coin control in Sparrow explains why separate outputs can carry different privacy histories. Labels can support that review, but they do not enforce a spending rule by themselves.
Sparrow can also mark a UTXO as frozen. In the 2.5.5 label exporter, a frozen unspent output is written with "spendable": false. That is wallet metadata. It does not change the Bitcoin output or prevent another compatible wallet from spending it.
3. Export the labels as BIP 329
Open the wallet’s Settings screen and choose Export.... In the export dialog, select Labels and save the file with the .jsonl extension. Sparrow’s released wallet-label exporter identifies the format as BIP 329 and writes one JSON object per line.
The export does not require wallet decryption in Sparrow 2.5.5. That does not make the result harmless. The file can contain transaction IDs, addresses, output references, extended public keys, labels and an origin descriptor. Together, those records can reveal wallet structure and activity.
Save the file in the protected location prepared earlier. Do not upload it to a paste site, public issue, shared analytics tool or AI service. Do not send it through a channel you would not trust with your transaction history.
4. Check the file without changing it
Make a copy before inspection and keep the original export unchanged. Open the copy in an offline plain-text editor.
BIP 329 uses JSON Lines, also called JSONL. Each line is a separate JSON object. A simplified synthetic example looks like this:
{"type":"tx","ref":"0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","label":"example only"}
{"type":"output","ref":"0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000:0","label":"practice output","spendable":false}
These zero-filled references are teaching data, not real wallet records.
Check four things:
- each non-empty line is one complete JSON object
- each object has a
typeandref - labels match the records you intended to document
- the file contains no private key or recovery phrase you accidentally pasted into a label
BIP 329 defines common types such as tx, addr, input, output and xpub. It does not define private-key types. The specification also warns that label files are privacy-sensitive and should be encrypted in transit.
Do not reformat the file into one large JSON array if you plan to import it into Sparrow. JSONL expects one object per line. A word processor can also replace quotes or add formatting, so use a plain-text editor.
5. Test an import only when you have a safe target
If you need to restore labels, open the matching wallet first. Then choose File > Import Wallet..., select Labels and choose the saved JSONL file. Sparrow’s released importer applies matching records to the currently selected unlocked wallet. Its source checks the optional origin descriptor and then matches references such as transaction IDs, addresses and outputs.
Importing the file into an unrelated wallet should not magically create its transaction history. The references need to match records in the selected wallet. Still, make a wallet backup before a large import because labels can overwrite existing metadata.
After import, check a small sample in Transactions, Addresses and UTXOs. Confirm the label appears on the intended record and that a frozen output remains frozen if that status was part of the export. Do not assume a successful dialog means every line matched.
This import step was not executed for this guide. It is described from the released 2.5.5 implementation. If your installed version differs, check its release notes and test with a disposable watch-only wallet that contains no private keys or funds.
Expected result
You should now have:
- clear labels on the records you reviewed
- one
.jsonlexport stored in a protected location - a file whose lines can be parsed separately as JSON objects
- a record of what was exported and when
The file is a metadata backup, not a wallet backup. It cannot replace the wallet file, output descriptor, hardware signer or recovery process needed to spend funds.
Troubleshooting
The Labels export is missing: make sure the intended wallet is open and selected. In Sparrow 2.5.5 the wallet export dialog includes a Labels exporter. If your version is older, verify the installed version before following current instructions.
A label disappears after editing: surrounding whitespace is trimmed. A whitespace-only label is treated as blank in 2.5.5. Enter visible text and leave the cell again to save it.
The JSONL file looks like one long line: use an editor that preserves Unix or Windows line endings. Do not paste the file into a rich-text document.
Import reports success but a label is absent: the selected wallet may not contain a matching reference, or the file’s origin may describe a different wallet. Check the exact transaction ID, address or output reference and confirm the correct wallet is selected.
A frozen output is spendable after moving wallets: spendable: false is imported wallet metadata, not a network restriction. Confirm the import matched the output and verify the destination wallet supports that field before relying on it.
You exposed the file: treat the labels and linked public blockchain records as disclosed. Move the remaining copy to protected storage, delete unnecessary public copies where possible and avoid adding more personal detail. Changing a label does not erase information already shared.
What was and was not verified
The published Sparrow 2.5.5 release, released 2.5.5 label editor, export and import code, and the current BIP 329 specification were checked on 28 October 2026.
A disposable offline Node.js fixture parsed three synthetic JSONL records, confirmed the required type and ref fields, preserved an output’s spendable: false value and rejected a line without ref. No real wallet data was used. The illustration was hand-authored as SVG, rendered to a 1200 × 630 WebP and visually inspected.
No Sparrow binary, wallet file, GUI, import, export, server connection or signing device was exercised. No real address, transaction, extended public key, private key, recovery phrase or funds were used. The guide therefore verifies the published format and released implementation, not every interface state on your computer.
Labels are useful because they restore context. They are sensitive for the same reason. Keep them specific enough to guide future decisions, limited enough to reduce personal exposure and protected like the wallet history they describe.