Syncing Browser Bookmarks is making me crazy
May 28, 2009, 1:40 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Lower Merion Township, PA, (an inner-ring suburb to the Socialist Workers City/State of Philadelphia, PA)
Posts: 596
Syncing Browser Bookmarks is making me crazy
What is a good way to deal with this?
I want to be able to:
a.) Edit bookmarks in a FF browser on one PC, and have the bookmarks sync with an IE 7 or 8 on the same computer.
b.) Edit bookmarks in a FF browser on one PC, and: b.1) have the bookmarks sync in a FF browser on a 2nd PC. Both are windows.
b.2) have the bookmarks (from FF on PC #1) sync in an IE 7 or 8 browser on a 2nd PC.
c.) The sort order in IE needs to match the order the bookmarks were sorted in FF.
If I have to initiate this syncing or updating with a click or two that's ok, but no click/auto pilot/full automatic is preferred.
What does a.), b1.), b2.) and c.)?
I want to be able to:
a.) Edit bookmarks in a FF browser on one PC, and have the bookmarks sync with an IE 7 or 8 on the same computer.
b.) Edit bookmarks in a FF browser on one PC, and: b.1) have the bookmarks sync in a FF browser on a 2nd PC. Both are windows.
b.2) have the bookmarks (from FF on PC #1) sync in an IE 7 or 8 browser on a 2nd PC.
c.) The sort order in IE needs to match the order the bookmarks were sorted in FF.
If I have to initiate this syncing or updating with a click or two that's ok, but no click/auto pilot/full automatic is preferred.
What does a.), b1.), b2.) and c.)?
May 28, 2009, 1:56 pm
#3
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Programs: United MileagePlus Silver, Nexus, Global Entry
Posts: 8,798
May 28, 2009, 2:51 pm
#4
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: ORD / DUB / LHR
Programs: UA 1K MM; BA Silver; Marriott Plat
Posts: 8,243
gglave - I tried really hard to like Google Bookmarks but I just couldn't. I like the idea but compared with Foxmarks it is just really cumbersome.
Foxmarks, combined with the Firefox 3 address bar, works incredibly well. I don't even use folders now for the most part, just star anything I'm interested in, occasionally add a couple of descriptive keywords, and just type into the address bar to find them, on any of the PCs that Foxmarks is synced with.
May 28, 2009, 8:06 pm
#8
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: PDX
Programs: NWA PE
Posts: 38
A big 2nd here on Delicious.com. Has worked flawlessly for me for a long time.
May 28, 2009, 9:17 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Between AUS, EWR, and YTO In a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike.. but I wanna go home with the armadillo
Programs: CO, NW, & UA forum moderator emeritus
Posts: 35,432
May 28, 2009, 11:18 pm
#11
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 297
it does exactly what you are looking to do.... i use it allot...so that i dont have to fire up all my comps to find out where i made a bookmark that i wanted to visit...
May 29, 2009, 7:00 am
#12
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: UA 1k
Posts: 116
I actually use Delicious and XMarks to sync bookmarks across computers with Firefox on Mac OS and Linux. XMarks works great and I don't even have to think about syncing, it just happens. I use Delicious because of the tagging and social aspects.
Jun 11, 2009, 1:20 pm
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Lower Merion Township, PA, (an inner-ring suburb to the Socialist Workers City/State of Philadelphia, PA)
Posts: 596
I'm just now getting FoxMarks/XMarks installed in a second browser, and in browsers on the second computer.
And I have to say, it's very nice.
A manual IE import chokes, halts halfway through, on the seemingly simple take of importing some FF bookmarks. It inserts extended characters for simple ' - and . (apostrophes, hyphens and periods). So you get names like this "Travel Technology0%21Flyer Talk Forums". It can't even maintain the sort order under folders, and it can't deal with "http://" in the bookmark display name. I'm talking IE6, IE7 and IE8.
[/rant]
Thanks for the recommendation.
And I have to say, it's very nice.
A manual IE import chokes, halts halfway through, on the seemingly simple take of importing some FF bookmarks. It inserts extended characters for simple ' - and . (apostrophes, hyphens and periods). So you get names like this "Travel Technology0%21Flyer Talk Forums". It can't even maintain the sort order under folders, and it can't deal with "http://" in the bookmark display name. I'm talking IE6, IE7 and IE8.
[/rant]
Thanks for the recommendation.
Last edited by JadedTraveler; Jun 12, 2009 at 10:38 pm Reason: not to now, manual IE import
Jun 12, 2009, 5:30 pm
#14
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 226
The IE import chokes, halts halfway through, on the seemingly simple take of importing some FF bookmarks. It inserts extended characters for simple ' - and . (apostrophes, hyphens and periods). So you get names like this "Travel Technology0%21Flyer Talk Forums". It can't even maintain the sort order under folders, and it can't deal with "http://" in the bookmark display name. I'm
The reason why IE can't handle those characters (if you didn't know this already) is because bookmarks are technically files (*.url, if I recall correctly) in a Favorites folder on your PC (which I will admit does make it easy to backup Favorites).
Which means the name of your bookmarks have to abide by Windows naming conventions - no slashes and the like. It also uses the "code" for spaces (the % symbols) instead of putting in a space during the import process.
I've quit using IE entirely, except when I have to use IE6 at work.
Jun 12, 2009, 10:43 pm
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Lower Merion Township, PA, (an inner-ring suburb to the Socialist Workers City/State of Philadelphia, PA)
Posts: 596
I did know that. But evidently the people who created the manual IE import did not account for it, because it never worked in IE6, IE7 and now IE8.
I also saw for the bookmarks that would import successfully into IE, they were sorted by name, just like in a file folder view. Which never matched the source.
And now I notice when xMarks syncs boomarks, the bookmarks maintain the sort order in each folder from their source, and do not default to the sort by name. Very nice.
I also saw for the bookmarks that would import successfully into IE, they were sorted by name, just like in a file folder view. Which never matched the source.
And now I notice when xMarks syncs boomarks, the bookmarks maintain the sort order in each folder from their source, and do not default to the sort by name. Very nice.