How to Sync favorites btwn browsers and computers

October 11, 2005 1:26 PM

How to sync favourites or bookmarks between different computers and different browsers? I have a work PC, a home PC and a USB Drive. I just want to be able to access the same bookmarks wherever I am and keep them automatically updated. Any ideas?

Both PCs run windows (2000 and XP), and the USB Drive is a Sandisk Titanium Cruzer. This is a 2 part question:
1) Firstly, on my work PC, i run both IE and Firefox (I keep IE for when I have to look at our intranet site). These are the first set of bookmarks to sync. Is there a way just to keep a master bookmark list that both browsers access?
2) Assuming (1) is possible, how do I then have this master bookmarks list copied to by USB drive, so it can then be automatically synched when I get home?

Please help! Should I think about using del.icio.us?

posted by Mave_80 to computers & internet (11 comments total)

I have almost the same setup but I finally succumbed to del.icio.us a little while ago and to be honest, I don't know how I managed without it.
posted by ceri richard at 1:33 PM on October 11, 2005

del.icio.usis the best.

I use this popular tagging service for precisely this reason; also, it makes it quite convienent to show others a bookmark of mine.

Cheers
posted by Cycloptichorn at 1:37 PM on October 11, 2005

del.icio.us + foxylicious
posted by bonehead at 1:38 PM on October 11, 2005

I prefer MemeFlow over del.icio.us
posted by jacobjacobs at 1:46 PM on October 11, 2005

Try Chipmark, a firefox addon. Stores bookmarks on a central (their) server.
posted by 3rdDegree at 1:50 PM on October 11, 2005

i have extreme difficulty finding stuff I *know* I bookmarked with del.icio.us.

Am I a bad tagger, does del.icio.us have the worst field search ever, or both? suggestions?
posted by fishfucker at 2:52 PM on October 11, 2005

Wow. Foxylicious is really neat -- thanks bonehead!

I will say that appropriate plugins for IE (ugh), Safari, Konq, Galeon(possibly? I know it's Mozilla-based), Opera would really make it "take-anywhere."
posted by NucleophilicAttack at 5:18 PM on October 11, 2005

You could use Portable Firefox. The way it works is, you keep the bookmarks and the whole browser on your USB key. There's no "have bookmarks magically synched by the time I get home" because you take the bookmarks home in your pocket.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 5:56 PM on October 11, 2005

If you've got a hosting account with a MySQL database, you could run SiteBar.
posted by kableh at 7:33 PM on October 11, 2005

I'm still getting my del.icio.us updated with all of my bookmarks, so in the meantime, I'm keeping my marks on my thumbdrive. In Firefox, you can add a setting to your users.js file to tell it where you want to pull the bookmarks file from.

To do this, add the following code to your user.js file:

// Specify which bookmarks file to use:

user_pref("browser.bookmarks.file", "C:\\Pathname\\bookmarks.html");

Where "pathname" is wherever you want to put your bookmarks file. Remember to use two backslashes for the path separators if you're using Windows, and be sure to change the drive letter to your USB drive as well.

The only trick is you have to remember to have the drive plugged in before you open your browser. otherwise no bookmarks. If you do happen to open the browser first, do not plug the drive in until you've shut down Firefox! It'll replace your good bookmarks with a blank file. I keep a dated copy in the same folder, just in case I forget.

So far this has been working fairly well for me for the past couple of months. I had weird random things happening on my system when I was using Portable Firefox that cleared up when I stopped. As for MSIE, I just don't keep bookmarks on it, since I just use it for intranet stuff as well.
posted by Moondoggie at 8:56 PM on October 11, 2005

Craps. That should be the "user.js" file.
posted by Moondoggie at 8:57 PM on October 11, 2005