Comments on: XP>MacBook: Firefox bookmark's order disarranged

Question: XP>MacBook: Firefox bookmark's order disarranged

rumbles — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:27:20 -0800

I just bought a MacBook Pro after my dead Toshiba. Interesting. Different. I installed Firefox and moved my bookmarks from my XP computer. But now they're all screwed up on the Mac! They had been ordered alphabetically with the folders full of links on top, but now the folders are on the bottom (having ordered them alphabetically on the Mac). XP keeps folders together and Mac doesn't, it seems (this seems also to be the case in the "Finder"). Let me know if I'm missing something.... Please float my folders....

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:42:23 -0800

Tried the "File>Export Bookmarks" (with the reverse Import) commands? I get the feeling that you didn't "move" the bookmarks as Firefox intended, so you should try that first if you haven't.

Otherwise, Google Browser Sync will keep everything the same between the two computers. You can just uninstall after syncing once, if you prefer.

By: rumbles

rumbles — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:45:08 -0800

Yep, I exported the bookmarks and imported the exported file into Firefox on the Mac, so as far as I can tell they were moved appropriately....

By: jbiz

jbiz — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:55:02 -0800

Did you try going to Bookmarks -> Organize Bookmarks and click the column heading there to sort? Or control-click -> Sort by Name?

By: anaelith

anaelith — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:22:21 -0800

Clicking in Organize Bookmarks WILL NOT sort your bookmarks in the bookmarks menu.

However, there are a bunch of extensions out there that will (look in the add-ons site, I can't recommend any personally).

By: chairface

chairface — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:00:19 -0800

Foxmarks is another top-notch way to keep your bookmarks sync'd.

By: smallerdemon

smallerdemon — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:20:25 -0800

I second Foxmarks. It works amazingly well. I sync bookmarks between four machines with three operating systems between them and they are all identical now.

By: rumbles

rumbles — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 23:25:28 -0800

Thanks for the responses so far. However, it's not the syncing of bookmarks, but what seems to be the odd habit of the MacBook to mix up folders and files-not-in-folders. In windows, folders often float to the top (alphabetically at least).

By: richsim

richsim — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:23:44 -0800

Folders are indeed sorted differently on the two systems. When you sort by name in the Mac Finder, for example, folders are listed in alphabetical order like everything else. (You can float them to the top by sorting by "kind" instead.)

I think there's a workaround for Firefox. In the Bookmarks Manager, set the View to "Unsorted." Then select in the left column the folder you want to sort, so you see its contents listed to the right. Right-click on any item in the right and select Sort By Name. This should sort the bookmarks with the folders floated to the top.