Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with firefox and bookmarks

Sort within Firefox Tag folders?

underwater — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:26:50 -0800

Can I sort Firefox bookmarks within tag folders? In the 'Organize Bookmarks' screen, I have a 'tags' folder within my 'Bookmarks Menu' folder, and I can see the specific bookmarks within each tag using this window. On the main browsing screen, I can browse all bookmarks within a given tag by using the Bookmarks menu and hovering over the tag. I have the extension to sort bookmarks by name within the normal bookmarks folders, and that works well.

I'd like something that will sort bookmarks by name as they are listed in the tags folders. If there isn't anything, is there any way to re-arrange those bookmarks manually? Using the 'sort' function in the 'Organize Bookmarks' screen doesn't carry the changes over to the main Bookmarks menu. Thanks!

I lost my Bookmarks

lee — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:18:06 -0800

How and where can I store my enormous collection of bookmarks from Firefox online. My laptop was stolen last week and I mostly don't care, except all of my bookmarks went with it. I have some of them On my desktop, but I would like to have them anywhere at anytime. I need most of them for work and it was frustrating to have to email IT and admit I am an idiot and didn't even know where to log on to write my work.

synchronizing bookmarks between OSX and an iphone

thewalrus — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:44:19 -0800

Is there a way to synchronize all bookmarks from Firefox 3.5 to an iPhone running firmware 2.2? I know iTunes can synchronize the PC's Safari bookmarks onto the phone, but... My primary browser is the Firefox 3.5 RC running on OS10.4.11 on an older Macbook Pro. I believe the sqlite database format used to store the bookmarks in 3.5 is pretty much unchanged from firefox v3.0.11 so this shouldn't be an issue.

I've noticed that iTunes 8.1 offers to synchronize the PC's Safari bookmarks with the iPhone. Easy enough. But is there any easy and effective way to export all of my Firefox bookmarks to Safari first? Will Safari 4 import a full set of Firefox bookmarks from the sqlite file?

If I set this up as an automator action for Safari, I guess the plan would be to have Safari periodically overwrite all of its bookmarks with a copy of the ones present in Firefox, and then let the iPhone sync. I would not be manually creating any new bookmarks in Safari as I pretty much exclusively use Firefox, and occasionally Opera.

How can I import a lot of links into Firefox?

ataxia — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:07:41 -0800

Is it possible to import large amounts of links into Firefox as bookmarks? I have over 2000 web links on my hard drive that I would like to add to my Firefox bookmarks - is there a way to import them all at once, rather than manually opening them and pressing ctrl + D?

It is possible to drag a group of selected links into the bookmarks manager, but it ignores the title of the link. I also already have the links sorted into folders, so it would be ideal if they could just all be dragged in and remain in their folders.

I'm using Firefox 3.0.10 on Windows XP if that makes any difference. Thanks!

Bonus question: Is there a downside (performance wise) to having a large amount of bookmarks in Firefox? I won't be keeping all of them, but I already have a lot as it is.

Firefox being weird: Two favicons in my Bookmarks Toolbar keeps changing. . .

querty — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:58:32 -0800

Firefox being weird: Two favicons in my Bookmarks Toolbar keeps changing. . . Recently upgraded to Firefox 3.0.7 from 2.0.11. Imported over bookmarks.html from Firefox 2. Now whenever I visit Google Reader or deviantART, those 2 favicons changes to a different looking version. When I close FF and open it back up again to visit those 2 sites, the favicons changes back again; so they keep switching upon each visit. This doesn't happen with any of the other favicons.

Reference: Screenshot #1 | Screenshot #2

I've tried deleting and re-bookmarking them again, same thing happens. Also tried deleting and re-importing bookmarks.html, doesn't help either.

Anyone run into this and have a fix? It seems like a small issue, but it annoys the hell out of me.

Why is Firefox losing my bookmarks?

ThePinkSuperhero — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:37:26 -0800

Why is Firefox randomly reverting to old versions of my bookmarks lists? I'm using Firefox 3.0.6. on a MacBook (OS 10.5.5.) Recently, I've been having trouble with my bookmarks list. For example, if today I saved 3 new bookmarks, deleted 2 more, and moved 1 from a folder to a toolbar, I could come back tomorrow and find everything the way it was yesterday. Saved bookmarks gone, deleted bookmarks restored, everything in the old location. What is causing this? Firefox has not been shutting down unexpectedly. It's a serious pain in the rear- it happened again today and I lost all sorts of things I had saved in the last few days that I really did not want to lose.

One click button to open up multiple tabs at once?

nam3d — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:21:34 -0800

One click button to open up multiple tabs at once (firefox)? I have seven websites which I visit each morning to get my daily news. For each section of news (Local, UK, Technology, Business, World, Media, Gossip) I use a different news source.

Here is my current list (make of it what you think).

Local - The News & Star (local newspaper)
UK - The Times
Technology - The Independent
Business - BBC News
World - The New York Times
Media - Media Guardian
Gossip - The Sun

What I would like to do is simply press one button (a simple bookmark) on my Firefox bookmark toolbar and have each website section open up in a new tab.

Is there a way of doing this either by using a Firefox plugin or some coding.

Thanks,

William

Can I import Firefox boomarks into Google Reader?

timnyc — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:06:42 -0800

Can I import my Firefox bookmarks into Google Reader? I installed the OPML Support Ad-On and exported bookmarks as OPML file. But when importing them into Reader, it gives me the error "Your OPML file could not be imported. Please make sure that it is correctly formatted and try again." Can I only import livemarks, not bookmarks? I don't have livemarks, only standard bookmarks. I tried all the different options -- with and without maintaining folder structure, etc. Nothing works.

FirefoxFilter: Easiest way to add keywords to bookmarks?

dcams — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:51:26 -0800

FirefoxFilter: Easiest way to add keywords to bookmarks? I add keywords to a lot of my bookmarks so that I can access them quickly from the location bar (for example, typing in 'fb' takes me straight to facebook). I'm looking for some way to add keywords as I bookmark pages instead of adding them after the fact. Any ideas?

Firefox 3 bookmark toolbar pop-up folder DELAY possible?

Ryaske — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:30:51 -0800

Firefox 3. Do you use the bookmark bar? Do you drag and drop bookmarks within it? If so, this Q is for YOU: How do we delay the menu DURING drag+drop operations?? The way firefox is currently setup, i can use this method (http://ask.metafilter.com/40700/Firefox-menu-delay) to delay the menus when browsing my drop-down bookmarks+folders from the bookmark toolbar normally. That was a great help!!!

But unfortunately, when you drag and drop items into or within the bookmark toolbar dropdowns, this delay does not appear to function.

It is soo frustrating to go 3-4 levels deep in a drop down menu, hovering over each subfolder to get it to pop up, and then any slight movement off the menu (even for a nano-second) will close up EVERYTHING and require me to start over. Its like playing a maze game where you can't touch the sides or you lose!

If just I had a 2 second delay in there when im dragging and about to drop, it would greatly improve the user experience.

(I'm aware I can use bookmarking menus, or the big bookmark manager to reorganize, but I prefer not having to take any extra steps.)

Any idea on a D+D delay?

Thanks

Scrunched up Firefox bookmarks!

Fiat124 — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:54:57 -0800

Firefox 3.0.5 on MacOSX 10.5.5: How do I make the Bookmarks Pulldown Menu Wider? I cant read half of my bookmarks because the dropdown is too narrow. When I click Bookmarks on the title bar, the dropdown menu is VERY narrow. I can only read maybe 40 characters of titles to my bookmarks and a lot of them have LONG titles. I would like the dropdown to show 80-100 characters if possible.

I tried what was suggested here and here but it doesnt make any difference.

Here is my userChrome.css:

@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"); /* set default namespace to XUL */

/* change maximum width of bookmarks menu items - default is 26em */
menu.bookmark-item,
menuitem.bookmark-item {
max-width: 99em !important;
}

Located under ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/blahblah.default/chrome

The file is also owned by me and permissions are 644.

Any ideas?

Switching bookmarks from Firefox to Zotero?

pluckemin — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:21:03 -0800

data.kluge.filter -- I have many, many Firefox bookmarks. I'd really like to switch my bookmarking system to Zotero, which seems much more powerful. Have you already solved this? Can you figure out a chain of format conversions that will get me from point FF to point Z? Bonus points if your solution doesn't involve any costly proprietary software. ("Free to try" software is fine, since I'd only need to use it for twenty minutes of conversion.)

Can you recommend specific third-party conversion apps? Other reference managers that would work as "stepping-stones"? I'm not really a codehead, but... perl or ruby scripts? Right now the best solution I can think of involves building an elaborate AutoHotKey script that would load one bookmark at a time and then Zotero-save each one, and that's slightly more headache than I'm up for.

The following formats definitely export FROM Firefox:
- bookmarks in any other browser
- an html page that lists each bookmark as a link

The following formats definitely import INTO Zotero:
- BibTeX
- Zotero RDF
- MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema)
- RIS
- Refer/BibIX
- Unqualified Dublin Core RDF

This page lists which other reference managers can convert into which formats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software

This link may also be useful:
http://www.zotero.org/documentation/frequently_asked_questions#importexport_and_creating_bibliographies1

Thanks to all who can contribute suggestions! Partial solutions, that *nearly* bridge the gap, are also helpful.

Back up firefox bookmarks as shortcut files?

TSGlenn — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:55:24 -0800

Is there a way to back up Firefox bookmarks as a regular "folder" of shortcut (url) files? I know this is possible in IE - it stores the favorites as shortcut files (or at least it used to, I haven't used it in ages), so it was a simple copy and paste job. In Firefox, the only thing I can figure out how to do is export an HTML file with links to all my bookmarks. This is annoying and useless to me.

Out Of Sync With Firefox

partner — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:32:26 -0800

My Firefox updated recently and now a dialog box pops up occasionally titled, "Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer." It says, "Please enter your username and password to continue." I have no username or password for Firefox. My computer is not on a network. I cancel out of this and continue, only to have it pop up again a short time later. As far as I can see, synchronization of bookmarks isn't in the help files. How do I disable this?

Firefox Favorites

GatorDavid — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:34:31 -0800

Is there an XP tweak to have the "special" Favorites folder recognize my Firefox favorites instead of the (empty) IE favorites? I switched from FF to IE a long time ago and moved all my bookmarks as well. But I used to like having my "Favorites" in the Start Menu; that way I could go right to a bookmark without having to open the browser, etc. Any ideas?

Apple doesn't like Firefox?

Keith Talent — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:45:07 -0800

Anyone have any advice on getting an Ipod Touch to import my firefox bookmarks and passwords?

fixing Firefox file/folder flexibility

bbranden1 — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:24:17 -0800

Is there a way to open multiple favorites in Firefox from the Windows XP file Explorer window? When I try to open a group of urls from the Windows Explorer window, my right click choices are either IE or Maxthon (an IE shell program). I'd like to open multiple favorites in Firefox, but that choice is not available, at least as an Explorer context menu choice, even if I make Firefox the default browser.

Of course Firefox can open one url or a full folder of urls within the browser, but I want to be able to open just a small group that I select from folders anywhere on the hard drive. PlainOldFavorites, the Firefox add-on is excellent, but doesn't work for this purpose. Suggestions?

Why can't I make Firefox look the way I want it to look?

peacecorn — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:11:30 -0800

In Firefox 1.5.0.12, I want my Bookmarks Toolbar in a very specific place in my window, displayed in a very specific way. Is there a way to move the toolbar to the lower right corner, have the favicons stack up in columns, and have it share/truncate the space of my tab column? I used an extension called "Tab Mix Plus" to move my tabs to a column that runs vertically in a 150px wide area down the width of my screen. Lots of grey area below the tabs, was hoping I could stack 30 or 40 favicons in (say) rows of three across in the grey area below the tabs.

I'm not interested in alternate solutions (e.g., put them in folders, have them share space on the menu bar / make better use of ctrl+b). If I can't do this, I'll stick with what I'm doing now, but I'd upgrade Firefox to 2.0 if I had to in order to implement the solution.

Is this redesign possible? I spent hours on Sunday searching for a solution. Am I out of luck?

Transferring Firefox bookmarks

docpops — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:30:10 -0800

I'm setting up a new iMac and am seeking a way to transfer my Firefox bookmarks from my Macbook laptop to my new iMac. Any tips? I'm new to Apple, if that matters.

How to synchronise bookmarks between admin-locked PC and mac?

spiff101 — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 05:54:23 -0800

How can I synchronise bookmarks between my work PC (admin-locked, no installations possible) and home MacBook - is portable Firefox the answer? At work, I use a PC for which I do not have admin privileges - so I can't install anything on it. As a result, I use IE. At home, I use a MacBook with Firefox.

I'd like to painlessly synchronise the bookmarks I use on these two machines - ie, add a bookmark quickly to either machine and have it show up on the other machine, without constantly importing and exporting files.

I want to use something that sits in the sidebar - del.icio.us and other search-dependent web apps just aren't quick enough for me.

The only thing I can think of is using portable firefox from a flash drive at work, and the bookmarks sync extension.

However, I don't have any web-space or FTP server.

Also, does portable Firefox use on a daily basis wear out a flash drive quickly? And is it unsafe to have my passwords remembered by Firefox there?

The incredible reappearing bookmarks toolbar

padjet1 — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:27:59 -0800

Why won't the bookmarks toolbar in Firefox 2.0 remain hidden across multiple sessions? I just upgraded to Firefox 2.0 on my wife's Vaio running XP. She doesn't use bookmarks and so I'd like to hide the bookmarks toolbar, but after I hide it (View > Toolbars) and close Firefox, upon reopening the toolbar is back in all its empty glory.

I've seen the various other questions on related toolbar issues, I've reset localstore.rdf in the profile folder, and I've reinstalled the Google toolbar (the only add-on), all to no avail.

This is an incredibly insignificant problem, but it's bugging the hell out of me. Please help.

Please give me back my titles!

CwgrlUp — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 12:34:09 -0800

Why when I add a bookmark now in Firefox 2.0 does it add it with no title? Let me try to state it more clearly. Since I've updated to Firefox 2.0 whenever I add a favorite, despite having a title, it will add it with no title. You click add, the box comes up with the automatic title, click add and it seems like nothing happens. Click cancel and look in favorites, there's a bookmark with no title. It will get you back to the website when you click on it (so the actual link is working) but it's not registering the titles anymore. You have to go name them manually.

Help help plz? TIA, you Firefox gurus and apologies if this is as easy as fix as I'm afraid it will be.

Firefox 2.0 for Del.icio.us Power Users

abbyladybug — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 11:04:02 -0800

I am a del.icio.us power use, and I am trying to use the new Firefox 2.0 which integrates with del.icio.us. I'm having some trouble. First, all of the bookmarks I had stored locally that were in folders seem to have disappeared. Where did they go? Second, because I have soooo many bookmarks on del.icio.us, I have the "Bookmaek synching in progress" bar loading constantly, and it REALLY slows down my Firefox speed. Can anyone help me find my missing bookmarks? Does anyone have tips on how to use Firefox 2.0 with bookmarks without the molasses speed?

Firefox Bookmarks Toolbar Acting Funny (but not

abbyladybug — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:17:43 -0800

I have been using Firefox for forever. I keep folders with my most used bookmarks in the Bookmarks Toolbar (View -> Toolbars -> Bookmarks Toolbar). I also tweak my Firefox browser to oblivious and back again on a regular basis. Recently, I think something I did make the bookmarks toolbar disappear, and I can't figure out what it was. In order to remedy the problem, I've tried the following:

Disabled every extension I had, restarted.
Backed up all my extensions, plugins, etc. Then uninstalled FF completely and deleted the FF Program Files directory.
Even messed with the registry a little to get rid of every shred of FF, then restarted and reinstalled. Still no luck.

Help me find my toolbar! Here's a picture of the browser right now. Look below the address bar. What you will see is a white space where my bookmarks used to be. When I try to drag anything there, I get that circle with a line through it. "No!" It seems to say. "You can't have any bookmarks here anymore!" Help me show FF who's boss!

Help me make embarrassing bookmarks private in Firefox

jgt246 — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 01:35:13 -0800

Help me keep certain, um, *embarrassing* bookmarks private in Firefox. I'm looking for something that will password-protect or hide some but not all of my browser bookmarks -- in Firefox, NOT in a web-based solution (delicious, Bookmarks Synchronizer, FoxMarks, etc). Sharing or synchronization is not the issue, just privacy on my PC.