IMPORTANT -- back up your bookmarks

[Gary7]

Are you someone who has created an enormous catalog of browser bookmarks? Have you recently backed it up?

Most browsers do not create a bookmark backup for you. It is something you must do yourself.


A relative of mine was using Firefox and suffered some kind of system crash in Windows. The operating system recovered, and everything seemed fine, but somehow Firefox got horribly tripped up. The bookmarks were all gone! This person had a huge bookmark catalog, had constructed it over several years. They were extremely distraught, because there were many bookmarks that they'd use only rarely across the year, but needed them nevertheless.

Now, I know a lot of people on TBBS are computer savvy, but hey--even if you have a regular system backup, there's a chance your browser bookmarks might not be covered. It's extremely easy to back it up, and the resulting file is very small in size.

Because I use GMail, I made a number of draft documents where I address them to nobody and in the subject line put a brief description of what I'm saving. I then just attach whatever files I want to it, like a bookmark backup. This way I can access it from anywhere, even to set up a profile on another computer so I've got my bookmarks for the time I'm away (then just delete those bookmarks when I'm done).

On the odd chance there are people here who've not thought about backing up their browser bookmarks, I thought they'd appreciate this little tip.

 

[BlobVanDam]

So many little files like this that need to be remembered to be backed up regularly. I have a lot of bookmarks for resources for all kinds of things, sites with important technical information, all kinds of misc stuff.
I do back mine up whenever I think of it, and I back up my entire machine weekly to my external drive. I also back up my fonts, my program folders (for misc stuff like this I may forget), desktop, and the rest of my user folder in documents and settings. I also try to backup logs from stuff like msn, skype, yahoo regularly. I do have some important conversations I like to keep from those.

So just to extend on this thought, try to remember to back up all of those little pesky files that aren't in the usual folders!

 

[Lindley]

The operating system recovered, and everything seemed fine, but somehow Firefox got horribly tripped up. The bookmarks were all gone!

Unlikely they were really "gone". Perhaps the preferences file got moved somewhere else during the restore process, but odds are someone with a little bit of know-how could get them back.

 

[sojourner]

Yeah, "lost" would be a better term. I bet the file is still there somewhere.

 

[Trekker4747]

My browser is awesome, thus I have a backup.

 

[PurpleLady]

Yeah, "lost" would be a better term. I bet the file is still there somewhere.

Well I just hate that term! Cuz things have a habit of getting "lost" on my computer all the time. Drives me crazy. Deep down in my heart though I know it's operator error.

 

[LitmusDragon]

I rarely use bookmarks. The bookmarks are all in my head.

Even for websites I visit every day like this one I manually type the URL every time I come here (cheating a bit with auto-complete).

I will use a bookmark if it's something I only visit once a week but then I'd hardly miss it if it were gone.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I use DropBox for this purpose, my bookmarks file is symlinked so that the latest version of it is always backed up in my DropBox folder.

Linky

Specifically:

In order to only sync the Bookmarks.plist file to your Dropbox, create the symbolic link the other way around:

ln -s ~/Dropbox/Safari/Bookmarks.plist ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist
Safari replaces the alias ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist with the actual Bookmarks.plist file every time you edit your bookmarks locally.

This allows you to upload the file to your Dropbox automatically (as a Backup solution).

 

[JoeZhang]

Because I use GMail, I made a number of draft documents where I address them to nobody and in the subject line put a brief description of what I'm saving. I then just attach whatever files I want to it, like a bookmark backup. This way I can access it from anywhere, even to set up a profile on another computer so I've got my bookmarks for the time I'm away (then just delete those bookmarks when I'm done).

Just install chrome and log-in with your google account, it will then back-up your bookmarks.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Also, the new Apple iCloud service will reportedly sync Safari bookmarks, as the old MobileMe used to do.

 

[Thena]

I believe Firefox Sync will also save your bookmarks and makes it easier to access them from different machines, just like Chrome. Also, Xmarks will save your bookmarks and allow you to access them in Firefox and Chrome as well as their online site.

 

[Marc]

I believe Firefox Sync will also save your bookmarks and makes it easier to access them from different machines, just like Chrome. Also, Xmarks will save your bookmarks and allow you to access them in Firefox and Chrome as well as their online site.

Yep

I use Xmarks and keeps my Firefox between my pc and Mac. It also allows you to synch passwords as well.

It's one good think that Internet Explorer has - bookmarks are stored in a manner where they can easily be moved about where as firefox keeps them in database file that's not as easily moved about.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I learned this lesson the hard way a few years ago. Now I export my Bookmarks every month or so and back them up with the rest of my files.

 

[Lost Periphery]

Yeah, thanks for the reminding me. I am a bookmark whore. All categorized in witty (to me) named sub folders and spread out by the magic of Firefox Sync to my cell phone, Ipad, and Galaxy Tab.

It's one of those thing I always mean to do, but then the browser is closed and it becomes something to do next time.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I use a little tool called Moz Backup. It not only backs up Firefox, but Thunderbird as well if you use that. Very handy. Backs up onto a single file which is great for when you have to format and reinstall everything from scratch. You then install it again and then import that single file it saved and everything's back the way it was.


http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

 

[shivkala]

I use both Delicious and Diigo to store my bookmarks "in the cloud." I have used preferences in Diigo to automatically save the Delicious bookmarks to my Diigo bookmarks (mostly for simplicity of keeping everything together, but also because Delicious' future was recently in flux due to their ending their relationship with Yahoo! which has been resolved).

Another bonus, and this might be true with Google's bookmarks, I haven't investigated it yet, is the use of tags. By "tagging" my bookmarks, it makes it easier to find them later, when I'm looking for them.

Diigo also lets you save notes or highlight sections on websites and the Google add-on allows you to send the link (through Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, e-mail, etc.).

 

[Gary7]

Thanks for all of the tips, folks. Some really good pointers here. I didn't realize that Google Chrome can back-up your bookmarks; that's pretty cool.

Unfortunately the Firefox bookmarks problem may have been worsened by the person reinstalling Firefox, because they were suspicious about its condition. I figured that this wouldn't get rid of any prior bookmark management, but either it was already gone or the reinstallation cleaned it out. I double checked the profiles too (there was only one, the default).