Computers & Electronics

Bookmark Software - please advise :)

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  • Mar 17th, 2010 6:19 pm
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Sr. Member
Jun 19, 2009
547 posts
6 upvotes
Toronto

Bookmark Software - please advise :)

Hi,

I'm looking for standalone Bookmark software and its proving hard to find.

Essentially, I upgraded computers and have old Chrome .bak files, and IE Favorites ones. I think the IE favorites can be copied and pasted into a Chrome folder (my new Chrome - but haven't tried it yet), but my main question has to do with the old Chrome .bak files.

Google says theres a way to use Google Docs and sync it to the internet on multiple computers, but this system is flawed (Google dev is getting slack for not having the delete functionality once these bookmarks are uploaded !, and, I dont have an old pc to transfer .baks with to it - plus thats cumbersome).

So short of reading the .bak in Notepad, does anyone know of any good Bookmark software?
Thanks in advance!
5 replies
Deal Guru
Apr 17, 2003
10644 posts
7234 upvotes
Do you have a version of Chrome that can read back the .bak file? If so, import the .bak back into Chrome, then export from Chrome to .html. Firefox will be able to import this .html into its own bookmark repository.
Banned
User avatar
Oct 15, 2005
12954 posts
1617 upvotes
North York
Xmarks

it always makes backups on a remote server and synchronizes on exit.
works with every browser.
never lose a bookmark again.
access bookmarks from any computer or browser with xmarks installed.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Aug 17, 2004
1446 posts
14 upvotes
Edmonton
infamouskid wrote: Xmarks
+1

It doesnt solve the OP's immediate problem, but xmarks on firefox is simply fantastic. I find xmarks on chrome to be unstable.
Sr. Member
Jun 19, 2009
547 posts
6 upvotes
Toronto
Thanks guys.

My main problem with online sync is privacy. Also, importing the bak file rids me of the new Chrome bookmarks I've already accumulated.

I'm thinking of parsing the text of the original bak file, into the new Chrome bookmarks._ file (in notepad) and see if that works. Will let you know.
Sr. Member
Jun 19, 2009
547 posts
6 upvotes
Toronto
^that worked!

This is what I did:

-copied current PCs chrome Bookmarks and Bookmarks.bak from the Appdata folder to a backup folder elsewhere.

-opened this PC's bookmarks in Notepad as administrator.
-opened old PC's bookmarks in Notepad regularly. Then, copied to clipboard the majority of text in the body of the file, minus the header and footer which were similar between the files.

-Pasted this text at the end of the Appdata Bookmarks text file, under the Other Bookmarks text (which was unpopulated thankfully anyway. however not a big deal unto itself).

-Saved file replacing current Appdata Bookmarks with the new version.

- Opened Chrome

So now, under Other bookmarks, all my old bookmarks appeared Alphabetically, instead of Chronologically by date. But the subfolders I made remained intact.
Interestingly enough, these older bookmarks also appeared underneath the last new bookmark I had made in the New Chrome's bookmarks bar, and chronologically too (by date created) - but without the older subfolders.
So I think you can guess what I did next..

- Deleted all of the alphabetically sorted old bookmarks in the Other bookmarks tab, and kept the sub folders. Cut and pasted the Chronologically sorted ones from the Bookmarks bar into Other bookmarks. And now other bookmarks has my old bookmarks as per date, and the subfolders (alphabetically at top) too.

Good stuff.
So now to do IE favorites of old, which I'm guessing is an easier process.

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