For a long time now, I’ve been searching about for a mechanism to synchronize my bookmarks from one machine to another. There are times when I run Firefox on more than one machine at a time, and the bookmarks have become one of the more valuable resources in my desktop setup.
Lo, along comes Bookmark Synchronizer, a Mozilla extension that adds the capability of publishing or retrieving your bookmarks from a server at any time, including whenever you start or shut down your browser.
The installation and configuration was trivial using Firefox’s excellent Extensions manager, and I made a copy of my bookmarks onto my main server inside 10 seconds. Now I can import that file (in the documented XBEL – XML Bookmarks Extension Language format), anytime I need to, as well as publish changes into it
I do have one or two little nitpicks. I would like to be able to ‘sync’ without going into the Extensions window, selecting bookmarks synchronizer, clicking Options, then clicking Upload now. A hot button somewhere in the browser would be a lot easier. The other way the sync happens is automatically when starting up or shutting down Firefox, which also makes me a bit nervous. Usually the only reason I shut down Firefox is due to a crash or instability – throwing another function in during that situation may not help the situation.
But other than these comments, the tool works perfectly. A very easy way to move bookmarks from one machine to another. Bravo!
Synchronizing Bookmarks
Synchronizing one’s personal information between two or more machines is one of the more frustrating aspects of the “always connected” lifestyle. As I set up my new laptop, I will be reporting on some of my efforts towards synchroniza…