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How does automatic synchronization hwork with XMarks?
Just started to use XMarks - I have four machines running different versions of Windows and Linux; also a mix of browsers. Can someone point me at an explanation of how automatic synchronization happens with XMarks? (I looked through the XMarks web site but am unable to find this rather basic info. Thanks.
I’m confused
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Inappropriate?Hey Geoff,
You're right. Unfortunately we don't have any great documentation available for exactly how automatic synchronization works. Auto sync does two things:
- First, each client detects if you add or change a new bookmark on that machine. These changes are automatically sent to our servers.
- Secondly, each client will periodically check the server for recent changes (I believe this currently happens every hour or so). Any changes will be downloaded and automatically applied to your bookmarks.
Let me know if this doesn't clear things up for you!
Colin4 Comments
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Colin
Thanks for the clarification. I had thought that the first part of this process was not happening in my case but, on further examination, it now appears that it is. Could I just ask whether the uploading of new bookmarks to your server happens "instantaneously" or on some periodic basis?
Also, should I wish to delete a bookmark I guess that this is best done directly via my.xmarks.com. Would I then be correct to think that each client would then have the relevant bookmark deleted also? -
I didn't mention that, but you're correct, it's not immediate. We wait for a few minutes of inactivity before sending changes back to the server. So if you add a bookmark, wait a minute and add another one, then wait another minute and rename that bookmark, we'll only send one change back instead of 3.
You should be able to delete a bookmark from any client or my.xmarks.com and that delete will eventually get transmitted to all of your other clients. -
Thanks again Colin.
Just one final thing. Supposing I wish to reorganize my bookmarks i.e.
- recategorize some bookmarks (moving from one folder to another)
- merge two folders into one, or delete folders.
What procedure should be followed here? I would guess that the best approach would be to:
a) disable synchronization on all clients
b) make all changes on my.xmarks.com
c) force overwrite local data (from Advanced Xmark settings) on each client before re-enabling auto sync.
Comments please. -
That would certainly be the most bulletproof way of doing things. However, any changes you make in one client should get synchronized over to other clients as well. So if you just make your changes on one client, do a synchronize now to make sure the changes are sent to the server, then synchronize on your other machines it should all work out for you. (Also, my.xmarks.com has a way for you to recover older versions of your bookmark set. So if you do get in an ugly position you can always revert back to an early, clean version!)
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