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Some IE Favorites renamed after synchronizing my.XMarks.com to Firefox
SITUATION:
A. The user synchronizes between IE, my.XMarks.com, and Firefox.
B. Some IE Favorites have very long names (a fairly common occurrence).
C. One IE Favorite has a leading dot operator in its name.
".NET Framework..."
D. The user has done the following:
1. Manually backed up all IE Favorites to a USB drive (primary bookmark store).
2. Started with an empty my.XMarks.com account (new or manually emptied).
3. Synchronized IE to my.XMarks.com (IE overwrites server account).
4. Synchronized Firefox to my.XMarks.com (server overwrites Firefox).
5. Synchronized IE to my.XMarks.com again (regular synchronize).
6. Synchronized FireFox to my.XMarks.com again (regular synchronize).
NOTE: At no time in the process has the user added, removed, or renamed any
bookmarks to IE, FireFox, or my.XMarks.com.
EXPECTED:
No bookmarks should not have changed during synchronization (except for the entries listed under the [XMarks] section inside of the Windows .url files).
RESULTS:
ISSUE 1:
After step 5 above, IE bookmarks with the leading dot operator in the name, for example ".NET Framework...", will have the leading dot operator removed.
ISSUE 2:
After step 5 above, IE bookmarks longer than a certain number of characters will have their .url filenames truncated, now ending with an ellipses "(...)".
OBSERVATIONS:
All three synchronize destinations can actually store and display bookmarks with either long names or names with a leading dot operator. I have even taken screen grabs throughout the process that prove this.
Currently, the bookmarks listed in Firefox and on my.XMarks.com are the same as they started out originally in Internet Explorer. The bookmark with the leading dot operator, still has the leading dot operator, and the bookmarks with very long names, still have their very long names. It is only in IE that the names have been changed. Subsequent synchronizations seem to have no effect on this issue, and duplicates are not created.
See screen grabs of IE Favorite names, after Step 1 (original state).
(I used WinDiff to compare the current IE favorites to those backed up to my USB drive.)
See screen grabs of Firefox bookmark names, after Steps 4 or 6 below (current state).
(The bookmark names are never changed in Firefox).
See screen grabs of my.XMarks.com bookmark names, after Steps: 3, 4, 5, or 6 (current state).
(The bookmark names are never changed on my.XMarks.com).
See screen grabs of IE Favorite names, after Step 5 (current state). Note records: 1, 23, 24, and 25 in the WinDiff screen grab.
(I used WinDiff to compare the current IE favorites to those backed up to my USB drive.)
A. The user synchronizes between IE, my.XMarks.com, and Firefox.
B. Some IE Favorites have very long names (a fairly common occurrence).
C. One IE Favorite has a leading dot operator in its name.
".NET Framework..."
D. The user has done the following:
1. Manually backed up all IE Favorites to a USB drive (primary bookmark store).
2. Started with an empty my.XMarks.com account (new or manually emptied).
3. Synchronized IE to my.XMarks.com (IE overwrites server account).
4. Synchronized Firefox to my.XMarks.com (server overwrites Firefox).
5. Synchronized IE to my.XMarks.com again (regular synchronize).
6. Synchronized FireFox to my.XMarks.com again (regular synchronize).
NOTE: At no time in the process has the user added, removed, or renamed any
bookmarks to IE, FireFox, or my.XMarks.com.
EXPECTED:
No bookmarks should not have changed during synchronization (except for the entries listed under the [XMarks] section inside of the Windows .url files).
RESULTS:
ISSUE 1:
After step 5 above, IE bookmarks with the leading dot operator in the name, for example ".NET Framework...", will have the leading dot operator removed.
ISSUE 2:
After step 5 above, IE bookmarks longer than a certain number of characters will have their .url filenames truncated, now ending with an ellipses "(...)".
OBSERVATIONS:
All three synchronize destinations can actually store and display bookmarks with either long names or names with a leading dot operator. I have even taken screen grabs throughout the process that prove this.
Currently, the bookmarks listed in Firefox and on my.XMarks.com are the same as they started out originally in Internet Explorer. The bookmark with the leading dot operator, still has the leading dot operator, and the bookmarks with very long names, still have their very long names. It is only in IE that the names have been changed. Subsequent synchronizations seem to have no effect on this issue, and duplicates are not created.
See screen grabs of IE Favorite names, after Step 1 (original state).
(I used WinDiff to compare the current IE favorites to those backed up to my USB drive.)
See screen grabs of Firefox bookmark names, after Steps 4 or 6 below (current state).
(The bookmark names are never changed in Firefox).
See screen grabs of my.XMarks.com bookmark names, after Steps: 3, 4, 5, or 6 (current state).
(The bookmark names are never changed on my.XMarks.com).
See screen grabs of IE Favorite names, after Step 5 (current state). Note records: 1, 23, 24, and 25 in the WinDiff screen grab.
(I used WinDiff to compare the current IE favorites to those backed up to my USB drive.)
I’m disappointed
1
person has this problem
I have this problem, too!
Tell me when someone solves it.
The more people who report this problem, the more it gets noticed.
The more people who report this problem, the more it gets noticed.
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Inappropriate?Wow, this is easily the most detailed bug report I've ever seen! Want to do some QA work for us? :)
But you're right, this is a problem. When Xmarks for IE was originally created, one of the biggest problems we had was making sure that all of user's Firefox bookmarks would work correctly in IE. We ran into several issues with very long bookmark names and bookmarks that started (and ended) with periods (especially folders!). Our compromise was to manually change things before saving them to IE.
Unfortunately, this creates a problem if the data itself is starting from IE. It doesn't make sense that we replace a perfectly valid bookmark name with something else. I've filed a bug against ourselves to improve this, although unfortunately it's probably not something we'll get to in the immediate future.
Colin
1 person says
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?Thanks for the quick reply Colin.
I figured (correctly it seems) this might be a by-design behavior (repeatable and nothing random about it). I understand it may not be fixed for some time (priorities and all). At least the issue is reported, confirmed, and other users can read this and hopefully understand the issue.
The first time I encountered this issue, was alongside the known issue about creating duplicates when synchronizing between IE and Firefox. So I saw both the duplicate bookmarks results, mixed in with the results documented above.
Seriously, if you folks are hiring, I'd love to do QA work for you. Sounds like a great project. If you can build it, I can break it. But I can also help you build it better. I have experience in: systems analysis, testing, issue management, training, Level 2 tech support, and documentation (help desk procedures, Sys Admin guides, end-user guides, and tutorials). Tell me where to send my resume.
Ken1 Comment Add a comment
This solves the problem
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We are, in fact, serious about hiring. If you want to send your resume to us at jobs@xmarks.com, we can start from there!
Colin
EMPLOYEE
