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What happens when I sync multiple pre-exisiting but different bookmarks?
I have three computers running Firefox, all with mostly different bookmarks, folder structures, items in bookmark toolbars, etc. Exactly what happens if I sync them together with xmarks? Do I get a lot of dupes or does it intelligently remove them? Does one "master PC" clobber the other two? I'd love to see a detailed explanation of what will occur and how to best prepare for this. xmarks seems great but this first step is scary...
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Inappropriate?Hey Fred,
We have three different ways to sync your bookmarks. Merge, Download, and Upload. I'll explain each of the different sync types, and then you can determine what will work best for your first synchronizations.
Merge:
This is our default sync type. As you've probably guessed, it will merge your bookmarks together to create one "Master" bookmark set which is contained on our servers. In your scenario, if you chose to merge all three, they will be merged without duplicates. In the setup wizard, you'll see this option as "Merge data on the server with data on this computer." In Xmarks settings, you'll see this option in the Tools menu as "Sync Now" or on the Status Tab. Merge is also the default sync type for automatic synchronization.
Download:
This is an advanced function, as it will overwrite the data contained in your browser, with what is contained on our servers. An example of usage, is if you prefer one of your bookmark sets over the other two, you would sync the favored bookmark set first, and then perform a download on the other two computers to keep your bookmark set in each browser. You can find this option as "Keep data on the server; discard data on this computer" in the setup wizard, and "Download" in the Advanced Tab of Xmarks Settings.
Upload:
This is also an advanced function, as it will overwrite what is currently on our servers, with what is contained in your browser. An example of usage, is if you have all three computers merged, and then decide after a bunch of editing on a computer, that you'd like to keep your new edits and sync them to your other two computers, You would perform an Upload. From there, perform a Download on your other two computers to keep the new edits that you'd like to preserve. You can find this option as "Discard data on the server; keep data on this computer" in the setup wizard, and Upload in the advanced tab.
I hope that is enough information to get you going, there is some great info you can read on all the features we provide here:
http://www.xmarks.com/about/features
and you can always check and edit your bookmarks contained on our servers here at my.xmarks.com. Let me know if you have any additional questions!
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Thanks for the response, Nate. Is this info on a FAQ anywhere? I searched before I posted but couldn't find it. Anyway, this answers some of my questions. I have a few more: 1) Does it maintain directories and directory structure, 2) Does it maintain the order of the bookmarks or does it sort alphabetically, 3) When it decides there is a dupe, does it look at URL or bookmark text, 4) If I have the same book mark in different directories will the dupes still be deleted? I think that's enough for now... I'm a bit paranoid about synch services... :-) -
Inappropriate?Hey Fred,
This info should be on our FAQ, but we are working on updating it in the future. Here are the answers to your questions, and thanks for being thorough, I like it! :)
1. Xmarks will maintain your directory structure.
2. Xmarks will maintain the order of your bookmarks. You can sort them alphabetically, if you would like, your best bet is using Firefox's utility in "Organize Bookmarks."
3. Xmarks will look at all your bookmark data to determine a duplicate. If there is a different version in your browser, than what is on our servers, a "conflict" window will display, allowing you to inspect the differences, and choose the version that you'd like to keep.
4. If you have the same bookmark in different directories, it will remain in both directories.
Let me know if you have any additional questions!
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I am on the same page as Fred in thinking that this post (or its contents) should be an FAQ. I would guess this is about the #1 question when installing Xmarks. Maybe this thread could be a sticky?
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