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XMarks multiple computer synchronization and mangled bookmarks/folders
I have xMarks on 4 computers (2 XP, 2 Vista). On three systems the only browser is Firefox 3, on one it is Firefox 3 & IE7.
Bookmark folders with the '&' character are getting duplicated with the new folder having the same name but the ampersand is replaced by and '& amp ;' (without the spaces)
Bookmarks with a '|' get duplicated with the vertical bar replaced by '_'
Several other graphic characters are also getting changed and the bookmarks essentially replicated.
I think this happened when I added xmarks to IE7.
Any suggestions?
Bookmark folders with the '&' character are getting duplicated with the new folder having the same name but the ampersand is replaced by and '& amp ;' (without the spaces)
Bookmarks with a '|' get duplicated with the vertical bar replaced by '_'
Several other graphic characters are also getting changed and the bookmarks essentially replicated.
I think this happened when I added xmarks to IE7.
Any suggestions?
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?This sounds like Windows behavior to me and IE favorites, no matter what version, is a part of Windows OS.
I use Firefox, currently 3.0.8, as my main source for bookmarks and update the rest of my browsers from Firefox. First I create an HTML file via Organize Bookmarks dialog or "Library" as it's titled once you open it up and then import the HTML in IE or more accurately Windows; I use XP Pro, but I a poor slob so only one computer. Two of my browsers automatically use Windows Favorites as their bookmark source.
Windows doesn't like characters like apostrophes and the "I" separator that some sites use in their titles. Firefox doesn't care what you use, but Windows does and every time I import the HTML data that I create from Firefox then Windows generates the alternate characters you are talking about so it isn't a XMarks problem; it's a Windows problem all the way.
The only two suggestions I can offer are.
1. Convince Microsoft to let Windows recognize the characters it will not deal with now; failing that . . . . . . .
2. The only other thing you can do is to open up your files manager (Windows Explorer or a better replacement; I use "Directory Opus 9) and change each occurrence of the characters that Windows has changed, one at a time. That's what I do.
2a. You can also use the IE Organize Favorites function to modify each occurrence, but it will go much faster and smoother even if you have to use Windows Explorer.
If your interested in free files manager alternatives take a look at http://www.techsupportalert.com; great site.
I’m frustrated with Microsoft
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Inappropriate?I'm not so certain about your dx. IE 7 seems to be showing the '&' and other characters in folder names and has the '|' left out of bookmarks that included them.
In any case, I turned the add in to 'disabled' in IE to see if the problem stops or persists... -
Inappropriate?Like I said, IE and IE Favorites are a part of the Windows OS. I have not investigated what character sets XMarks can or cannot handle, but my guess is that they can handle any character set that Firefox can handle and Firefox doesn't care. I haven't seen a character that Firefox or even Opera has rejected.
Windows on the other hand will not and does not deal with some characters, at all. I don't have enough experience with VISTA to know whether it will handle some characters that it's predecessors won't. I have XP and like every other version of Windows I've used/owned it will not allow some characters. If you try to create files or folders using these characters Windows will just give you a pop-up with a list of characters you cannot use. When you import files or folders that contain these characters it will either delete them or change them to something else. The "&", " ' ", and " / " are among the characters it will not accept. Also the separator bar that looks like a capitol eye " I " has a different ascii code than the capitol letter eye " I " and Windows will reject it.
I've been using Firefox for years and exporting my bookmarks from Firefox to Windows Favorites for almost as many years and have been having this problem the entire time. As a matter of fact just before my post last night I had completed an export from Firefox and Imported the HTML into Favorites; it's the only place you can put it. Anyway my experience is that it will delete and change characters both for folders and file names; in this case link titles. This is an example of one of the links that got imported to Favorites; "Aaron's Sales and Lease Ownership" and another "Louise's Weblinks", it changed the apostrophe " ' " as you can see and threw in a bunch characters with it. Here's another example of a link with "&" in it "Jack Russell Training & Advice". It doesn't remove the "&" but adds characters to it. I have other examples of both files and folders with " ' " or "&" in them and some other special characters such as "®" and other special ascii characters, but I'm running out of time today.
I don't use the " I " as a separator, I use " - " since Windows likes that and won't mess with it. Anyway the examples I provided sounded to me just like what you are experiencing; if so then I believe it's a Windows problem and there is no fix for it, unless MS provides it. But then I'm not a XMarks Tech and can't testify as to what characters XMarks can and will or won't handle.
Any XMarks Tech is Welcome to jump on in here and add something to this; it would be helpful. I gotta get going for now.
One last thought before I leave. I've been proofing what I wrote for errors and you know what I noticed? This forum automatically corrected all the examples I pasted into it, but each one had extra characters in it to replace the characters Windows didn't like.
I’m Going To Work
