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Linkman Lite, Multi-Browser Bookmarks Manager

Martin Brinkmann — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 17:15:53 +0000

One of the biggest issues for users who work with different web browsers is synchronization. This includes passwords, log in information and of course bookmarks. Most browsers come with synchronization options, but those only include synchronizing bookmarks between versions of the same browser. And the import option is only important a certain state which means that updates are not included.

So what is the alternative then? A third party bookmarks manager of course. Linkman Lite is a free Windows program that allows users to manage their bookmarks. It supports a variety of web browsers, including the top four Windows browsers Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera.

It appears that only one set of bookmarks can be open at the same time in the free light version of the bookmarks manager. There are a few workarounds though to overcome this issue. It is for instance possible to merge the open set of bookmarks with Internet Explorer Favorites. That’s likely the best option before managing and exporting those bookmarks again. The pro version supports appending bookmarks or synchronizing bookmarks.

Bookmarks are opened via the File menu. Internet Explorer favorites can be opened via File > Open IE Favorites, other bookmarks via File > Import.

All bookmarks are then displayed in the lower half of the program window. All bookmark folders are displayed on the left side, the bookmarks on the right. Searching and sorting options are available to filter the contents in real-time. A double-click on a bookmark loads the site in the default web browser, a right-click options to manage the bookmarks. This includes editing and deleting options, options to add the currently opened site in the default browser to the set of bookmarks or to add the selected bookmark to the default browser.

New folders can be created and managed as well. Bookmarks can be moved to another folder.

The free version is limited in most regards. This can be confusing, considering that the pro version’s options are displayed in the lite version as well. A “not available” message is returned whenever a pro version is selected.

It is possible to work around the limitations, even though it is not possible to configure automatic synchronization. Linkman Lite is a nice program to merge bookmarks from multiple browsers. The program is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

Firefox Bookmark Sorting Extension SortPlaces

Martin Brinkmann — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:08:21 +0000

The firefox web browser does not offer many bookmark sorting options. The only option that is actually provided by right-clicking a folder is to sort the bookmarks by name. This is however not a permanent sort order as it gets disrupted as soon as new bookmarks are added to the folder. The sort order by name, which can be either descending or ascending, is probably not enough for many users who would like to have more control over how their bookmarks are displayed in the Internet browser.

The SortPlaces add-on adds many important sorting options plus the incredibly useful option to automatically sort new bookmarks according to the sorting parameters that the user defined in the add-on’s options.

The Firefox add-on distinguishes between menu, toolbar and unfiled bookmarks and offers different settings for each bookmarking category. Nine different sorting options are available in each category including sorting them by name, url, visit count, keyword or date added. The sorting order can be reversed in the same menu and it is possible to define the sort order for queries, folders, livemarks and bookmarks as well. By default queries appear above folders which appear above livemarks and bookmarks.

It is furthermore possible to enable automatic bookmark sorting and to include or exclude bookmarks or bookmark folders from the operation. It usually did not take longer than a second to sort through individual bookmark folders with dozens of bookmarks. A complete run on the other end did not seem to end at all. Maybe it is broken or maybe it is just taking very long. SortPlaces is nevertheless a great add-on for users who want to sort their bookmarks in a certain order that is not offered by default.

Sort Firefox Bookmarks

Martin Brinkmann — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 12:27:43 +0000

The option to sort bookmarks in Firefox is tucked away in the Bookmarking Manager. While the sorting options should be sufficient for most users the lack of distinguishing between different kind of bookmarks and the temporariness of the selected options make it barely usable.

Sort Places is an experimentally Firefox add-on that provides better and faster sorting options for Firefox bookmarks. The add-on adds a Sort entry to the bookmarks menu and can also be added as an icon to a Firefox toolbar.

It sorts all bookmarks by default but can be modified to sort only selected folders. The options that make it superior to the default Firefox sorting function are the following:

Exclude Toolbars from sorting
Define Sort Order by assigning values to queries, folders, bookmarks and livemarks
Sort Places uses separators to define groups that will be sorted individually

Sort Places will remember the settings that the user entered while sorting bookmarks but it will not automatically sort newly added or moved bookmarks. It would be an ideal bookmark sorting add-on if the author could somehow implement that feature. As of now it is easier to access than the default way of sorting bookmarks in Firefox and provides much needed filters that define how the bookmarks are sorted.