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.

Advanced bookmarks, so called bookmarklets are another form. They are a mixture of bookmarks and small applets. They usually do not contain any link information but are stored in the bookmarks folder or toolbar of the computer.

So what is the best bookmark manager? Not an easy question as it may seem to be. The answer depends highly on the individual user. A computer user who only works on one computer and with one web browser may need nothing more than the built-in bookmark manager. Users with multiple web browsers on the same computer, multiple computers with the same or different browser, mobile devices, or computer access at locations without rights to install or synchronize bookmarks may all need different products.

Sometimes it may not be possible to sync bookmarks between different devices, and sometimes it may require the use of two programs or a workflow that requires manual steps.

Lets take a look at the built-in syncing capabilities of the five web browsers Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer and Safari:

Native Bookmark Syncing

All solutions have in common that an account is needed.

Firefox: Firefox users can make use of Firefox Sync to synchronize bookmarks and other data between the same and different Firefox profiles on the same or different computer systems. Firefox Sync is a built-in feature of Firefox 4, and available as an add-on for Firefox 3. Data is stored on a Mozilla server or optionally on a custom server.

Google Chrome: The Chrome browser comes with built-in synchronization of user data. Chrome users need to click on Tools > Options > Personal Stuff > Set up sync to setup the feature. A Google account is required and the data is stored online and synced whenever the user opens the Chrome browser and is signed into the Google account.

Opera: Opera Link is the name of Opera’s synchronization service. Opera users enable it in the browser by clicking on Menu > Synchronize Opera. An account needs to be created during the setup, the bookmarks and other information are saved online on Opera servers.

Internet Explorer: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer does not offer a built-in sync feature. Microsoft however has added synchronization to the Windows Live Toolbar. A Windows Live account is required to setup synchronization. IE users need to download the Windows Live Toolbar first and click the share button after the installation to setup bookmark synchronization. The data is synced with Windows Live Skydrive.

Safari: There does not seem to be a built-in way to synchronize Safari bookmarks (correct me if I’m wrong). Options are the paid Mobile Me service by Apple, or a third party workaround solution like making use of Dropbox.

Third party tools to sync bookmarks

Xmarks: One of the most popular bookmark managers thanks to its support for four out of the five browsers listed above. Only Opera is not supported by Xmarks. Users who do not use Opera, but multiple other browsers from the list above may want to use Xmarks to synchronize their bookmarks. The service is free and reliable.

Up until now we have not really looked at ways to synchronize web browser bookmarks with mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad or Android phones. There is unfortunately no standard for this yet. The best solutions are to either install a mobile web browser, for instance Opera Mobile or Firefox Mobile to sync bookmarks with a specific Internet browser, or to install an app like Chromemarks Lite, My Bookmarks App or Firefox Home to synchronize the bookmarks.

The best solution depends largely on the browsers used on the desktop computer and the mobile devices. There is no service that synchronizes all bookmarks.

Two-step syncing: It is sometimes necessary to configure two-step syncing which basically means to synchronize the bookmarks from one computer or device to another application that can then synchronize the data with the target device. Say you want to sync your Internet Explorer favorites or Safari bookmarks with your iPad or iPhone. You cannot do that directly unless you find an app that supports it. You could however configure iTunes to act as a middle-man.

Another option are applications, that are usually only available for a specific operating system. Transmute for Windows PCs can for instance comes as a free version that can convert bookmarks between web browsers and even mobile devices. The paid version adds synchronization so that it is possible to automatically synchronize bookmarks between web browsers and Android devices.

Verdict

There is no one application fits it all solution. I have created a small Excel table with links and information about the synchronization options between browsers and devices.

The spreadsheet has a lot of blanks and I’m asking for your help to fill them with information. You can download the latest version directly from Ghacks: bookmark manager synchronization.

Xmarks, a company that is offering plugins to sync bookmarks between installations of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari, have now announced that a limited beta release for the Google browser is available on their website. Limited beta in this case means that users with an Xmarks account can join the waiting list of the Google Chrome Xmarks beta plugin. They will be notified once they are able to download the plugin for the Google Chrome web browser.

The developers mention scaling and stability reasons for limiting the beta downloads in this stage. Google Chrome users who are interested in the plugin should sign up for the alpha on the Xmarks website. They also need to ensure that they are running a development build of the Google browser with extensions enabled. Several features of the bookmark syncing plugin are currently not included in the Google Chrome version of the plugin including missing support for custom bookmark servers, syncing profiles and the discovery feature.

Xmarks for Chrome is the first Google Chrome plugin that syncs bookmarks between different web browsers.

A new feature was introduced in the Google browser in the last dev release versions. Users who have been working with developer releases of Google Chrome before know that most new features can only be accessed by launching the web browser with startup parameters.

It is not different with this new feature. The Google Chrome development team has added bookmark syncing to the web browser. Users who want to use the feature need to launch the Google browser with the parameter –enable-sync.

A new option in the Tools menu becomes available that is named Sync My Bookmarks. The feature requires a Google account which will be used to store the bookmarks online. To be precise, the bookmarks are stored in the Google Docs account of the Google user.

This makes it possible to use the same set of bookmarks in various installations of the Google Chrome browser, e.g. at work, home and on a laptop. It does feel strange to Google Bookmarks users that this services was not used for the bookmarks syncing.

Interested users can download the latest dev build of Google Chrome at the developer’s website.

Both services use remote servers to host and synchronize the data. Some users have expressed privacy concerns that their bookmarks are stored on remote servers. There is virtually no way of telling if someone else accessed the bookmarks. A solution for those users would be a way to synchronize the Firefox bookmarks without third party help. The only requirement for this is an always on location on the Internet that can host the bookmarks.

SyncPlaces is a Firefox extension that can synchronize Firefox bookmarks between multiple computers without third party help. It requires WebDav or an ftp server for data storage.

A backup of the current local bookmarks is always created before starting the data synchronization and it is possible to revert back to the old data set if the synchronization failed.

The Firefox user has to configure access to the online data storage before being able to save and synchronize data in that location. Available protocols are http, https and ftp. Several options are available like encrypting or compressing bookmarks and how the bookmarks should be synchronized / merged.

Users of the Firefox extension can also backup or restore bookmarks manually and sort bookmarks in various ways.

The biggest benefit of SyncPlaces is that it puts the user back in control if he has ftp or WebDav access. It is therefor a welcome addition to third party data synchronization services. The add-on is currently listed as experimental and can only be installed if the user logs into the Mozilla website.