gHacks technology news » synchronize bookmarks http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:22:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Google Chrome 4 Gets Bookmark Syncing http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/03/google-chrome-4-gets-bookmark-syncing/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/03/google-chrome-4-gets-bookmark-syncing/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:43:38 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=18053 The latest developer versions of the Google Chrome browser come with the build in option to synchronize bookmarks across multiple computer systems by utilizing a Google account to store the data. Google Chrome dev build users might already know the feature from previous developer builds where it had to be enabled by launching the Google browser with the –enable-sync parameter to enable the menu item and the feature.

The rest of the functionality remained the same. The bookmarks will still be stored in Google Docs and not in Google Bookmarks, apparently because of the way bookmarks are stored in the web browser. The latest builds of the Google browser, for example 4.0.223.11 and above, offer bookmark syncing between multiple computer systems running Google Chrome out of the box.

The new Synchronize my bookmarks option is located in the Tools menu of the browser.

google chrome bookmark syncing

A click on the Synchronize my bookmarks link will display a small popup window displaying a Google Account form.

google chrome sync my bookmarks

Enter your credentials and the sync process should start immediately. You’ll be able to access your bookmarks in a weird location: a read-only folder in Google Docs (things will look less weird when Google Docs is transformed into Google Drive, a general-purpose online storage service). Install Google Chrome’s dev build on a different computer and you’ll be able to access your bookmarks, edit them and all the changes will be saved online.

It is unfortunately not possible to sync bookmarks across multiple web browsers using this method. An alternative that is working with multiple web browsers is the Xmarks extension which supports Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/03/google-chrome-4-gets-bookmark-syncing/feed/ 0 Share Bookmarks http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/23/share-bookmarks/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/23/share-bookmarks/#comments Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:47:12 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7812 Many users have to work with several web browsers. Could be that they are webmasters who have to check the design of their websites in the most popular browsers or because they have to use a different browser at work than they use at home. There are more possible scenarios why someone would use more than one web browser and one recurring theme is to share bookmarks across those browsers. Most web browsers come with an export and import function which could be use.

An alternative to share bookmarks is the software Transmute. Transmute relies on the Microsoft .net Framework and comes with an installer and as a portable edition. It supports the four popular web browsers Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Google Chrome. Firefox users will be delighted to hear that both Firefox 3 and earlier versions of Firefox are supported. The same is true for the Google Chrome browser where Chromium, developer builds and the official Google version are supported.

Transmute displays a source and target area in the interface. The user can pick a browser from a drop down menu and edit the browser’s path if that is required. This is for instance mandatory for portable browsers that might be used on a computer system.

share bookmarks

Additional options are available which can be expanded in the main interface. The bookmarks will be added in their own folder in the target browser by default. The name of the folder and the timestamp can be changed in the options. They also provide options to import the bookmarks in the root folder instead, to overwrite existing bookmarks and to create a backup before doing so.

The target browsers need to be closed for the process which is also true for some source browsers like Firefox 3 which locks the bookmark database when it is running. Transmute provides an easy way to share bookmarks across browsers. Support for Safari and an option to schedule bookmarks would be nice additions to the software program.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/23/share-bookmarks/feed/ 0 Synchronize Data with Opera Link http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/10/synchronize-data-with-opera-link/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/10/synchronize-data-with-opera-link/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:09:36 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=5285 Opera Link provides a similar option to synchronize data from Opera than Mozilla Weave does for Firefox. I don’t want to start a discussion on who was first with that idea because something like this only matters to fanboys. The same can be said for comparing browser distribution. Rarst has a nice article up at his website about Opera 9.51 which is definitely worth a read.

The advantage of Opera Link is that it is build into Opera like many other features that can only be added to Firefox with add-ons. Opera Link can be used to synchronize Bookmarks, Notes, Speed Dial and the Personal Bar with an online storage at Opera. That storage can be accessed by other Opera browsers including Opera Mini. As a bonus the personal data can also be accessed directly on the Opera website which is excellent if you access the web from a computer that has no Opera browser installed.

Using Opera Link could not be easier. The feature can be accessed in the File > Synchronize Opera menu and requires an account at Opera. The account can be created right from the menu and the only data that is required is a username, password and email.

opera link

The transfer of the data is fast and I was not able to witness any delay in the process. The data will be continuously synced with Opera Link until the user decides to turn that feature off again.

Bookmarks and the other data will be synchronized with every browser that activates the sync feature and provides the same user data that has been entered during account creation.

The online version provides access to the bookmarks and Speed Dial links and even has an option to add new bookmarks.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/10/synchronize-data-with-opera-link/feed/ 4 Opera 9.5 beta is out http://www.ghacks.net/2007/10/25/opera-95-beta-is-out/ http://www.ghacks.net/2007/10/25/opera-95-beta-is-out/#comments Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:51:00 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2007/10/25/opera-95-beta-is-out/ Opera fans rejoice. The very first beta of Opera 9.5 codename Kestrel has been released to the public. The biggest change is a new feature called Opera Link which offers a way to access all of your bookmarks and Speed Dial picks from one place. It does not matter if you access the Internet with Opera 9.5, with Opera mini or another browser, the bookmarks are always available.

If you do use Opera Link with Opera you can synchronize all bookmarks with Opera while other browsers obviously only have access to the web version. The changelog lists a lot of changes since Opera 9.5 Alpha including heaps of changes to the Rendering Engine and JavaScript / DOM.

Opera 9.5 beta seems to render websites faster than Firefox and Internet Explorer. I could make another performance test to see if the tests show that my subjective feelings are right.

Read More:

Opera 9.5 beta
Opera Link

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