Browsers

Synchronize Bookmarks With Foxmarks

You may have more than one computer, but chances are you really only need one list of bookmarks. When you save the address of a good Web site on one machine, it would be nice to have that same site show up in your other browsers’ bookmark lists.

If you use Firefox, you can set up automatic bookmark synchronization with a free extension called Foxmarks. Foxmarks stores a copy of your main bookmark list on its own server. All of your computers share new bookmarks with the master list and frequently check the list for any changes. The result is one list of bookmarks you can access from any computer.

Install Foxmarks

Give Foxmarks a try at www.foxmarks.com. The Download Now link takes you to part of the actual Firefox site to get the file. It then installs as a standard extension. When Firefox restarts, you’ll see the Foxmarks Setup Wizard window atop the main browser screen. Click Continue to start. If you don’t already have a Foxcloud account, create a user ID and password. Foxcloud is the name of the server that keeps a list of your bookmarks so that they can be synchronized across your computers. Click through the terms of service on the next screen and then fill out the familiar name/email/password form. When the account is set up and Foxmarks congratulates you, click Continue. Click Continue again, and Foxmarks will upload the bookmarks on the current computer to the server. When that’s finished, click Done to leave the setup wizard behind.

Hands Off

Foxmarks checks your bookmarks once a minute to see if you have changed anything. If something new is detected, Foxmarks syncs with the Foxcloud server so the changes are reflected on the master list. If no changes are found, Foxmarks syncs once an hour in case a new bookmark was added to the online server. This means that all of your computers running Foxmarks will have the same set of bookmarks within an hour. If you want to be sure that you’ve got the latest list, you can initiate a sync manually. Click Tools and then click Add-ons. Choose Foxmarks in the extension list and click Preferences. The main tab includes a Synchronize Now button. For this to work, of course, you’ll need to install Foxmarks on your other machines, as well. Use the same account name and password that you set up for the first installation. Each new copy of Foxmarks will ask whether you want to merge the bookmarks on the current computer with the master online list or replace one with the other. Assuming you have bookmarks on both lists that you want to keep, the best option is to merge.

On The Go

You can also access your bookmarks online with any browser, even when you’re not using a computer set up with the Foxmarks extension. Head to www.foxmarks.com and click My Foxmarks. Sign in with the user ID and password you created, and you’ll see a new page with a left pane listing all of the bookmarks uploaded to the server. Click any of the links to see the pages to which they point. The bookmark list remains open on the edge of the screen, providing handy access to all of your favorite sites. If the bookmark column takes up too much of the screen, you can make it smaller by using your mouse to drag the dividing line to the left.

Foxmarks does not yet have the ability to add new bookmarks when using the online version of the service from a computer not set up with the Foxmarks extension. If you run across an interesting site when using some other computer, you’ll just have to remember it yourself. Foxmarks also lacks the social bookmarking features that sites like del.icio.us have made famous. Basically, Foxmarks does one thing, but it performs that task well. Anyone with Firefox running on more than one machine should consider Foxmarks standard gear.