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Firefox bookmark synchronization

Update: this article is now obsolete. Firefox now includes Sync. This solution encrypts your data when it is stored on Mozilla's servers, so that they cannot index or resell it (Google indexes your saved bookmarks if you use Chrome synchronization). If you wish, Firefox sync can also be hosted on your own server for total privacy and control over data (but the setup process is complicated).

Several add-ons have been made for the purpose of synchronizing bookmarks by FTP, however, most of them simply do not work.

Note: for many reasons, solutions to place your bookmarks on third-party websites will not even be considered here. As a few examples, privacy, security, and yet more and more sites to login to, limitation to bookmarks only, etc are all reasons to sync to your own FTP server.

Unless you are willing to trust your data to a third party website, you are currently out of luck. The only trick I can suggest is to use a backup of your main browser's bookmarks, restore from backup on another browser, and place any new bookmarks into a /sync directory in your Bookmark Manager (to keep track of new bookmarks that you have made on another browser). However, there is no foolproof or easy method to reimport those bookmarks into your primary browser.

The add-ons below work.

• SyncPlaces (slower than the one below). Note if it complains about path, check to see that compression settings match on both sending and receiving add-ons

• SoftwareSamurai's Bookmark Sync and Sort

• Xmarks BYOS Edition

but not without significant limitations.

• Transfer is slow
• If set to automatically download and upload at startup and shutdown, the process takes at least several seconds.
• Bookmarks are left on the computer that downloaded them from the server. If you do not manually delete them, they will remain visible (if that computer is not yours).
• Absolutely all bookmarks (and not changes only) are transferred each time.

What happens invariably is that after some frustration the above solution is simply turned off.

The add-ons below either claim to take care of the problems above, or are another add-ons. However, none of the add-ons from the list below work for many reasons.

• FireWebSSOPrivate server not allowed yet
• Mozilla Labs - Weave Sync Instructions to install on your own server are incomprehensible
• PlaceSync (sometimes gives errors that corrupt bookmarks on the server. do not use this add-on by itself without secondary backups, or a corruption can leave you without ANY bookmarks.). Not updated for latest Firefox version
• Bookmarks Synchronizer Dead. Replaced by SoftwareSamurai's Bookmark Sync and Sort
• Bookmarks Synchronizer 3 Dead. Replaced by SoftwareSamurai's Bookmark Sync and Sort
• Bookmark Sync and Sort Dead. Replaced by SoftwareSamurai's Bookmark Sync and Sort
• Bookmarks on line
• SyncMarks
• Keep My Bookmarks!

My suggestions: backup bookmarks before testing anything. Install Firefox on a USB memory stick. Install PlaceSync. Manually sync in the beginning of your work, and at the end (for example, if you work on someone's computer off the memory stick, you will manually download bookmarks from server in the beginning, and manually upload at the end, and then pull out memory stick).

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