- Keep your private bookmarks at home, but sync everything else with your work computer.
- Set up a different bookmark toolbar at home and at work, but sync everything else as you normally would.
- Create a shortlist of bookmarks for when you access My Foxmarks from your mobile phone.
The feature works by allowing you to group your bookmarks into different Sync Profiles. You can name each Sync Profile whatever you like and pick which bookmarks belong to it. For example, in the screenshot below, I created a profile called "Office" and added work stuff to it like "Company Intranet", but removed other personal bookmarks like "Cooking Recipes".
Once your Sync Profiles are setup, you simply need to assign them to each of your computers. Multiple computers can have the same Sync Profile, for instance, all your computers at home could be set to sync with your "Home" profile. If you don't assign a Sync Profile to a computer, it will sync all bookmarks as before.
To get started with Sync Profiles, head over to My Foxmarks and click on "Tools -> Sync Profiles". Create new Sync Profiles and select which bookmarks should belong to them. Once you've done that, open up the settings dialog in your web browser and click on the "Profiles" tab. Select a Sync Profile to assign to that browser and you're done! Remember, you'll need to be running the latest Foxmarks client (v2.1.0.12 or greater) to be able to use this feature.
We'd like to thank all the beta testers who've helped us test and improve this feature over the past several weeks. We first announced the Sync Profiles Beta nearly two months ago and we couldn't have released this feature without your help!
Fantastic!! Just the feature I was looking for...!!!
ReplyDeleteIs there a way to keep the bookmarks I add on the system that syncs to one profile from automatically showing up on another profile? I have a rich set of bookmarks on my home system, and a very spartan set of bookmarks on my work computer. When I add a bookmark on my home computer and sync, it automatically shows up on my work computer. This is not how I expected it to work. Am I missing something?
ReplyDelete@JD: Sounds like you want a default sync profile for new bookmarks. That does seem useful.
ReplyDelete@JD: Profiles are organized around folders, so if you set up one or more folders to only contain your home computer bookmarks, just make sure to add bookmarks only to those folders (rather than the top-level folder, which defaults to global availability across all profiles).
ReplyDeleteDoes that make sense? Admittedly, this is a new feature, so we're still working out the FAQ entries for it, so any feedback is greatly appreciated.
At 1024x768 the 'Manage Sync Profiles...' "window" is too big(the buttons are not visible at the bottom) in Firefox on Ubuntu Linux; Scrolling down does not help. I can see the whole thing when in full screen mode, but that's not the best option. I can probably use the page-zoom feature, but not everyone knows about it.
ReplyDeleteScreenshot: http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=myfoxmarkscommozillafirod3.png
After scrolling: http://img337.imageshack.us/my.php?image=myfoxmarkscommozillafirfq6.png
This is with the browser maximized.
Can't wait to test the feature... just need to get onto another computer and see how it works now. ^.^
@Nobu: You better have a good excuse for not having participated in the beta testing to report that BEFORE we launched. =)
ReplyDeleteWe'll see if we can get that fixed in the next week or so; thanks for pointing that out!
Hmm... it wasn't really a feature I needed, so I didn't feel the benefits outweighing the risks. The last one I needed because I was using Firefox 3 and there wasn't a working version for the browser at the time, so I had more reason to join.
ReplyDeleteGlad to point it out though... don't want anyone being limited simply because they use a lower resolution(my monitor's native/max resolution is 1280x1024, but I've been using a lower resolution recently for smoothness, etc.).
As always, you're welcome. ^.^
@Nobu: Nice Firefox theme.. which one is that?
ReplyDeleteHip Hip Hurray!!!
ReplyDeleteThis will be a great feature.
@Tony: PitchDark; There are others I like, but I think it works best with my current Gnome theme. Unfortunately, there are some things which stick out to me(the image they used behind the favicon in the url bar is one), but it doesn't bother me too much.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteI have no use for this (yet), but it will be very useful for some people.
Is there any way I can help? I'm not really good at coding.
@Aimee: You're welcome, and thanks for the offer of help! We're always happy when people can spread the word about Foxmarks--the more people using it, the more awesome it'll become!
ReplyDeleteMaybe consider that there will be lots of small, low cost laptops on the market by Xmas most with a copy of Firefox on them!
ReplyDeleteMajority of these will be using the Intel Atom chipset and run at 1024x600 or lower...
@JD: I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at, exactly, possibly because I don't fully grok your example--the bookmarks toolbar is one of the few folders that *can't* be assigned to specific profiles (though its contents can be). Anything added to the bookmarks toolbar ends up in the default "global" profile, but if it's added to a folder that only exists for the profile on that computer, then it will only show up for that profile.
ReplyDeleteOur original thinking was that it would be confusing if an added bookmark didn't show up in all profiles that have access to the folder it's put into, but we're open to alternative suggestions. I could imagine a settings option that makes new bookmarks profile-specific, but then the configuration for such a feature could get cumbersome.
"Cumbersome" is something we're trying to avoid for a newly-introduced feature. =)
Erm... I meant JD, not DJ. XD
ReplyDelete@DJ: Technically, the folders which aren't on certain profiles shouldn't exist on the computers which are using those profiles(i.e. "Home" profile contains folders "Forums" and "Books", but "Work" profile only contains folder "Books", therefore only "Books" exists on the computer using the "Work" profile while both "Forums" and "Books" exists on the computer using the "Home" profile), at least in theory(I haven't gotten a chance to really test it yet). If that is the case, then you shouldn't have a problem remembering which profile has which folders, so long as you use profile specific folders only for things which really need to be profile specific. If all else fails, don't put it in a folder. ;)
ReplyDeleteOf course, that is if there are no changes made to how it works. If anyone has an idea of how to improve the system then that'd be great... Maybe we could make use of bookmark tags to help sort the bookmarks into profiles? I mean, we don't have to completely throw out the old method of sorting them(it would cause a problem with compatibility with old browsers and IE, I'd assume), but if it doesn't take too many resources then using tags would be a good idea, I think.
Wow, thanks for all the ideas folks!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you guys think about having new bookmarks automatically assigned to the current profile regardless of which folder they're added to? Would that make the feature more useful? Less confusing?
This functionality could be made optional, but if so, would it be better if it defaulted to being on?
Hmm... That's a difficult question. I personally don't really care, but I think I would rather it defaulting to all profiles rather than just the current profile. The problem with that is people wouldn't know about the option unless they looked for it. On the other hand, if you set it to default to the current profile people could get angry when they find that they can't find the bookmark on another of their computers. That said, I believe it would be better to allow access on any profile by default and somehow let the user know that they can make the bookmark profile specific, however that would probably either need to be integrated into the Firefox UI somewhere or it would be painfully obvious(like a popup), unless Firefox has made it easy to integrate such functionality(I'm no extension expert. ^^; ).
ReplyDeleteSo my vote is to default to all profiles, but I'm open to the alternative if there is a way to let the user know without something you have to click(no roll down notifications, please... I have enough trouble with the ones Firefox has by default. lol)
One Q: Is it possible to exclude some folder from synchronizing to foxmarks server? Suppose I have bookmark folder on work computer which contains sensitive bookmarks. How to deal with that?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
great new feature. I have used it to sync bookmarks on my home and office laptops and its pretty simple to use. Syncing has never been so fun. Now that there is this new profile feature, I will tell more of my friends to download it. Keep up the good work guys
ReplyDeleteFirst: Great Feature!
ReplyDeleteSecond: Will nested folders be supportetd in future? I have many bookmarks in many folders and subfolders. Like:
homepages
__/friends
__/companies
__/chat
At the office I only want to have the "work" stuff. Moving this stuff in one top "office folder" would mean to give in the organisation of the marks. Making more "top level folders" would make it confusing.
I have up to 17 top folders with up to 12 sub folders (and also many deeper nested bookmarks).
At least a second grade would be helpfully!
Hiya,
ReplyDeleteI just started using Foxmarks as well as I got a new laptop from work to use with me when meeting my clients and its a wonderful addon.
I second the question about the subfolders, would that be possible?
i m not happy for Foxmark. Because i can't arrange By Opting. Why Hidden this Option. This is most Important for me. Ok.
ReplyDeletePls Add this Opting "Arrange by Name, Icon, Title" ETC
Why Stop Arrange By Opting?
ReplyDeleteRegarding sub-folder selections: We cannot rule it out; thanks for the feedback!
ReplyDeleteI'm curious, though--do you want sub-folder selective synchronization where you can only select folders, or do you still want top-level individual bookmark selectivity?
I would love to be able to have different Bookmark Toolbars at home and the office. I've read the comments here carefuly but can't figure out how to do this, even though the very first post says "Set up a different bookmark toolbar at home and at work, but sync everything else as you normally would."
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain step by step how to set up a different toolbar for home and one for office?
I'm confused by eric's 7/9 comment: "@JD: I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at, exactly, possibly because I don’t fully grok your example–the bookmarks toolbar is one of the few folders that *can’t* be assigned to specific profiles (though its contents can be). Anything added to the bookmarks toolbar ends up in the default “global” profile, but if it’s added to a folder that only exists for the profile on that computer, then it will only show up for that profile."
Thanks!
One thing that I do not understand: Foxmarks syncs on shutdown, but why doesn't it sync on startup!
ReplyDeleteI have two profiles 'work' and 'home'. Some folders are common to both, for example 'Unsorted bookmarks'. If I bookmark something at home in the evening and the bookmark is in the 'Unsorted bookmarks' folder, I would like that bookmark to appear on my work computer when I open FF3 in the morning. As it is I have to do a manual sync, which I think should be automatic.
Could this be added to Foxmarks, or is it already there and I can't find it?
Thanks.
Question: I use Foxmarks with my own server. This means I don't use Foxmarks' server or even have an account with Foxmarks. But since having an account is a requirement for using this new Profiles feature, does this mean that I need to use Foxmarks' servers too. Long story short, can I use Profiles with my own server?
ReplyDeleteHello?
ReplyDeleteEric, thanks for all your helpful responses here.
ReplyDeleteIs the list of "special" folders that are part of the "global profile" documented somewhere? I get the impression that the Toolbar folder and top level bookmarks are part of global. What else is? I need more specific information to customize my shared and not shared between home and work. The option to create profiles is fantastic, but I need to know the details and quirks to really make good use of it. It also sounds like I might not need separate profiles at all if I am careful about making sure certain folders only exist in one location or the other.
@eric: Regarding sub-folder selections
ReplyDeleteI try to give an example what I mean (forgive my English):
============================================
The bookmarks as seen on Foxmarks server (unselectetd):
( ) Folder A
...... ( ) Folder A.A
...... Mark A.A.1
............ Mark A.A.2
...... Mark A.1
...... Mark A.2
( ) Folder B
...... Mark B.1
...... Mark B.2
( ) Folder C
...... ( ) Folder C.A
............ Mark C.A.1
............ Mark C.A.2
............ Mark C.A.3
...... ( ) Folder C.B
............ Mark C.B.1
............ Mark C.B.2
...... ( ) Folder C.C
............ Mark C.C.1
............ Mark C.C.1
...... Mark C.1
...... Mark C.2
( ) Folder D
...... Mark D.1
...... Mark D.2
...... Mark D.3
Mark 1
Mark 2
Mark 3
============================================
Selection WORK:
( ) Folder A
...... (x) Folder A.A
............ Mark A.A.1
............ Mark A.A.2
...... Mark A.1
...... Mark A.2
( ) Folder B
...... Mark B.1
...... Mark B.2
(x) Folder C
...... ( ) Folder C.A
............ Mark C.A.1
............ Mark C.A.2
............ Mark C.A.3
...... (x) Folder C.B
............ Mark C.B.1
............ Mark C.B.2
...... (x) Folder C.C
............ Mark C.C.1
............ Mark C.C.1
...... Mark C.1
...... Mark C.2
( ) Folder D
...... Mark D.1
...... Mark D.2
...... Mark D.3
( ) Mark 1
(x) Mark 2
( ) Mark 3
========>>> seen as RESULT:
Folder A
...... Folder A.A
............ Mark A.A.1
............ Mark A.A.2
Folder C
...... Folder C.B
............ Mark C.B.1
............ Mark C.B.2
...... Folder C.C
............ Mark C.C.1
............ Mark C.C.1
...... Mark C.1
...... Mark C.2
Mark 2
============================================
Selection HOME:
(x) Folder A
...... ( ) Folder A.A
............ Mark A.A.1
............ Mark A.A.2
...... Mark A.1
...... Mark A.2
(x) Folder B
...... Mark B.1
...... Mark B.2
( ) Folder C
...... (x) Folder C.A
............ Mark C.A.1
............ Mark C.A.2
............ Mark C.A.3
...... (x) Folder C.B
............ Mark C.B.1
............ Mark C.B.2
...... (x) Folder C.C
............ Mark C.C.1
............ Mark C.C.1
...... Mark C.1
...... Mark C.2
(x) Folder D
...... Mark D.1
...... Mark D.2
...... Mark D.3
(x) Mark 1
( ) Mark 2
( ) Mark 3
========>>> seen as RESULT:
Folder A
...... Mark A.1
...... Mark A.2
Folder B
...... Mark B.1
...... Mark B.2
Folder C
...... Folder C.A
............ Mark C.A.1
............ Mark C.A.2
............ Mark C.A.3
...... Folder C.B
............ Mark C.B.1
............ Mark C.B.2
...... Folder C.C
............ Mark C.C.1
............ Mark C.C.1
Folder D
...... Mark D.1
...... Mark D.2
...... Mark D.3
Mark 1
============================================
Rules ("in a rush"):
- Selection boxes are in front of every folder and in front of top level bookmarks.
- A selected folder means: all bookmarks directly in this folder are chosen - *not* automatically bookmarks in nested subfolders (therefore this folders have to be chosen too).
- Subfolders could be chosen, folders in a higher level have to be shown (for overview reason), but if they were not chosen, bookmarks in the same level of the chosen folder were not shown.
HOME:
Basically, the classic tree-organization with checkboxes for each folder. Look at the UI for Picasa for telling it which folders to watch for changes.
ReplyDeleteAs a UI issue, when you check a folder, all sub-folders should get checked, but you can open the folder and un-check them.
New folders (and sub-folders) should be inherit the check status of the parent unless you go in and change them. Top-level folders should default to shared (checked).
This is both fairly easy to understand and powerful.
Totally off-topic... i just recieved an email with a survey proposal from Foxmarks, it's true?
ReplyDeleteSorry about the question, i'm from Argentina and is the fisrt time an email from Foxmarks arrived to my email account.
Thanks!
WHOLY CRAP!!! I LOVE THE PROFILES!!!! Gonna have to find the RSS link to see the new innovations you guys are making with this. AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I would have made a bit more clearer is perhaps un-grey the "Bookmarks Toolbar Folder" so when a user clicks on it, it goes to the BOTTOM of the list. I was about ready to ask why that one in particular was greyed out, couldn't be changed, and how I could get in to change it. FORTUNATELY I scrolled to the bottom. ;)
The other thing you could do is leave it greyed, but change the text "Bookmarks Toolbar Folder" to a link, so when clicked, it moves the scroll box to the bottom of the list.
Other than A++ for simplicity.
@Alex: What I have done between home, work, and my development is make separate folders in the "Bookmarks Toolbar Folder". I then have setup "Work" "Home" and "Dev" profiles, and for each, just check the folder I need for each profile.
I just want to say I LOVE this utility!!! OMG hubby crashed our old hard drive, I was so freaked out, but stayed cool about my bookmarks because I had been using Foxmarks previously. WOW, installed Foxmarks this morning, signed in and VOILA....my bookmarks! YEA!!!!!
ReplyDelete@Eric
ReplyDeleteGreat product. Congratulations.
1> I concur above with JD. If you truly want "private" bookmarks, there should be at least an option to not sync base level bookmarks by default. The same with history when or if you get around to it.
At work, I'm working and want to see work related stuff.
If, at home for example, I'm looking at NBA stuff and football sites, I don't want my work machine to show that stuff. What's on your machine at work is company property in most places.
Having to manually move those home links to folders to insure "Work" setup and privacy is a pain. What if you're looking for a new job? You don't really want everyone to know do you? So the current setup (without and option) is potentially dangerous.
Just think, your wife is out of town and your looking at porn and when you get to work you find out that your boss and everyone in IT knows all the sites you've been...haha..
Well, I don't have that problem, but I've had to fire some people because of just that issue. Having inappropriate material up on the screen is grounds for immediate dismissal in most corporations.
Well, you get the point, I'm sure.
2> RE: AlphaHasi and Randell Jesup and folder selection.
What they mentioned is default behavior in a lot of programs. It would be helpful for Foxmarks to have this folder selection mechanism in the future.
oh, sorry, forgot
ReplyDelete3> So you should have the option to be able to create a default setup that is used on computers that have no profile selected, instead of just getting everything.
Thanks
_facepalm_ D'OH! I _JUST_ took your survey thingie, and that was the feature I was begging for the most. :) I should have looked here first; I guess I know less about the product than I thought.
ReplyDeleteFoxmarks rocks!
I want a facility that blanks out the bookmarks when I leave a temporary use computer.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Kilroy. The first I heard of the Profiles feature was the completing the survey, which didn't mention selective syncing anywhere IIRC, and being redirected to the FoxMarks page which listed selective syncing as a news item.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone considered linking FoxMark profiles to tags in the FF3 link database?
@Chris W: You mean like my comment on July 9th?
ReplyDelete"Maybe we could make use of bookmark tags to help sort the bookmarks into profiles?" - 3rd sentence, 2nd paragraph.
i.e.: Bookmarks tagged "Home" would belong to the "Home" profile. The only problem with that is you cannot tag folders, so you would actually need to keep the old system in order to profile the folders. Unless someone wants to suggest Firefox adds the ability to tag folders...
@Nobu: Yes, but perhaps a simpler idea. My main requirement would be the ability to keep private stuff private and work stuff at work. Any bookmark tagged "private" (or maybe a user-defined list of tags) is not uploaded...ever.There are potential language issues with this approach too i.e. 'private' in English, 'privé' in French, or 'ιδιωτική' in Greek (I think).
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly the functionality I wanted to get from Foxmarks, this is brilliant!
ReplyDeleteIt would be so great to have a Foxmarks that could synchronize passwords as well.
ReplyDeleteSadly Google Browser Sync is no longer maintained and compatible with FF3....
It seems I am missing something. I can see the profiles, but I can only select the top level folders (no subfolders). Any ideas what I may be missing? I am using Firefox 3.0.1 and Bookmark Synchronizer 2.1.0.12. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if there is a way to synchronize between Firefox bookmarks and Safari on the Mac?
ReplyDeleteI recently converted to Mac at home (still on Windows at work) and it would be great to have this. I have to use Safari with some sites that do not work well with Firefox.
Thanks!
OK, I've tryed with genuine FF3 (brand new installation with only Foxmarks installed, on another computer), but I have same results:
ReplyDelete[2008-08-09 09:06:55] ------ Foxmarks/2.1.0.12 (/Places) starting sync with http://myserver ------
[2008-08-09 09:06:55] >>> GET http://dotpanic@myserver/foxmarks/foxmarks.json
[2008-08-09 09:06:55] >>> Callback(({status:304, errormsg:"", etag:"\"4c4002-2f11f-458e100\""})
[2008-08-09 09:06:55] lcs = 5 scs = 0
[2008-08-09 09:06:55] >>> PUT http://dotpanic@myserver/foxmarks/foxmarks.json
[2008-08-09 09:06:56] >>> Callback(({status:0})
[2008-08-09 09:06:56] Success: Synchronization completed.
-> First synchro ok
[2008-08-09 09:21:45] ------ Foxmarks/2.1.0.12 (/Places) starting sync with http://myserver ------
-> Freeze!
I've checked the javascript console, and here's what I get:
ReplyDeleteError: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80570016 (NS_ERROR_XPC_GS_RETURNED_FAILURE) [nsIJSCID.getService]" nsresult: "0x80570016 (NS_ERROR_XPC_GS_RETURNED_FAILURE)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://foxmarks/content/foxmarks-places.js :: NativeDatasource :: line 150" data: no]
OK that now works again! I think I had bad bookmarks (bad json file on my server). I've restarted with no file on my server, and synchro is now OK. I've restored bookmarks from an old backup and everything is smooth again! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteprofiles are very useful!
if you can set for each profile a different password then I think I can use a "group bookmark-foxmark ", because each person may have in addition to bookmark a common piece of personal favorites
,Jack
@Jack: If you start Firefox with -ProfileManager (on Linux, not sure about Windows) it will open a "Profile Manager" which you can use to create individual profiles for each person who uses Firefox. If you select the option in that window to start it every time Firefox starts then you don't have to use -ProfileManager every time. That way everyone can personalize Firefox how they like. Unfortunately, it also means that extensions and themes aren't shared between profiles, meaning if two people want an extension they will have to each install it separately(unless that has changed recently). Fortunately, it also means that each person can have their extensions set how they like them(and so can have each profile set to their own Foxmarks profile).
ReplyDeleteIt would be best if you could have multiple profiles on Windows, but if you're not able to have that or you don't have much disk space this is the next best thing.
Instructions:
1.) Go to start menu and click on "Run".
2.) Type in "firefox.exe -ProfileManager" or "firefox -ProfileManager" and press "Enter" (Or "Return", depending on your keyboard).
3.) Create a new profile with a name you can remember as yours.
4.) Repeat step 3 as necessary.
5.) Make sure that it opens the profile manager on startup automatically.
6.) Choose a profile and click "Ok"(Or whatever it is).
I'm sure there are alternatives, but I think this is the simplest way without changing Foxmarks drastically(The backend or frontend) or creating more Windows accounts.
Anyone had an issue with the bookmarks assigned to a profile changing on their own? All my bookmarks keep getting selected for my work profile. I deselect the ones that shouldn't be in there and a few days later everything is selected again.
ReplyDeleteI'm using 2.1.0.12 on FireFox 3.0.1
In looking through the comments above & other pages of your site I did not see a way to host the bookmark file on a local machine to my lan. I do not need to access the bookmarks via the internet from other locations & simply want them contained inside my lan.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I am missing something. The utility does appear to meet all the basic needs with that one exception.
A suggestion did come in that I would have to create a server, which I already have, & that perhaps I should post on the forum for a better answer. That has been done but I also see different posts here than on either of the other sites and am posting as well for that reason. Perhaps one will yield a result. If someone can point out the difference between the 3 sites I would also appreciate that feedback.
JamesSoCal
May the road rise gently to your feet as you walk the path of life.
How can I place a bookmark in more than one folder? I used to be able to save a bookmark in as many folders as I wanted.
ReplyDeleteIs this a Foxmarks issue, or a FireFox v3.0 issue?
Thanks for any help or comments!
Now this is a feature to convince me of switching from Google Bookmarks to Foxmarks!
ReplyDelete@Lauren: I'm not sure what's happening there, exactly. If you go to http://my.foxmarks.com/, login and access your Sync Profiles, then click the "Save" button, does that help things at all?
ReplyDeleteI am new to Foxmarks, so please bear with me if I asked something stupid. I have some bookmarks that I want to consider private and do not want to synchronize with Foxmarks. These are sort of temporary things - different things like stuff on my local network, stuff I am working on ... I thought that if I uncheck this directory in my home profile, it would not show up in Foxmarks. However, what happens is that it remains in Foxmark and get deleted on the home computer. This is the opposite of what I want. Would appreciate any help.
ReplyDelete@AR: There isn't presently a way to keep bookmarks from being synchronized to the Foxmarks server. You can keep bookmarks from being synchronized to certain computers, but everything will go through the Foxmarks server in order to allow you the opportunity to synchronize them to other computers that fit the same profile.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this feature; it is just what I needed!
ReplyDelete+1 for Jeff's suggestions.
ReplyDeleteI've used Foxmarks for a long time now and just recently setup profiles so I could add my IE favorites to foxmarks without polluting my very well organized Firefox bookmarks. My use case is a little different as I only use IE favorites for sites that require IE so, I want my IE bookmarks to remain separate from my "firefox" profile. Much to my dismay, after installing foxmarks for IE and selecting my blank "IE" profile for sync all my IE bookmarks got added to my "firefox" profile. This should not be the default action and this should be at least user selectable...I even looked for a checkbox before I synced IE and couldn't find one, now I've got to go through and unselect IE bookmarks everytime I add a new one to the root...bummer.