TechDish: Bookmark syncing gets your bookmarks from one computer to the next

Posted on: Fri, 10/08/2010 - 08:28 — us104_techdish

Hey all, and welcome to another TechDish Friday! This week we're talking about bookmark syncing and what it means to you. This really applies to those of you who have more than one computer in the home, or if you want your browser favorites from work on your home computer, and vise versa. Or maybe you use Internet Explorer and Firefox (or a combination of two other browsers) on the same computer? Or maybe you want them on your phone or other mobile device…we'll talk that too! Oh, and did I mention, these tools are all FREE.

Bookmarks vs. favorites

Let's get the nomenclature out of the way, right away. Depending on the browser you use, these might be called "Bookmarks", or they might be called "Favorites". Internet Explorer is in the minority, as virtually every other browser out there calls them bookmarks; so, sorry IE, we're referring to these as "Bookmarks" for the duration of this episode. Recap: IE users—your favorites == our bookmarks. 'Nuff said.

Why sync bookmarks?

Now that we've got the whole what-these-things-should-be-called out of the way, let's address the very valid question of "Why would I want to sync my bookmarks?" It's simple really. Have you ever come across a site you liked while you're at work, but then forgot what it was when you got home? Ever wished your Internet Explorer bookmarks were also in Firefox? Ever wanted to be able to access the same bookmarks across all the computers you own? And your phone or mobile device too? Or maybe you're reformatting your computer and don't want to lose your bookmarks; or just want a centralized place where they are backed up?

If any of these answers were a loud and resounding "YES Ben, I have wanted that!", then read on!

How it works

What we're talking about is centralization of your browser bookmarks. The tools we're mentioning (below) sync your bookmarks between all of your connected devices through a central storage location of all of your bookmarks. If you add a bookmark while using one connected device, it gets pushed out to the rest of your connected devices the next time the utility runs. By the way, this also applies to any change to your bookmark collection, so deleting, organizing into folders and sorting are all synced too!

What about history and saved passwords?

Yes! Some of the tools will sync those too; and we've indicated those that do below. This is a HUGE help for this writer, as I'm able to log in to any site or service I use across all browsers and computers/devices I use, as long as I saved the password on one of them. Slick!

But is it secure?

Of course, if we're syncing bookmarks we don't want just anyone to be able to access them, that's information about our personal preferences. Even moreso if we're syncing passwords. The tools we've listed in today's TechDish are not only feature-packed, but they are secure as well, using secure connections and encrypted data. Trust me, prying eyes would have better luck cracking your master password than they would intercepting your data.

Enough talk, what tools are available to sync my bookmarks?

---

Xmarks (Author's choice!)

Not only does Xmarks sync your bookmarks and passwords, and history, AND open tabs of your current session; it does so on more platforms and browsers than any other tool we're mentioning today. Windows? Mac? Linux? Yep. Internet Explorer? Firefox? Chrome? Safari? Yep. iPhone? iPad? iPod Touch? Yes! Access your bookmarks from a public or shared computer, without downloading or installing any software? YES! There's not much Xmarks can't do, aside from make you a Paul Bunyan breakfast.

FREE Download

www.xmarks.com

---

BookmarkSync

BookmarkSync is almost as flexible as Xmarks, but runs a little differently as an app in your computer's system tray. While it still has many of the same capabilities as Xmarks: works on PC browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera), Mac browsers (Safari and Internet Explorer), and mobile devices too.

FREE Download

www.bookmarksync.com

---

Browser-specific sync utilities

The rest of our offerings today are specific to one browser or another, which is perfectly fine if you are a user that ONLY uses one browser on all of your computers.

IE7Pro

IE7Pro actually has a ton of handy functionality built in that still hasn't been implemented in the latest Internet Explorer 9 release. And yes, one of those features are a bookmark sync utility. You may also get a lot of use out of the tabbed browsing management, spell check and ad blocker. I'll attest to this personally: I refuse to use Internet Explorer unless it's got IE7Pro installed as an addon.

FREE Download: www.ie7pro.com

Google Chrome

The latest version of Google Chrome actually has bookmark syncing built into it, using your Google account. Here's a great tutorial on how to do this.

Firefox Sync

Firefox users, there's a free addon called Firefox Sync that will sync your bookmarks across all your Firefox browsers. Get it here.