Page Index Toggle Pages: 1 Send TopicPrint
Normal Topic Migrate Synkmark from laptop to iMac (Read 3979 times)
Jerry Krinock
Admin
Offline
Posts: 1666
Location: San Jose, California, USA
Joined: Sep 29th, 2008
Re: Migrate Synkmark from laptop to iMac
Reply #3 - May 8th, 2018 at 8:10pm
Print Post  
gilbreen wrote on May 8th, 2018 at 7:26pm:
• Open Synkmark on the MacBook Pro (Mac A) and pause syncing (Is this recommended for either approach you gave?)
Yes.  Pause Syncing is usually a good idea when making major changes.  Even if if not theoretically necessary, it prevents a little mistake from propagating to a big problem.  And in this case, you're going to shut it down permanently on Mac A anyhow.

gilbreen wrote on May 8th, 2018 at 7:26pm:
• Copy the Library files referenced above from Mac A to Mac B
• Install Synkmark on Mac B and license the copy
Installing license is not necessary with this method, because your License Information is embedded in both com.sheepsystems.Synkmark.plist and Synkmark.bmco.

gilbreen wrote on May 8th, 2018 at 7:26pm:
• Launch Synkmark on Mac B and confirm bookmarks in Synkmark are correct
A good way to do that confirmation would be to File > Import from only > Safari.  I'm pretty sure that there should be 0 changes, symbolized by +0 Δ0 ↖0 ↕0 -0 in the Status Bar a the bottom of the window.  Actually, they better match up on your first Import, because otherwise there will be likely a Safe Sync Limit violation on your first Export.  In any case, you can always Edit > Undo Import immediately if things go awry.

gilbreen wrote on May 8th, 2018 at 7:26pm:
• Do a File > Export to only > Chrome (and temporarily disable Safe Sync Limit)
Yes, I just remembered that we made that easier a few years ago.  Just File > Export to only > Chrome.  If Safe Sync Limit trips, the warning will have a button option to Export Anyhow.

gilbreen wrote on May 8th, 2018 at 7:26pm:
• Wait twenty minutes to confirm syncing is correct
Since you're not using Sign in to Chrome, you don't need to wait.  If Chrome is running, or if you launch Chrome, it will do anything it has to do within a few seconds.

The 20 minute wait, in your case, would be after your first Export to Safari, to ensure that iCloud>Safari doesn't balk.

Imports and Exports are your friend when configuring Synkmark.  Once you get a couple round trips with result +0 Δ0 ↖0 ↕0 -0 or Same - Skip, you're done  Smiley
  

Jerry Krinock
Back to top
IP Logged
 
gilbreen
New Member
Offline
Posts: 2
Joined: May 4th, 2018
Re: Migrate Synkmark from laptop to iMac
Reply #2 - May 8th, 2018 at 7:26pm
Print Post  
Hi Jerry,

Thanks for your response.  Given your input, I will not keep Synkmark on both machines but rather only have it installed on the iMac.  I am comfortable moving the files from Library folder, so that is the approach I believe I will take.  Would the steps be as follows?:

• Open Synkmark on the MacBook Pro (Mac A) and pause syncing (Is this recommended for either approach you gave?)
• Copy the Library files referenced above from Mac A to Mac B
• Install Synkmark on Mac B and license the copy
•  Launch Synkmark on Mac B and confirm bookmarks in Synkmark are correct
• Do a File > Export to only > Chrome (and temporarily disable Safe Sync Limit
• Wait twenty minutes to confirm syncing is correct

Thanks for the detailed response.

Gilbert

  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Jerry Krinock
Admin
Offline
Posts: 1666
Location: San Jose, California, USA
Joined: Sep 29th, 2008
Re: Migrate Synkmark from laptop to iMac
Reply #1 - May 8th, 2018 at 4:46pm
Print Post  
Hello, Gilbert.

Thank you for contacting us.

Yes, if you move Synkmark to the Mac which you use more often, your bookmarks will be synced more often.

Before configuring Synkmark or BookMacster on a second Mac, make sure that you are not going to create, even temporarily, a Sync Loop.  As I understand your system, you are using only iCloud>Safari to sync bookmarks between your two Macs.  With this by itself, there is no possibility of a Sync Loop.  But please ensure that you are not signed in to Chrome with Bookmarks syncing switched on.  If you were so signed in on both Macs, this would create a Sync Loop.  To be safe, in Chrome, on both Macs, either switch off Bookmarks or sign out of Chrome.

Regarding Synkmark on both Macs, yes you can do this if you are very careful, but I don't recommend it.  The small benefit is that your bookmarks will be synced between Safari and Chrome within a few minutes of any change.  But there are some large risks.  Someday you may forget about Sync Loops and accidentally create one, because Google is constantly thinking up new ways to encourage you to sign in.  Also, you could accidentally create in Synkmark a situation that is kind of like a Sync Loop, if the two are configured differently.  For example, say on Mac A you set the sort direction to be ascending (A-Z) but on Mac B you set the sort direction to be descending (Z-A).  Then after Synkmark on Mac A sorts, and then changes get synced to Mac B, Synkmark on Mac B will see that, given its settings, things are upside down and re-sort them the other way.  But when this is synced back to Mac A, Synkmark on Mac A will sort them back, and they would fight this way forever.  There are other settings, for example folders above bookmarks would cause a similar problem.  True, this would not happen if you never deviated from the default settings.  But there is another risk, that some Chrome or Synkmark update would change the way things are done be default.  For example, someday we might add a feature for the user to select how the Other Bookmarks in in Chrome maps into Safari.  Or Google could re-introduce a new version of their Enhanced Bookmarks Manager which bombed a few years ago and was withdrawn 6 weeks later.  Since both Macs won't be updated simultaneously, there might be a similar fight for a time, and although there would probably be a happy ending, I can't be 100% sure.  Systems that have too many moving parts quickly sprawl beyond human comprehension, and those who are pushing the limits are most likely to get bit by the resulting bugs.

To move Synkmark data from one Mac A to Mac B, probably the safest way is to just install it on Mac B and configure it from scratch.  On Mac B, use the License Installer file which should hve been emailed to you, or request a copy.  After Synkmark does the initial import on Mac B, look at the two numbers in the Name column heading and verify that these are the same as you had on Mac A.  It should eliminate duplicates on the initial import.  But if the result does not look good,

• Click in the menu: Bookmarks > Delete all content
• Click in the menu: File > Import from only > and choose Safari or Chrome.

By re-importing from only one browser, there is almost nothing that can go wrong.

Another, more advanced alternative would be to try this:

• Quit Synkmark on both Macs.
• On Mac A, copy the folder ~/Library/Application Support/BookMacster, and the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.sheepsystems.Synkmark.plist from Mac A to Mac B.  This is essentially what happens to Synkmark if you'd migrate to a new Mac using Apple's Migration Assistant.  But since you're also not migrating Safari and Chrome at the same time, there might be an issue with item identifiers.  Safari bookmarks would have the same identifiers due to iCloud, but Chrome would probably not.  After the migration, do a a File > Export to only > Chrome – you may need to temporarily disable the Safe Sync Limit.
  

Jerry Krinock
Back to top
IP Logged
 
gilbreen
New Member
Offline
Posts: 2
Joined: May 4th, 2018
Migrate Synkmark from laptop to iMac
May 8th, 2018 at 3:16pm
Print Post  
Hello,

I am another Xmarks transplant.  My setup is that I use Chrome as my primary browser (both on Macs and PCs) and Safari on iOS devices (and on my Macs when Chrome doesn't like a website).

I installed Synkmark on my MacBook Pro and followed the instructions to get everything set up.  It has been working great and I now have all my bookmarks syncing through Sign into Chrome and iCloud and everything is working as expected.

I now realize that it may have been better for me to install Synkmark on my iMac at home as it is on all the time versus my laptop that may go several days between uses.

My questions are:

-  Am I correct to want Synkmark installed on the iMac instead of the laptop?

-  If so, what is the proper method to migrate the Synkmark from the laptop to the iMac in order to avoid any corruption of bookmarks?

-  Given my current use case, would there be any benefit in having it installed on both machines?

Thanks!

Gilbert

  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send TopicPrint