5.2  Switching to a Different App

Knowing that more apps can mean more headaches, we have designed our apps so that you only need one.  Markster, Synkmark and Smarky each fulfill a specific narrow use case.  If you want capabilities of more than one of them, upgrade to BookMacster.  BookMacster can do anything which any of the other three apps can, except, of course, present a simpler user interface with fewer options.  But it is less complicated than using multiple apps.  Please use only one of BookMacster, Markter, Synkmark or Smarky.

You can switch between BookMacster and one of the other apps while keeping your .bmco bookmarks file.  Here are two examples:

5.2.1  How to Switch from Synkmark to BookMacster

If you have been using Synkmark but decide you want the increased capabilities of BookMacster,

• In Synkmark, switch syncing to Paused.
• Quit Synkmark.
• Download and install BookMacster.
• Run BookMacster.  Do not create a New Collection (.bmco file).  If it steers you into creating a New Collection, do not save the new Collection.  Close and Trash any new .bmco file which is created.
• Click in the menu: File > Open.  It will show you an empty Collections folder.
• Navigate up one level, to ~/Library/Application Support/BookMacster.  You should see in there your Synkmark.bmco file.
• Open Synkmark.bmco.

The next three steps are optional, but recommended to reduce future confusion…

• Mouse up to the window title, and click the disclosure triangle which is to the right of the window title Synkmark.bmco.
• In the popover which appears, change the document name to reduce future confusion, maybe something like My-Bookmarks.bmco.
• In that same popover, change the document’s Where, moving it into the Collections subfolder.

Continuing with required steps,

• Click in the menu: BookMacster > Licensing > Try or Buy and either get a demo license or immediately purchase the upgrade to BookMacster.  When purchasing the upgrade to BookMacster, when it sees your Synkmark license in Synkmark’s preferences still installed, it will give you a deep discount.
• Click through the Collection’s Settings tab and verify that all are the same as you had in Synkmark’s Preferences, or re-set as desired.

When you are happy with BookMacster and have purchased the upgrade, do not uninstall Synkmark because that may remove components which are used by BookMacster too.  Instead, do this:

• Drag Synkmark.app to the Trash
• If you want to be really neat, delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.sheepsystems.Synkmark.

5.2.2  How to Switch from BookMacster to Synkmark

If you have been using BookMacster, have all of your desired bookmarks in a single Collection (.bmco file), and have decided you prefer the simpler user interface of Synkmark,

• In BookMacster, if enabled, click in the menu: Stop all syncing now and proceed through Kill.  If the Stop all syncing now is disabled, there is no syncing to stop, so proceed to next step.
• If not already open the Collection (.bmco document) which you want to migrate to Synkmark.  (Synkmark supports only a single Collection.)
• Click in that .bmco` window somewhere, to ensure that it is the active window.
• Mouse up to the window title, and click the disclosure triangle which is to the right of the window title.
• In the popover which appears, change the document name to Synkmark.bmco.  It must be spelled exactly like that.
• In that same popover, change the document’s Where so that it is in the folder ~/Library/Application Support/BookMacster.  Probably your BookMacster Collection was in the default location, ~/Library/Application Support/BookMacster/Collections.  In that case, you only need to move it one level, out of Collections and into BookMacster which is immediately beneath Collections.
• Click elsewhere in the window, to dismiss the popover.
• If you have used Synkmark at some point in the past, it might ask you if you want to Replace the old Synkmark.bmco.  Presuming that is why you are here, the answer is, yes, Replace.
• Quit BookMacster.
• Run Synkmark.  Verify that it automatically opens the Collection which you have renamed to Synkmark.bmco.  If not, stop and see what went wrong.
• Click in the menu: Synkmark > Licensing > Try or Buy.  If you have previously purchased a BookMacster license, click Regular License Synkmark and proceed to get a Synkmark license which should be at no cost.  Otherwise, you can click Demo, or Regular License if you are ready to purchase.
• Click through the tabs in Synkmark’s Preferences and set as desired.  The settings which are associated with the document should be the same as they were in Synkmark, but the more general preferences will need to be re-set.

When you are happy with Synkmark, do not uninstall BookMacster because that may remove “helper” components which are used by Synkmark too.  Instead, do this:

• Drag BookMacster.app to the Trash.
• If you want to be really neat, delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.sheepsystems.BookMacster.