We've received a few questions recently from users asking how to save their bookmarks through a clean install of Mac OS X.  With OS X Lion about to arrive, we thought we'd answer this on the Forum.  Before we get started, let me state that, although many Microsoft Windows users like to punish themselves every couple months or so by reinstalling Windows, I personally see no value in a clean install of Mac OS X.  I've been using the same Home folder since it was first created by Mac OS X 10.2 in year 2002.

Anyhow, for those that do, here you go…

• Make sure that all of my bookmarks are in a BookMacster Bookmarkshelf (.bkmslf file), or several .bkmslf files if that's what you're using.

• Decide whether or not you want to save BookMacster's Local Settings.

By this, we mean the stuff in the Open/Save, Clients, and Agents subtabs under the Settings tab.

First of all, if you are using Usage Style 3, that is, keeping all of your bookmarks in BookMacster, you don't have any Clients and don't have any Agents.  More info on Usage Style 3 is here:

   http://sheepsystems.com/bookmacster/HelpBook/usageStyles

Recent updates of BookMacster have greatly improved the user experience in Usage Style 3, more are on the way, and you might want to reconsider getting on board with Usage Style 3.

Look through the Open/Save, Clients, and Agents subtabs and recall what you have set.  In the Clients tab, most users should not have set any Advanced Client Settings in the sheets behind the "gear" buttons.  In the Agents tab, most users should be using Simple Agents which have only four checkboxes.  However, early versions of BookMacster did not have the Simple Agents, only Advanced, and so if you have been using BookMacster for a long time your Agents may be Advanced.  If you simply want your bookmarks synced and maybe sorted, and if the options in Advanced Agents don't mean anything to you, it would be better to switch back to Simple Agents, so you'll get the current, recommended default settings.

Now, back to the question of Local Settings.  Since you're doing a clean install of the whole OS, especially if you have been using BookMacster since early versions, it would be good to give BookMacster a housecleaning too.  You do this by not saving BookMacster's Application Support folder, which contains your Local Settings.  And if you haven't changed any of the Advanced Client Settings and are using Simple Agents, you've got only a handful of settings to reconsider and write down, so this is what we recommend.  If you are using Usage Style 3, you have zero Clients and zero Agents, so the recommendation is the same.  Save only the .bkmslf file.

BookMacster's Application Support folder is:

    Home ▸ Library ▸ Application Support ▸ BookMacster

Your .bkmslf file or files may be in the Bookmarkshelf Documents subfolder.  To find where your .bkmslf file is located (and by the way this should work with the documents in any Mac app) open it, hold down the ⌘ key, and click the title of the window (at the top).  It will show you the parent, grand-parent, etc. folders.

• Decide whether or not you want to transfer BookMacster's Preferences.

We recommend transferring the Preferences.  For one thing, it contains your License Information so you won't have to reinstall it.  For another thing, BookMacster's handling of Preferences is quite robust, and we've never seen a case where trashing the Preferences solved a problem.

BookMacster's Preferences file is here:

    Home ▸ Library ▸ Preferences ▸ com.sheepsystems.BookMacster.plist

• Save whatever you decided to save, along with all your other documents and data, to at least two backup disks, preferably in different locations.

There are a million things you could lose in this process; we assume you get advice on this topic elsewhere!

• Do the clean install.

• If you have a list of web browser Clients to re-set, launch each web browser once.  For OmniWeb, create a bookmark.  (This is because BookMacster only recognizes a browser after it has created its own bookmarks.)

• Restore whatever data you saved from BookMacster to their original locations (although you can move the .bkmslf file wherever you want to).

• Open the .bkmslf file in BookMacster.

• Click Settings ▸ Open/Save and check boxes as desired.  (Note 1)

• Click Settings ▸ Clients and set Clients as desired.  (Note 1)

• Quit Firefox if it is running.  (This is because Firefox' JavaScript mechanism for accepting bookmarks is very slow, and we can typically export in seconds instead of minutes if Firefox is not running.)

• In the menu click Bookmarkshelf ▸ Export.

• Click Settings ▸ Agents and set as desired.  (Note 1)

• Click in the menu BookMacster ▸ Manage Browser Add-Ons, and install the Add-Ons that you need.  Add-Ons are may be needed in all Usage Styles, although for different reasons, and although you may be prompted to install them when needed, it will be less annoying to get it done now.  More information on BookMacster's Browser Add-Ons is here:

    http://sheepsystems.com/bookmacster/HelpBook/browserAddons

Note 1.  You may skip this step if you saved BookMacster's Application Support.

Reply if you have any questions.