paul@eagleranch.co wrote on Dec 6^th, 2011 at 4:56am:

10 minutes should be long enough and it should happen automatically if you have checked the first three boxes in Simple Agents like this:



If it didn't work, try unchecking and re-checking those 3 boxes, and then add a bookmark on your iPad again.

Since you're a technology guy, you can also look at BookMacster's Logs.  Launch BookMacster and in the menu click BookMacster ▸ Logs.

If you added a bookmark in your iPad at, say, 21:00, then there should be a log entry about 21:01 saying "Staging job to run at 21:06" (5 minutes later.)  Then, there should be an entry at 21:06 saying something like "Invoked for Agnt 1, Trig 1 (Safari)…", and followed by entries indicating, import, sort, export and save.

paul@eagleranch.co wrote on Dec 6^th, 2011 at 4:09am:

At least you don't do it as a day job 

paul@eagleranch.co wrote on Dec 6^th, 2011 at 4:09am:

Yes, turning iCloud OFF and then back ON may fix what I call wingless bookmarks.  Wingless bookmarks cannot fly into iCloud.  They remain on one device only.  They are troublesome and if cannot be fixed should be deleted.

paul@eagleranch.co wrote on Dec 6^th, 2011 at 4:09am:

If you mean how long it takes for the modifications to appear on your iPhone and iPad, note that this will be done immediately by Safari and iCloud, not BookMacster.  BookMacster becomes involved a few minutes later, for sorting (alphabetizing), finding duplicates, and syncing to other browsers like Chrome or Firefox.

paul@eagleranch.co wrote on Dec 6^th, 2011 at 4:09am:

Automatic syncing does not depend on whether a Bookmarkshelf document is opened or not.  It depends on whether or not you have activated a BookMacster Agent.

paul@eagleranch.co wrote on Dec 6^th, 2011 at 4:09am:

Yes.  Similar to how Bookwatchdog worked in the background when Bookdog was quit, BookMacster Agents work in the background when BookMacster is quit. 

A sync is effectively an Import followed by an Export.  You can also import and export manually within the BookMacster application.

paul@eagleranch.co wrote on Dec 6^th, 2011 at 4:09am:

We need to distinguish between two different things…

• In your System Preferences ▸ Users & Groups ▸ Login Items, you can add BookMacster as a Login Item.  This will launch BookMacster when you log in to your Mac.  There is no setting to do that in BookMacster.

• In your Bookmarkshelf document ▸ Settings ▸ Open/Save, you can switch on Automatically open this document when BookMacster launches.

Those are two different things.  If you do both of them, then the Bookmarkshelf will open when you log in.

paul@eagleranch.co wrote on Dec 6^th, 2011 at 4:09am:

We're constantly trying to make the app easier.  (You definitely would not have liked BookMacster 1.0!)  I try to make my replies concise and am happy you appreciate them.  But unfortunately some things are complicated and require quite a few words and time to digest.

paul@eagleranch.co wrote on Dec 6^th, 2011 at 12:42am:

Well, honestly we have enough work to do with our own apps, and therefore have not done enough testing to confirm or deny that Xmarks is fouling up Safari bookmarks in iCloud and iOS devices.  That would be a topic for their forums.  However, if you'd like to disable Xmarks temporarily, the correct way is to do this:

• Click in the menu  ▸ System Preferences.
• In the bottom row, Other, click Xmarks for Safari.  If you don't see Xmarks for Safari, it's probably uninstalled but may be just uncontrolled; I'm not sure.
• Click the button Stop Xmarks.
• Switch off the Launch at login box.

To uninstall Xmarks permanently, re-download Xmarks for Safari from their site.  Inside the package you'll find an AppleScript named Uninstall Xmarks.  Double-click to run it.  You can also open it in AppleScript Editor to see what it does.

Hi Jerry,

I'm 52, been in the business since 1990. Technology is supposed to make my life better.

I originally bought Bookdog because it synced my book marks easily. You know, I just don't want to think that much about book marks. When I add a new one, I want it synced. Now with iCloud, I'd like to have my book marks synced on all my devices.

I dunno. I just can't get it to work for me. I'd love to, but once again, life is short -- spending this much time on book marks...I'd rather not do it.

If there's a phone number where I can call you, great. If not, I guess keep the money I gave you guys. But if I was you, I'd take a hard look at where you're going with this. Maybe young kids who have nothing more to do each day than dink with their computers are great customers. But that's not me. I got a family. After 20 or so years in the business, I'm looking forward to unplugging some.

Thanks,

Thank you, Stephen.

The beta test is now over.  Disregard the instructions in my previous message on how to get beta.  To get BookMacster 1.9, actually now 1.9.1, just download it from the usual link…

http://sheepsystems.com/bookmacster/BookMacster.zip

To update an existing installation, just launch BookMacster and click in the menu BookMacster ▸ Check for Update.

During the last few days, we tested a couple other bookmarks management and syncing apps and found that they will mess up your Safari bookmarks if you've enabled iCloud by making changes the old fashioned way, which is not recognized by iCloud.  For example, new bookmarks they insert will not be uploaded to iCloud, although they may appear if their parent folder is later modified in Safari's Show All Bookmarks.  Or they may be moved from the folder you put them, and instead end up in the BOOKMARKS in the left sidebar.  Sorry for being blunt, but I must say: Please turn the other guys off before you blame BookMacster.

Finally, one more reminder that if you are using BookMacster on multiple Macs, synced via Dropbox, make sure that you only enable iCloud Bookmarks syncing on one Mac.

We just published BookMacster 1.9 (Beta).  Exports from BookMacster 1.9 to Safari are now pushed into iCloud by OS X Lion.  At least, it works for us!

Screenshots showing how to get BookMacster 1.9 are here:

http://www.sheepsystems.com/files/support_articles/bkmx-get-beta.html

We recommend starting with this basic test:

• Update to BookMacster 1.9.
• Click in the menu BookMacster ▸ Active Agents.  If any Active Agents are found, click Edit and switch them off.
• In System Preferences ▸ iCloud, switch on Bookmarks.
• Look at your iOS device, other Mac, or whatever, and verify that your bookmarks are synced between Safari on your Mac and (Mobile) Safari.  (This is not BookMacster working, this is just iCloud.)  If you've just switched this on for the first time, it will take a several minutes.  The bookmarks go up and down one at a time; we've seen about 5 minutes per 1000 bookmarks.
• In BookMacster, click in the menu File ▸ New Bookmarkshelf document.  During the setup wizard, select Safari as a Client, and when asked if you want to import now click Do It.
• Add, delete, or modify a bookmark.
• Click in the menu Bookmarkshelf ▸ Export.
• Sometime within the next few minutes, your bookmarks change should appear in Mobile Safari on your iOS device, other Mac, or whatever.

Everything else should work too.  For example, if you have a Bookmarkshelf with Safari, Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and other Clients, and you activate the default (Simple) Agent to sync your bookmarks, then add a bookmark in, say, Firefox, it should show up in the other browsers on your Mac after about 7 minutes, and then a few minutes later in Mobile Safari on your iOS device.  And vice versa if you add a bookmark in Mobile Safari.

All of the old instructions still apply.  In particular, if you are using syncing multiple Macs with BookMacster via Dropbox, only activate iCloud Bookmarks syncing on one Mac.  Although iCloud seems to be more robust than MobileMe, multiple actors trying to sync the same devices should be expected to step on one another and wreak havoc.  It might work, but we haven't tried it because there is no need to do it.

Thanks to our testers.  We've got some rest now and are open for any bug reports.

About 2 minutes ago, we successfully pushed our first bookmarks change, a renamed bookmark, up into iCloud.

It can be done.  Or as they say in the lab, we have a proof of concept.   

Unfortunately, the way Apple chose to do this is going to require at least a few days' work, but it's in progress.  We'll post again here when the update is available.