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Jerry Krinock
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Re: BookMacster as a Central Store
Reply #6 - Jan 25th, 2014 at 7:52am
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Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am:
I don't know how to separate this as a quote
Yes, all bulletin board software is wacky in one way or another.  Quoting is a pain.  The reasons we stick with this board (YaBB) are (a) it would take a long time to make our own and (b) YaBB has excellent spam resistance.

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am:
Mavericks does not have editable URL names, nor the ability to highlight, copy and paste a URL, as one can do in Lion/Mtn Lion … If you click on the URL in the maverick-style bookmark it just goes straight to the web page and doesn't let you change anything in the bookmark itself.
Ah, now I understand.  When you say Mavericks you mean the version of Safari (7.x) that ships with Mavericks.  You're a Safari user.  All of your bookmarks are in Safari.

Anyhow, you certainly can edit your bookmarks in Safari 7.0, just as in earlier versions.  In Safari's Bookmarks menu the first item is Show (or Hide) Bookmarks, and the second item is Edit Bookmarks.  It appears to me that maybe you have discovered the first item but not the second.  Try it.  You can edit bookmarks names, URLs, delete or move bookmarks, and in the bottom left corner there is a New Folder button.  Indeed, like everything in Mavericks, you have to dig a little deeper to get at the geek tools.  But most of them are still there.

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am:
I refer to my massive Safari Bookmarks file with its dozens of subfolders sorted by topic (each with dozens to a couple of hundred listed items) as a database.
Ah, well then all you need to do in BookMacster is to import from Safari.  It will not delete any duplicates.

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am:
It's important that the URL database or Bookmark database allows me to edit the URL topic field because the title of the webpage is often vague or not useful at all. In Safari what I call the URL topic field is the column on the left; the one on the right has the active URLs in it.
I think what you mean by topic field is simply the bookmark's name.  In Safari, each bookmark has two fields: name (which appears on the left in the Edit Bookmarks outline) and Address (URL) (which appears on the right in the Edit Bookmarks outline). 

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am:
I like to add notes to the topic field about any changes
Again, you can do that, in Edit Bookmarks.  Real bookmarks managers, of which BookMacster is only one, provide more fields: comments, tags, shortcut, that you might find useful.  But if you've got all of this information crammed into bookmark names, importing into BookMacster will not separate it out.  Whatever is in the bookmark name in Safari will be in the bookmark name when you import it into BookMacster.

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am:
(I think Apple is trying to make everything work like iOS.)
Well, you could start me on that, but every time I start a rant about Apple I remember to stop and ask myself: Which one of us has 150 billion in the bank? 

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am:
I am considering also using Firefox for some functions,
Indeed, Firefox has those extra fields that I just listed BookMacster has.

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am:
but am not starting that yet until I find out how and whether i can establish a central Bookmark system to which I can back up new ones, without over-writing existing entries there.
Yes, that is the purpose of BookMacster.  You can essentially have three stores: The bookmarks in Safari, the bookmarks in Firefox, and the bookmarks in BookMacster.  If you configure syncing, BookMacster will keep them all the same.  But in your case, you want to keep them separate and only import and export manually.  Syncing in BookMacster is off by default; just don't switch it on.  Use File > Import and File > Export when you want to overwrite from or to Safari or Firefox.  With syncing off, Import and Export are completely under your control.  Everything in BookMacster stays only in BookMacster, everything in Safari stays only in Safari, and everything in Firefox stays only in Firefox, if and until you Import or Export.  I hope that's clear.  Also, you can add bookmarks to BookMacster directly and visit bookmarks from BookMacster while in your browser.  That's what I do.

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am:
I wish that Safari provided an automatic dating for the bookmarks, both the original visit and subsequent ones. All the businesses track the sites we 'consumers' visit in order to target advertising, so we should have that info too!  I'd like to have a way to track my visits by date — maybe a separate column. I don't delete a bookmark just because the site is taken down, blocked or moved. I like having the history of different places I went to get data about certain topics and commentary.
That's interesting that you want to track yourself.  Firefox and BookMacster keep a date added and last visited date, but not every visit.  Firefox does not show you these numbers, but BookMacster does.  OmniWeb (the original web browser on the Mac, which we thought was dead but was recently updated to version 6) shows Total visits, but they're the only one that does so.

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am:
In Safari, I have been adding notes to the URL topic field about these changes because there's no other column provided where I can put that.
You must have some really long messy bookmark names there.  I'd say you've definitely outgrown Safari!

You've got an interesting use case.  Let us know if you have any more questions.
  

Jerry Krinock
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Re: Lost all bookmarks
Reply #5 - Jan 25th, 2014 at 4:25am
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Thank you for replying and for your suggestions.


Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 24th, 2014 at 8:43pm:
since Mavericks would take away the editable, flexible, URL database I have built up

YOUR REPLY (I don't know how to separate this as a quote): Mavericks didn't take anything away when I installed it, Soulstretch.  What do you mean?

MY ELUCIDATION: Mavericks does not have editable URL names, nor the ability to highlight, copy and paste a URL, as one can do in Lion/Mtn Lion (at least it still could prior to the most recent update from which I backed out hastily). If you click on the URL in the maverick-style bookmark it just goes straight to the web page and doesn't let you change anything in the bookmark itself.


YOUR REPLY: If you don't want browsers synced, do not check any of the boxes for Clients.   The only thing I wonder about is how you're going to import your existing database into BookMacster.  BookMacster can import from web browsers, from an XBEL file, or from Delicious, Pinboard, Diigo or Google Bookmarks.  (URL Manager Pro can export XBEL files.)  To do this, click in the menu: File > Import from only.  If your existing database is some other form, tell us what it is and we'll advise. [/quote]


I refer to my massive Safari Bookmarks file with its dozens of subfolders sorted by topic (each with dozens to a couple of hundred listed items) as a database. This is what I am primarily concerned with preserving. I don't have any other software or file setup that might fit the definition of database and I don't know what those file types are that you listed.

It's important that the URL database or Bookmark database allows me to edit the URL topic field because the title of the webpage is often vague or not useful at all. In Safari what I call the URL topic field is the column on the left; the one on the right has the active URLs in it. I like to add notes to the topic field about any changes — and it's this capability that the Safari update appears to have thrown away. (I think Apple is trying to make everything work like iOS.) 

I am considering also using Firefox for some functions, but am not starting that yet until I find out how and whether i can establish a central Bookmark system to which I can back up new ones, without over-writing existing entries there.


I wish that Safari provided an automatic dating for the bookmarks, both the original visit and subsequent ones. All the businesses track the sites we 'consumers' visit in order to target advertising, so we should have that info too!

I'd like to have a way to track my visits by date — maybe a separate column. I don't delete a bookmark just because the site is taken down, blocked or moved. I like having the history of different places I went to get data about certain topics and commentary. In Safari, I have been adding notes to the URL topic field about these changes because there's no other column provided where I can put that.
  
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Re: Lost all bookmarks
Reply #4 - Jan 24th, 2014 at 10:00pm
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Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 24th, 2014 at 8:43pm:
Loss of bookmarks is what i fear might happen, and this is about five years' worth of saved and personally-annotated links that I value highly.
Hello, Soulstretch9.  Back up your valued data in two places.  If you're still worried, make it three places, or four.  At some point, it's safe enough!

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 24th, 2014 at 8:43pm:
since Mavericks would take away the editable, flexible, URL database I have built up
Mavericks didn't take anything away when I installed it, Soulstretch.  What do you mean?

Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 24th, 2014 at 8:43pm:
Speaking of saving URLs, how can I make sure that my duplicates are NOT removed?
BookMacster will only delete duplicates if you do one of
  • Import from multiple clients (sources) with the setting Merge by URL on, which it is by default.  It only deletes duplicates during merging.  If you have three bookmarks to the same URL in the same client (source), none will be deleted.  The setting for each is in the tab Settings > Clients, behind the gear/cog "advanced" button.  But you're not going to import from multiple clients.
  • Click in the menu: Find Duplicates followed by Delete All Duplicates.  It's pretty hard to do accidentally, and even if you do there is Undo, and beyond that there's File > Revert to… Browse All Verions.
Soulstretch9 wrote on Jan 24th, 2014 at 8:43pm:
What I need is a central and searchable URL archive, … don't need to make Bookmarks the same in all browsers, … updatable from the different browsers … save the same URL with different annotations … repeat URL saves and writing the time-stamp in videos … save all my notes which are attached to URLs.  Will it work to use the option of setting up a separate URL database, and do I need to customize it?
BookMacster stores bookmarks in a Bookmarkshelf Document, which is a backed by a document file.  Bookmarks attributes include comments, date added, tags and shortcut.  I think they cover what you need.  You would create such a Bookmarkshelf Document file.  If you don't want browsers synced, do not check any of the boxes for Clients.   The only thing I wonder about is how you're going to import your existing database into BookMacster.  BookMacster can import from web browsers, from an XBEL file, or from Delicious, Pinboard, Diigo or Google Bookmarks.  (URL Manager Pro can export XBEL files.)  To do this, click in the menu: File > Import from only.  If your existing database is some other form, tell us what it is and we'll advise.
  

Jerry Krinock
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Re: Lost all bookmarks
Reply #3 - Jan 24th, 2014 at 8:43pm
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Loss of bookmarks is what i fear might happen, and this is about five years' worth of saved and personally-annotated links that I value highlyt. However, since Mavericks would take away the editable, flexible, URL database I have built up, I am willing to try the BookMacster program while still using an earlier version of MacOS (Lion).

What I need is a central and searchable URL archive.

I don't need to make Bookmarks the same in all browsers, just set up a place where I can save all of them, and ideally have them updatable from the different browsers.

Speaking of saving URLs, how can I make sure that my duplicates are NOT removed?

I routinely save the same URL with different annotations pointing to topic matter not otherwise accessible (and not mentioned in the site owner's titles). And I use repeat URL saves and writing the time-stamp in videos as a way to take note of and to retrieve content that was of interest to me.

It's important to me to save all my notes which are attached to URLs in the bookmarks system. Will it work to use the option of setting up a separate URL database, and do I need to customize it?

  
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Re: Lost all bookmarks
Reply #2 - Jan 6th, 2014 at 5:11pm
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Gasport, after you get your bookmarks back, or if you have trouble, please send me some data so I can figure out what happened.  Knowing that there is still apparently some way to delete all bookmarks which we have not provided adequate guards against yet is getting my week off to a bad start.  To send data to us,

• Activate BookMacster.
• Click in the menu: Help ▸ Trouble Zipper.
• If you could answer "Include [whatever]" to all of the questions that would be great.  But in particular, please answer "Include Sync Logs".  Sync Logs will tell us when and why the bookmarks were deleted.
• Send me the resulting .zip as instructed.

Thanks again!
  

Jerry Krinock
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Re: Lost all bookmarks
Reply #1 - Jan 6th, 2014 at 3:14am
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Hello, gasport.  Since I don't know what happened there, I'll get you started with our support page which explains the various ways to undo exports and recover past bookmarks.

Let us know what you find if you could please.  Over the years we've been tweaking BookMacster to make it more and more difficult for BookMacster to unintentionally wipe out bookmarks, and I'd like to know if there are additional measures we could be implement.
  

Jerry Krinock
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Lost all bookmarks
Jan 6th, 2014 at 2:09am
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I tried to consolidate all bookmarks from Chrome, Firefox, and Safari into one standard set that had the same bookmarks in each browser.   This should be easy, however, after trying this, BookMacster, in its infinite wisdom wiped out all my existing bookmarks from all three browsers.   Obviously this was not my intended purpose of using BookMacster.   Is there any way to recover the bookmarks or am I plain out of luck.   Angry Angry Angry
  
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