Hello, jeep.

Last week, another user helped me discover that our Brave extension will not respond unless you have our BookMacster Sync installed into *Google Chrome*.  (This is because, oddly, it turns out that Brave expects to find our Native Messaging Host file in Chrome's Native Messaging Hosts folder instead of its own folder.)  The next version of our apps (2.11) will work around this behavior.

So, you should test or Install and then Test our BookMacster Sync extension into Google Chrome (any profile).  Then relaunch Brave and see if it will pass the "Test".  Alternatively, if you do not already have Google Chrome installed, it will be quicker to just move that file from Chrome's folder to Brave's manually.  Here are the steps.

• Activate Finder.
• Open a new window.
• Click in the menu: Go > Go to folder….  A small text field will appear.
• Copy and paste the following path into the text field:

   ~/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/NativeMessagingHosts/

• Click “Go”.  The window will display items in that path.
• Verify that there is a file in there named “com.sheepsystems.chromessenger.json”.
• Move that window off to the side.
• Open another new window.
• Click in the menu: Go > Go to folder….  A small text field will appear.
• Copy and paste the following path into the text field:

   ~/Library/Application Support/

• Click “Go”.  The window will display items in that path.
• Click in the menu: View > as list.

In the following steps, if you need to create a folder, ensure that you copy the name and case exactly.

• If there is not a subfolder named “Google”, create one.
• Navigate into the folder named “Google”.
• If there is not a subfolder named “Chrome”, create one.
• Navigate into the folder named “Chrome”.
• If there is not a subfolder named “NativeMessagingHosts”, create one.
• Navigate into the folder named “NativeMessagingHosts”.

• Drag the file named “com.sheepsystems.chromessenger.json” from the first window to the second window.
• If Brave is running, quit it.
• Launch Brave.
• Activate BookMacster or Synkmark.
• In Manage Browser Extensions, "Test" the Brave extension and see if it works now.
• Try an export to Brave.

Short Version - You must reinstall our Brave extension with new BookMacster/Synkmark versions

Due to changes made by our friends at Brave Browser, you must (1) uninstall and then (2) reinstall either of our browser extensions you have installed in Brave.  To do that, after updating to BookMacster or Synkmark 2.10.21 or later,

1. Activate the Brave app.
2. Click in the main menu: Window > Extensions.
3. Find the card for BookMacster Sync or BookMacster Button.
4. Click the button: Remove.  A sheet will appear.
5. Click the button: Remove in the sheet.
6. Activate BookMacster or Synkmark.
7. Click in the main menu: BookMacster/Synkmark > Manage Browser Extesions.
8. In the Sync or Button sections, click the Install button for Brave.
9. Follow instructions as given.
10. Very important: After reinstalling the Sync extension, return to BookMacster or Synkmark and click the corresponding Test button, once or twice until it indicates a happy checkmark in a green circle.

Note that this will not install a newer extension version.  It will simply update the configuration data which is installed for it in Brave's local storage, so it can talk with BookMacster/Synkmark 2.10.21 or later.

Longer Version - Background Information

When the Brave Browser was first released, its bookmarks had two hard folders: Bookmarks Bar and Other Bookmarks, the same as Google Chrome.  Because such an arrangement is problematic for syncing, in late 2019 the Brave developers decided to eliminate the Other Bookmarks and rename the Bookmarks Bar to simply Bookmarks.  This change appeared in Brave 1.2, early January 2020, and was supported by BookMacster and Synkmark in version 2.9.23.  Unfortunately, enough Brave users complained about the change that the boss at Brave directed the developers to put things back to the old way.  Other Bookmarks is therefore returning in Brave 1.7, which is now in Beta and scheduled to be pushed out to all Brave users on April 7.  Update: Looks like they slipped the date to April 14.

Other Possible Issues

With the release of BookMacster and Synkmark 2.10.21 today, we have done our best to detect whether or not users have an Other Bookmarks hard folder, and import and export accordingly.  But users of BookMacster and Synkmark who are syncing with Brave will probably see some discontinuities in addition to the discontinuities that will be experienced by all Brave users who depend on their bookmarks.  We have thought of two in particular…

Safe Sync Limit Violations

By default, BookMacster and Synkmark will stop and warn you if more than 25 significant changes are made during an Import or Export operation.  So if you have more than 25 items in the soft Other Bookmarks which was created in Brave 1.2, and either manually or Brave automatically moves them into the resurrected hard Other Bookmarks when upgrading to Brave 1.7, the next time BookMacster or Synkmark imports from Brave, the Safe Sync Limit violation will occur.  To recover from this, click in the menu to File > Import from … Brave manually, then ignore the warning that many changes occurred.

Structure Does Not Have Other Bookmarks (aka Bookmarks Menu)

If your BookMacster or Synkmark Collection is configured for syncing among Brave and another browser which does have an Other Bookmarks (aka Bookmarks Menu) hard folder, then your BookMacster or Synkmark collection should already have a Other Bookmarks (aka Bookmarks Menu) hard folder, and your newly-moved Brave Bookmarks in Brave's Other Bookmarks will sync to it.  However, if your Collection was created to serve only Brave and another browser which also does not have a Other Bookmarks (aka Bookmarks Menu) hard folder, then it may not have one, and you may want it to have one.

If you are using BookMacster, you can fix this by clicking the tab Settings > Structure and switching on the Other Bookmarks or Bookmarks Menu checkbox.

If you are using Synkmark, you can fix this by clicking in the menu: Synkark > Preferences.  In the window which appears, click the Syncing tab.  First, import any desired changes from browsers.  Then remove Brave (or Brave Beta) from the list of synced browsers at the bottom, and then re-add it back to the list.