Edit of backed up bookmarks file

[26Dolphins]

Hi,

If this sounds like a lame question, apologies in advance.
If I wanted to manually edit the entries of a bookmarks' file, backed up in .html format, can I use one of the apps listed in http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...tml-editor.htm?

I'm interested in simple editing: add, move, delete and maybe a bit of organizing in subcategories.

If yes, which one would be a good choice for someone with zero experience in fiddling html files?

Thanks in advance,
26Dolphins

[Anupam]

This is not a lame question at all .

But, why do you need to change the bookmarks file via an HTML editor? If you have to organize, and delete bookmarks, it can be done via the Bookmarks Organizer itself. Which browser are you using, and which version?

I use Firefox 3.6, and you can organize bookmarks via "Organize Bookmarks" available from the Bookmarks menu. You can copy, paste, delete etc. I think it would be better to do the change via the Organizer itself.

Anyways, if you do need to go for an HTML editor, I would suggest Kompozer. Its very easy to use. I have used it myself .

[26Dolphins]

Hi Anupam & thanks for the reply.

Originally Posted by Anupam

This is not a lame question at all .

But, why do you need to change the bookmarks file via an HTML editor? ...

See, your own question is what I was afraid would make mine sound like a lame one. I thought of explaining why exactly I need this, but decided against it in favor of keeping the post short.

I'm on Firefox 3.6.3 myself and make use of its organizing capabilities all the time - I even prefer using the "Library" as a seperate window than the Bookmarks Sidebar.

I need to make changes to "stored" links, which I won't be keeping in the active bookmark folder.
Story is following:
I'm always interested in trying out new S/W that looks/ sounds interesting and within the sphere of my interests. Due to time restrictions (real life!), this isn't always possible to do when I first stumble upon them. This lead to the bad habbit of bookmarking the links, in order to find them easily in the future. Now, I've got a growing number of links that I don't visit every day, but don't want to loose either. At the same time, I don't want a constantly growing bookmark folder causing start up delays.

After some thinking, I decided that the best approach would be to back up these links and modify the entries as I go with my testings and keep only the links I often visit in Firefox.
Doing the back up in .html format sounded like the reasonable thing to do.

Originally Posted by Anupam

... I would suggest Kompozer. Its very easy to use. I have used it myself .

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definetely try it.
One last question: Was Kompozer the first HTML editor you used and found it to be easy?

Thanks again,
26Dolphins

[Anupam]

Ah OK, now I get it... why you want to edit the HTML file. I think many of us, including me, who make use of bookmarks might come across this situation. I too have to clean out my bookmarks once in a while. Thankfully, they are not much, so I do not have to edit the bookmarks file, but I have done it before once or twice.

Yes, for that Kompozer would be good. Its fairly easy to use. And yes, I had first tried Kompozer, and its the only one I tried. I have other software too on my computer for HTML editors, but I haven't come across to use them yet, because I don't need it much.

Kompozer is easy and is WYSIWYG... so I think you will have no problem using it. If you want more choices then you can take a look at the Best Free HTML Editor article. There too Kompozer is the top choice, in terms of quality, or ease of use.

I would also suggest AM-Deadlink for checking dead links in the bookmarks. If you have a lot of bookmark links, some of links might be dead, and not worth keeping anymore. This is where AM-Deadlink comes to rescue. It will check the bookmark file for dead links, and then you can remove them. Handy thing.

[26Dolphins]

Thanks for the prompt response Anupam.

Originally Posted by Anupam

... I have other software too on my computer for HTML editors, but I haven't come across to use them yet, because I don't need it much....

When I first started this ... hobby, I used to download the installation files, but after a while I realized it was not practical if some time had passed before I'd try them out:
1. In many cases, the version wouldn't be current anymore.
2. I sometimes couldn't figure out what a specific setup file was about, if its name wasn't descriptive enough and I had neglected to appropriately rename it.
So, I reverted over to bookmarking.

Originally Posted by Anupam

...If you want more choices then you can take a look at the Best Free HTML Editor article. There too Kompozer is the top choice, in terms of quality, or ease of use....

Actually, that's where I started, but was uncertain if I took the correct route, so I started this thread.

Originally Posted by Anupam

...
I would also suggest AM-Deadlink for checking dead links in the bookmarks. If you have a lot of bookmark links, some of links might be dead, and not worth keeping anymore. This is where AM-Deadlink comes to rescue. It will check the bookmark file for dead links, and then you can remove them. Handy thing.

Ok, found it here on TSA, will give it try (now I got me another link to bookmark, see how easy it is?). I use CheckPlaces, which also checks for empty folders. Need to see which one is lighter.

Looks like I got myself quite some work to do over the weekend.

Thanks again Anupam,
26Dolphins

[Anupam]

Originally Posted by 26Dolphins

When I first started this ... hobby, I used to download the installation files, but after a while I realized it was not practical if some time had passed before I'd try them out:
1. In many cases, the version wouldn't be current anymore.
2. I sometimes couldn't figure out what a specific setup file was about, if its name wasn't descriptive enough and I had neglected to appropriately rename it.
So, I reverted over to bookmarking.

That's exactly how I started bookmarking too. I have bookmarked many download sites, and also individual download sites. I had also started collecting software, and sometimes I forgot where they came from. So, now I have started to bookmark important sites.

I also keep a collection of important software on my hard disk. Its over 3 GB of freeware collection now, in different categories . To always keep the latest version on my computer, I have subscribed via RSS to many download sites like freewarefiles, kaldata, MajorGeeks etc. So, when I find an updated version, I download and keep it, even though I do not have the software installed. These setup files are very very helpful in case I need a software. So, I do not have to go to internet and download them.
Apart from keeping the collection, I have also made a list of software in the directory, and written their homepages against them. This way, if I do lose the bookmarks somehow... I have the homepages of the software with me, so I can download them anytime.

Also, since I have many many bookmarks, I keep a backup of them... one via XMarks... which is an excellent utility, to keep and sync bookmarks online. Other is via FEBE, a Firefox extension, which I have scheduled to perform daily backup once. So, I have offline, and online backup copies.

Originally Posted by 26Dolphins

I use CheckPlaces, which also checks for empty folders. Need to see which one is lighter.

Ah yes, CheckPlaces is good too, I had forgot about that. But, I like AM-Deadlink more, since I like desktop apps more . But CheckPlaces is an equally good choice.

[Anupam]

We talked of AM-DeadLink, and I just saw that a new version of it has been released.. version 4.1. I am off to download it now .

[MilesAhead]

Speaking of bookmark editing.. one "trick" I've used for years that still works with Opera is to import Firefox bookmarks, then edit the Opera file. It used to be named "opera6.adr" and now changed to "bookmarks.adr" but the trick still works.

If you export your Firefox bookmarks to .html, then import into Opera, you get a thing in the Opera bookmarks like "Imported from ... whatever" and all the Firefox bookmarks are under that.

Open the Opera bookmarks file appropriate to your verion of Opera(the new one is bookmarks.adr) in a plain text editor. Near the top of the file you will see Folder entry with NAME=Trash and underneath that you should see the imported bookmarks, then a single hypen at the left '-'

Delete the "Imported from" Folder and just leave the hyphen.
Now all the entries will be at the top of the Bookmarks menu directly underneath Trash.

When you bring up Opera, manage your bookmarks and drag & drop Bookmarks Toolbar entries onto the Opera Personal Bar. Now you have a customized setup.

Most import tools that claim to bridge the Firefox Opera gap won't do it. You end up with the Firefox stuff under that stupid "Imported" folder. Once you've done it once, it's quicker just to do it by hand. Export to html in Firefox, import in Opera, edit the bookmarks file, drag onto Personal Bar. The second time you do it will only take about 2 minutes. It's figuring it out the first time that takes some trial and error.

[Jojo Yee]

If not mistaken, a bookmark html file has a specific document type called Netscape Bookmark File Format. Though it's not advisable to edit the file directly, it's still possible to edit it as it's basically a text file so long as the format is followed.

As an alternative, a freeware product TreeLine can be used to edit a bookmark html file directly as well. When opening a bookmark file from TreeLine, choose "text import method" to be HTML bookmarks. You can then browse, delete or move the bookmarks around by drag-and-drop in a tree structure.

Adding a new bookmark is troublesome but workable -- insert a sibling or add a child, name it, go to Data > Change Selected Data, select the "Link" field and paste a URL into the value box.

You can save the file in default trl format or export to a bookmark html file. I have the exported file imported into Firefox with no issue.

The trick suggested by MilesAhead is workable. I used to import a bookmark html file into Chrome (with no existing bookmarks there to avoid a mix-up), organize the bookmarks with its built-in Bookmark Manager, then export it back to a bookmark html file for backup.

[rhiannon]

Originally Posted by 26Dolphins

Hi,

If this sounds like a lame question, apologies in advance.
If I wanted to manually edit the entries of a bookmarks' file, backed up in .html format, can I use one of the apps listed in http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...tml-editor.htm?

I'm interested in simple editing: add, move, delete and maybe a bit of organizing in subcategories.

If yes, which one would be a good choice for someone with zero experience in fiddling html files?

Thanks in advance,
26Dolphins

I think a program called Linkman will do what you want - it can open an HTML file of bookmarks and you can manage them from the interface. It's made for managing bookmarks. It will also save files in several formats, including HTML. You can save as many versions of your bookmarks as you like that way, just name them differently.
I use it often. Here's an overview from an article here in the site:

Manage Your Browser Bookmarks With This Free Program

p.s. it's great at hunting down duplicates. The check for dead links feature is only available in the Pro version but Check Places works for that.