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I Can't import bookmarks from Safari. I've tried all the advice given but nothing works. Please help. Thanks.

  • 9 replies
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  • Last reply by Rusho

Rusho
Rusho
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My Imac is version 10.8 snow leopard. I tried to import bookmarks from Safari to Firefox but import data from another browser is greyed out, even though private browsing is turned off. I also created an .html file for my bookmarks no problem but when I import this file to firefox, no bookmarks appear. I checked the file in a plain text editor for any folded files but none existed. Can anyone help me solve this problem. It seems the easiest solution would be if the IMPORT DATA FROM ANOTHER BROWSER button was functional. thanks.

My Imac is version 10.8 snow leopard. I tried to import bookmarks from Safari to Firefox but import data from another browser is greyed out, even though private browsing is turned off. I also created an .html file for my bookmarks no problem but when I import this file to firefox, no bookmarks appear. I checked the file in a plain text editor for any folded files but none existed. Can anyone help me solve this problem. It seems the easiest solution would be if the IMPORT DATA FROM ANOTHER BROWSER button was functional. thanks.

Chosen solution

I'm not familiar with TextEdit.app but I did a little searching...

I think you have 3 options:

(1) Switch how TextEdit opens .html files from showing them as web pages to showing the HTML source. This article describes how: Turn TextEdit Into an HTML Source Viewer with a Simple Settings Change.

(2) If you don't want to make the change in #1, open the file from inside TextEdit using File > Open and check the box to "Ignore rich text commands".

(3) Alternately, add .txt at the end of the file name. When you open the file, TextEdit should not try to display it as a webpage. After editing, you'll need to change the file extension back to .html for Firefox to be able to find it for importing.

Do any of those work for you?

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All Replies (9)

cor-el
cor-el
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Did you check the H3 tags in the HTML file?

  • <DT><H3 FOLDED>Bookmarks Bar</H3>
Rusho
Rusho Question owner
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Yes, I couldn't see anything starting with H3, Only bookmark names. 

I assume I am checking correctly? For example, Sydney Ferries - Home is one bookmark. When I open the .Html file and click this, the webpage opens on Sydney Ferries.

Thanks for your reply.

Modified by Rusho

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
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It's actually easier to open the exported file in a text editor to check for this. To see what cor-el is talking about check out the screen shots attached to this post: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/932927?page=2#answer-357415

Rusho
Rusho Question owner
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Thanks jscher2000, but when I open my Safari Bookmarks.html using TextEdit.app, it only appears as per the following screen shot: (no code, only plain english text)

Bookmarks Bookmarks Bar

Travel Insurance, Cheap Australian Travel Insurance Online

So don't really know what to do? Perhaps there is no answer to this?

cor-el
cor-el
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Sounds that you are in text render mode.

Did you switch to reading the HTML source code?

You can also try to open the HTML file in a Firefox tab and use inspect the page source via "View Page Source":

  • Tools > Web Developer > Page Source (Mac: Command + U)
  • right-click on a web page to open the context menu and select View Page Source
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
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Chosen Solution

I'm not familiar with TextEdit.app but I did a little searching...

I think you have 3 options:

(1) Switch how TextEdit opens .html files from showing them as web pages to showing the HTML source. This article describes how: Turn TextEdit Into an HTML Source Viewer with a Simple Settings Change.

(2) If you don't want to make the change in #1, open the file from inside TextEdit using File > Open and check the box to "Ignore rich text commands".

(3) Alternately, add .txt at the end of the file name. When you open the file, TextEdit should not try to display it as a webpage. After editing, you'll need to change the file extension back to .html for Firefox to be able to find it for importing.

Do any of those work for you?

Rusho
Rusho Question owner
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A Huge Thanks to Cor-el and jscher2000. I opened the file as an html file in textedit and deleted the H3 folded lines. My bookmarks have now been successfully imported to Firefox. Now I just need to know how to sort them!!

You two are the best and Firefox should pay you to solve their probs.

Cheers.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
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The built-in sorting option (just alphabetical, basically) is described in this article: Sort your bookmarks to quickly find the ones you want.

For more sophisticated sorting operations, there was an extension named SortPlaces. It is no longer available on the official download site or on the author's site, but can be found here and there on the web. There are some links in this post: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/933835#answer-357356

Rusho
Rusho Question owner
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Thanks again - you are supercool !!