Best way to sync bookmarks on iPad?

Drjones · Apr 24, 2010

I really, really like Google Chrome browser's bookmark sync feature; it automatically keeps my bookmarks in sync on each device I configure it.

How can I sync my bookmarks to my iPad without having to import & export bookmarks constantly into another browser, as it seems iTunes doesn't support syncing bookmarks with Chrome.

Also, I'm NOT going to pay $99 for MobileMe when Google does it for me for free...

zenoztankof · Apr 25, 2010

It doesn't look like that's a Sync option. Time for us to use the suggestion form on Apples site.

bobtomay · Apr 25, 2010

Good luck for awhile... they should already have in place something for a browser that's what... 6 months old and hasn't even come out of beta yet? Don't really think so.

Everyone wanting to live on the bleeding edge of both hardware and software, also have to live with the inconveniences to some extent.

iggibar · Apr 25, 2010

You make it sound like you are paying 99 just for a bookmark feature! You could have payed just 75 for it if you got it at the same time as your ipad. MM is awesome! Just because you don't want to do something one way doesn't mean there will definitely be a better alternative.

Drjones · Apr 25, 2010

bobtomay said:
Good luck for awhile... they should already have in place something for a browser that's what... 6 months old and hasn't even come out of beta yet? Don't really think so.

Everyone wanting to live on the bleeding edge of both hardware and software, also have to live with the inconveniences to some extent.

Actually, the Chrome browser came out in December 2008 and it is certainly out of beta.

AND it has a larger market share than even Safari - Chrome is at or around 6% of the browser market, safari is around 4%.

Drjones · Apr 25, 2010

Think I found a workaround: Seems I should be able to use Xmarks to sync Chrome & IE and then sync IE with iTunes.

There's always a way to get something done.....

bobtomay · Apr 25, 2010

Drjones said:
Actually, the Chrome browser came out in December 2008 and it is certainly out of beta.

...

The official beta for both OS X and Linux were released Dec. 8, 2009 - reference.

And as far as it not being in Beta, I guess you should let Google know that since this is what they have on their download page.

Drjones · Apr 25, 2010

Guess I should have been more clear: I only use Windows and Chrome for Windows was released in 12/2008 and has both a beta and stable public version. So you're right about the mac version, I'm right about the Windows version.

gbtjom · Apr 26, 2010

I sync with my desktop PC and it seems that the only way to sync the bookmarks is to put them in IE first. I use Firefox and for some reason the iPad only gives you a choice of syncing with IE. I don't get it....

jom

Drjones · Apr 28, 2010

gbtjom said:
I sync with my desktop PC and it seems that the only way to sync the bookmarks is to put them in IE first. I use Firefox and for some reason the iPad only gives you a choice of syncing with IE. I don't get it....

jom

How do you import your Firefox bookmarks into IE? I couldn't find a way to import favorites into IE - at least not any way that worked well for me.

Anyhow, I just downloaded xMarks & it seems to work really well - it cleanly & properly synced my Chrome bookmarks into IE. So far so good....now we'll just have to wait 'til I get my iPad on Friday to see how well they sync over to it...shouldn't be any problems.

Marklfarkl · Jul 28, 2010

I only use chrome and just got the iPad (I love it). Found this as a workaround for getting to my chrome bookmarks via the iPad...
View Chrome Bookmarks in Google Docs

schweb · Jul 28, 2010

Actually the easiest solution is just to install Xmarks for Safari and Chrome. It will automatically sync bookmarks between Safari and Chrome which means each time you sync your iPad, you'll have the latest bookmarks.

Side benefit is if you ever fire up Safari, it too will have the same bookmarks you have in Chrome.

And it's free.

Xmarks | Bookmark Sync and Search

PeteLP · Aug 1, 2010

schweb said:
Actually the easiest solution is just to install Xmarks for Safari and Chrome. It will automatically sync bookmarks between Safari and Chrome which means each time you sync your iPad, you'll have the latest bookmarks.

Side benefit is if you ever fire up Safari, it too will have the same bookmarks you have in Chrome.

And it's free.

Xmarks | Bookmark Sync and Search

I want to agree with this suggestion. I've been using XMarks with firefox on multiple machines for years now, and it's been absolutely flawless.

Another plus is they have a WEB based iphone/ipod touch app (not to be confused with their native iphone app, which I haven't tried) . I keep a link to XMarks web based app in my top level iphone bookmark folder. This gives me the ability to click on that link very quickly from within the iphone and have very smooth access to ALL of my desktop bookmarks. This way my iphone is not cluttered with too many books, but they're all readily available when I need them. This approach requires no additional setup beyond your initial XMarks setup.

Pete

Drjones · Aug 4, 2010

PeteLP said:
I want to agree with this suggestion. I've been using XMarks with firefox on multiple machines for years now, and it's been absolutely flawless.

Another plus is they have a WEB based iphone/ipod touch app (not to be confused with their native iphone app, which I haven't tried) . I keep a link to XMarks web based app in my top level iphone bookmark folder. This gives me the ability to click on that link very quickly from within the iphone and have very smooth access to ALL of my desktop bookmarks. This way my iphone is not cluttered with too many books, but they're all readily available when I need them. This approach requires no additional setup beyond your initial XMarks setup.

Pete

Awwww, sweet!!! Thanks for that!!

And yes, I've been using XMarks to sync my Chrome bookmarks with my iPad & it works great.

Nighthawk4 · Aug 8, 2010

A related problem.

I setup Instapaper with the bookmark on Safari on the iPad, as the instructions say. Now I keep getting a message about my bookmarks being out of sync when I load Safari or run the MobileMe sync on the Mac.

There doesn't seem to be an option to sync the Mac to match the remote (i.e. The iPad) version, but if I accept the other option it will remove the Instapaper bookmark from the iPad.

Anyone else have that please? Any solution?

USBKing · Jul 22, 2011

I've been using Firefox Home to sync my bookmarks and tabs, but obviously you have to be using Firefox on your computer rather than chrome. If you don't mind making the switch you can refer to this tutorial for help setting up firefox home.

anjanmrao · Dec 24, 2011

Download the apollo browser. It's totally free, and I love it. It's like chrome, for iPad: no frills, all function.
It has an option where you can sync with chrome and firefox. Just gotta download the extension for chrome on their website, and it syncs through your google account. It works perfectly, and it updates as you add/remove bookmarks on chrome.
I like to use it when I'm browsing on my laptop and ipad at the same time, and I can make the two communicate with each other instead of typing entire URLs.