# Syncing browser bookmarks between browsers and machines

## Fitzcarraldo

I use several machines and browsers (predominantly Firefox, Chrome and Chromium). I want to sync browser bookmarks across all browsers and machines, but I would prefer not to have my bookmarks stored in a third-party company's server, which rules out tools such as Xmarks, EverSync and the like.

I want to store the bookmark database on one of my own servers which is already accessible via the Internet. Does anyone know of an open-source tool that would enable me to do that? Preferably it should work even in Windows, in case I have to use a Windows machine somewhere, but I'll settle for just Linux if that is the only thing achievable.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

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## Juippisi

Doable with Git I believe. You can set up your own git server so technically your bookmarks wouldn't be stored in a 3rd party server :)

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## peje

I love buku https://github.com/jarun/Buku for the bookmarks, sharing the db with nextcloud / nextcloud-sync

cu Peje

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## Fitzcarraldo

I've been playing with Buku on one of my machines. How do you get the database onto a remote machine?

EDIT:

Found it: https://github.com/jarun/Buku/wiki/System-integration#sync-database-across-systems

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## bunder

i believe xmarks does let you use your own server, but setting one up can be a pain because it needs DAV.

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## Fitzcarraldo

WebDAV? No problem with that; I already use it to access one of my servers. I'll see if I can find any information on the Web about using Xmarks with WebDAV on my own server.

EDIT:

Apparently it's only available for Firefox:

 *Xmarks User Manual wrote:*   

> Bring Your Own Server!
> 
> *Note this feature is only available for Firefox.

 

https://helpdesk.xmarks.com/bookmark-manager-basics/byos/

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## fturco

I used Shaarli in the past. It can be installed on your own server. It doesn't require a database.

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## Fitzcarraldo

Thank you to everyone above for your suggestions. My searches on the Web turned up a couple more:

1. Bookmark4U

http://bookmark4u.sourceforge.net/

2. b

https://github.com/sebcode/b

Unfortunately Bookmark4U is a dead project and has not been updated since 2003. The second, b, seems to be in active development.

Anyway, I have opted to use Buku, which is in Portage's main tree.

```
$ eix buku

[I] www-misc/buku

     Available versions:  ~3.5 (~)3.6 {test PYTHON_TARGETS="python3_4 python3_5 python3_6"}

     Installed versions:  3.6(13:15:47 21/03/18)(-test PYTHON_TARGETS="python3_5 -python3_4 -python3_6")

     Homepage:            https://github.com/jarun/Buku

     Description:         Powerful command-line bookmark manager
```

Although a CLI bookmark manager is not what I had in mind, it is quite powerful and yet simple enough to use. It is practical to use Buku in a drop-down terminal (I'm currently using it with Yakuake in KDE, and with Tilda in LXDE).

Browsing/scrolling through a flat list (or sub-list) of bookmarks in a terminal to find something is not as good as a GUI but, overall, Buku is a decent bookmark manager and its options are easy to learn and use. Buku's comprehensive search options of course help to find bookmarks, but it is still not as ergonomic as a GUI bookmark manager in my opinion. The ability to have multiple tags in Buku does help, as you can search for either any or all tags. In a browser's bookmark manager I would copy the same bookmark into different folders if the Web page covers multiple topics.

In summary, Buku is a viable bookmark manager and I like it. It is extremely easy to configure for use with a Cloud server, and I have set it up to synchronise bookmarks on all my machines. I have already imported into Buku the 1,300+ bookmarks from the browsers on my machines, and deleted the bookmarks in those browsers, so I am using Buku in earnest.

If I do have to use a Windows machine, or a Linux machine without Buku installed, I will not be able to access my bookmarks from my Cloud server. To partially get around that, I may implement a hack: I will install Buku on my Cloud server and create a crontab job to periodically run Buku to print the bookmarks to a text file so that I can at least search through the file via SSH if I cannot find the Web page I want in a search engine.

If anyone has any further suggestions, I would still be interested to hear them.

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## sdauth

Very cool review Fitzcarraldo. I was looking for a solution to manage my bookmarks outside of the browser and buku/tilda combination looks interesting.

There is also this script using dmenu https://gitlab.com/benoliver999/buku-dmenu

By the way your post is almost 4 years old, are you still using buku these days ?   :Surprised: 

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## Fitzcarraldo

Thanks, sdauth. Yes, I'm still using Buku, and I still think it's very good (I'm currently using it with Yakuake in KDE, and with QTerminal Drop Down in LXQt).

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## sdauth

Great ! I just installed it and I am already loving it.   :Cool: 

It was damn easy to set up, I exported my palemoon bookmark to html, then ran  buku --import bookmarks.html and voila !

Then put this to a keyboard shortcut :

buku -p -f 3 | sed 's/\t/ /g' | dmenu -i | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | xargs --no-run-if-empty buku --nostdin -o

I could also use fzf or rofi (both are already on my system), or even urxvt with a custom window tied to a shortcut. No need to install another term just for that on my setup.

Now I need to read a bit more to know how to edit, add tags, organize etc..

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