Duplicate bookmarks

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Revision as of 20:14, 5 July 2010 by Dmcritchie (talk | contribs) (Major cause of lots of duplicate bookmarks -- added topic)
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Duplicate bookmarks are bookmarks referring to the same URL.

Firefox 3 introduced the bookmarks database file places.sqlite, and a new method of bookmarking from a current page with the star on the location bar. You cannot use the bookmark this page using the star or "Ctrl+D" to create a duplicate as you would simply change the folder but have the same bookmark as the the preexisting bookmark.

A bookmark keyword has a one to one correspondence with a bookmark, so if you need two different keywords to refer to the same URL, you must create duplicate bookmarks each having it's own keyword. A keyword is an alias for a bookmark.[1]

Another use for duplicate bookmarks would be to refer to a webpage from different folders related to different topics.

It is still possible in Firefox 3 to create and retain duplicate bookmarks, but you have fewer choices to create duplicate bookmarks than you would to simply create a bookmark the first time. Clicking on the star to create another bookmark will not work, nor will "Ctrl+D" which will bring up the same dialog.

Creating duplicate bookmarks

Some methods of creating duplicate bookmarks

  • Copy ("Ctrl+C") an existing bookmark and paste ("Ctrl+V") it elsewhere in bookmarks
    • Right-click on a bookmark when pasting will place copied bookmark above right-clicked bookmark, or
    • Right-click on a folder when pasting will place copied bookmark into the folder at the bottom
  • Drag a link on the webpage, or drag from History sidebar to a bookmark folder.
  • Drag the favicon (webpage icon) in the location bar of the active URL to a bookmark folder
  • Drag the favicon on a tab to a bookmark folder.
  • "Ctrl+Drag" a bookmark to a bookmark location to duplicate the bookmark (note plus sign on cursor), simply dragging a bookmark would change it's location within or to another folder.
  • "Bookmark All Tabs" or "Bookmark This Tab" from the Tab context menu. Exception: tabs duplicated within the tabs bar with "Bookmark All Tabs" will only be represented once from the tabs bar into a new group.

(Optional) Changes can be made to any bookmark so that it becomes more meaningful to you. Right-click on the bookmark and working from the "Properties" menu item change items available: Name, URL, Keyword, Tags, Description. Only changes to URL itself will make the bookmark unique to the Star dialog.

"Esc" key can be used to terminate an unwanted dragging operation before completion

Not deleting a duplicate bookmark

  • When you remove a bookmark for the active tab using the star dialog, make sure it indicates "Remove Bookmark", and not multiple bookmarks like "Remove 5 Bookmarks".

Major cause of lots of duplicate bookmarks

The major cause of ending up with lots of duplicate bookmarks, is by importing a bookmarks.html file into your bookmarks, the imported bookmarks are copied intact to the bottom of you your "Bookmarks Menu" and that includes all folders including making duplicates of "Toolbar Menu", "Bookmarks Menu", "Unsorted bookmarks". There is a major distinction between importing bookmarks from an HTML file, and of restoring bookmarks from a JSON file.

Removing the correct duplicate bookmark

You can remove a single bookmark from a bookmark folder such as in the Bookmarks Sidebar ("Ctrl+B") or from the Library List ("Ctrl+Shift+B") but you should look at the bookmark properties to see why you have a duplicate such as needed in two different folders, or for a different keyword. If you use a search in the sidebar for the url name you may see 5 bookmarks, you would need to right-click to check the properties. If you use a search in the Library List you can check columns such as parent folder ("Show Parent Folder" extension, see below), keyword, description to see why you are maintaining duplicates and to remove only the one(s) you don't want.

Keyword Shortcuts

Firefox will be changing to make all bookmarks with the same uri have the last entered entered keyword. You can skirt this issue for bookmarklets with Javascript by adding or removing a %20 in the uri so you can have a different keyword for the bookmark. Another trick would be to add a "#" at the end of the bookmark uri or to add something like "&x=keyword2" at the end of the bookmark, you will have to verify that the modified ones work.

Extensions

  • Bookmark Duplicate Detector, detects Duplicate Bookmarks when bookmarks are added and provides folder location of the previous URL.
  • Go Parent Folder Add "Go Parent Folder" menu to context menu in The Library list view and Search result in Bookmarks Sidebar
  • Old Add Bookmark Behavior, makes "Bookmark This Page", "Bookmark This Tab" and "Bookmark All Tabs" behavior equal with Firefox2.
  • Show Parent Folder , allows you to add a column in your Library List for the Parent Folder.

See also