This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

I only want sync to work one way. My destop is master. All others are slaves and copy from master. I NEVER want anything from a slave to go to the master.

  • 4 cavab
  • 7 have this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by Joe P

more options

Old sync allowed me to control the direction of sync. I want my main desktop to be the master and PUSH all new bookmarks to all my other slave devices. I really NEVER want any bookmarks entered on a slave to sync back to the master. New sync can be bypassed to do this on desktops by using backup and restore with json files. But the Android FF doesn't allow restore from a json.

Why in the world would anyone want all the personal junk from their mobile devices to be automatically added to their work computer? Please mozilla, try out something new like this, and ask for user input. I have used mozilla since early netscape and always kept is as my one and only browser. Now the "new sync" has made this impossible. Can anyone recommend an alternative browser that allows manual sync from a master to slave devices?

Is there any way I control the direction of sync in a master/slave method?

Old sync allowed me to control the direction of sync. I want my main desktop to be the master and PUSH all new bookmarks to all my other slave devices. I really NEVER want any bookmarks entered on a slave to sync back to the master. New sync can be bypassed to do this on desktops by using backup and restore with json files. But the Android FF doesn't allow restore from a json. Why in the world would anyone want all the personal junk from their mobile devices to be automatically added to their work computer? Please mozilla, try out something new like this, and ask for user input. I have used mozilla since early netscape and always kept is as my one and only browser. Now the "new sync" has made this impossible. Can anyone recommend an alternative browser that allows manual sync from a master to slave devices? Is there any way I control the direction of sync in a master/slave method?

All Replies (4)

more options

Sorry, the latest version of Sync treats all connected devices equally. There is no "master" and "slave" setting or preference. And there is no way to control the "direction" of the Sync process, all devices are synchronized with all the data within the selected data types.

more options

Is there a manual way with json files?

If I have to have all the junk on my phones and tablets sent to my desktop at work I need another browser. I can't believe this. I Have at least 100+ bookmarks on my desktop that are the core sites I need from anywhere. BUT I don't need music and other play apps from my Android devices showing up on my desktop. THIS IS A MAJOR SECURITY PROBLEM as well a prohibitive feature.

If you loan your phone to someone to make a call they can put all kinds of unwanted garbage on my work computer. Real geniuses have taken over what has always been the best browser. Now I know why everyone says to switch to Chrome. I am going there.

more options

the "old" sync didn't work differently at all - there has never been the concept of a "master device". you could only specify for the linking if the information of the device is overwritten by the data stored in the sync account or the other way round... your mobile bookmarks are in a separate folder when you sync between phone & pc.

more options

If the above is correct--about there being no master and no slaves--then why is this not DOCUMENTED. Basically, I find no info on how to USE sync--just stuff that tells me how to set it up.

I can't find

1. What does the SYNC button do? 2. What is the 5 minute period sync uses? 3. Why the are the LOG files and how to turn them on not documented? 4. Even after syncing from both computers, bookmarks still don't match. It looks like sync is broken, but it so poorly documented I have no idea what my problem is.