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How often does FF4 sync bookmarks?

  • 5 replies
  • 29 have this problem
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  • Last reply by scotsman

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I installed Firefox 4 on 2 of my computers, and enabled the sync feature on both. Right after setting up the sync I saw that my bookmarks from each machine had been transferred to the other. Perfect. But I then created some new bookmarks on PC 1, but it's been over 4 hours and they haven't synced to PC 2. I have tried opening/closing FF on both PCs and rebooting both PCs, but nothing. In the Sync tab of the FF options, there is no "force sync" button.....the closest I have found (and maybe this is the "force sync" button?), is the "Reset Sync" option in the "Manage Account" drop-down. However, even after doing this several times on both of my PCs, my bookmarks still have not been transferred to PC 2. I assume that I should not even need to do this (sync my bookmarks manually), and that FF would sync my bookmarks automatically every time it is opened/closed, or every 15 minutes or something like that. Is there something I am missing? How often is FF supposed to be syncing my bookmarks? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Oh, and here's some possibly helpful info: In the Sync tab of the FF options, both PCs have Bookmarks, Passwords, and Settings checked off. They are both running Windows 7 64-bit. PC 1 was upgraded from FF 3.6 to FF4, while PC 2 was just formatted and Windows reinstalled, so FF4 was installed on it directly (not upgraded from previous FF version).

I installed Firefox 4 on 2 of my computers, and enabled the sync feature on both. Right after setting up the sync I saw that my bookmarks from each machine had been transferred to the other. Perfect. But I then created some new bookmarks on PC 1, but it's been over 4 hours and they haven't synced to PC 2. I have tried opening/closing FF on both PCs and rebooting both PCs, but nothing. In the Sync tab of the FF options, there is no "force sync" button.....the closest I have found (and maybe this is the "force sync" button?), is the "Reset Sync" option in the "Manage Account" drop-down. However, even after doing this several times on both of my PCs, my bookmarks still have not been transferred to PC 2. I assume that I should not even need to do this (sync my bookmarks manually), and that FF would sync my bookmarks automatically every time it is opened/closed, or every 15 minutes or something like that. Is there something I am missing? How often is FF supposed to be syncing my bookmarks? Any help is appreciated. Thanks. Oh, and here's some possibly helpful info: In the Sync tab of the FF options, both PCs have Bookmarks, Passwords, and Settings checked off. They are both running Windows 7 64-bit. PC 1 was upgraded from FF 3.6 to FF4, while PC 2 was just formatted and Windows reinstalled, so FF4 was installed on it directly (not upgraded from previous FF version).

All Replies (5)

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I've read this on the dev forum (http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/what-firefox-sync/discuss/429)

If you want to force a sync, you can choose Tools > Sync Now, or add the Add-On Bar (View > Toolbars) and customize it to show the Sync icon. Clicking that will start a sync and show you when it's done.

I couldn't find the menu Toold -> Sync Now, but I was able to add the Sync icon to the tool bar.

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For whatever reason the next day the bookmarks synced and the Sync Now button showed up all on its own. Thanks for the post on how to get the Sync Now button to show up though :)

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Just to add a couple of information:

1. If you notice, the Sync icon will rotate when it is syncing. It does sync every 15 minutes or so.

2. You can always move your mouse cursor onto the Sync icon and it'll show you the last date/time it was synced.

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Since upgrading to 4 my sync now icon is missing, I have another computer running 3 and its there.

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In addition I added bookmarks to my PC running 3 and hit the sync now menu item in 4 and the bookmarks were not updated.