Problem managing Safari bookmarks

Hey guys,
I've been having a problem relocatting my bookmarks in my bookmark bar. What I mean is: I created a new bookmark bar folder and put some bookmarks in it. I don't want it in the first place though, but every time I put it in the right order anyhow (even in the Show all bookmarks page (alt-Cmd-B)), they go back to the place they were, and with it go some other bookmarks. It gets very messy! Sometimes I get the error that it cannot be changed because it's synchronizing, so I even tried it without my wi-fi on, rebooting and all... But the next they the order is changed again! I've been trying to put it right (because now I have ALL the wrong bookmarks in the bar, and none of the really useful) for about one week now every single day and it doesn't seem to stay.
Deleting the folders with the bookmarks seem to work, but I need them, it's just not as important. Every time I try to add another folder/bookmark, same happens... So now I have a bookmark bar full of "useless stuff" and can't make it right!
What can I do? This is very unpleasant!
I'm using a MacBook Pro i7 2.7 GHz, with Mountain Lion OS, Safari version 6.0.
Thank you!

I have an update but the problem is even more confusing to me now!
I have not synced bookmarks since getting the iphone originally, and at first when the sync seemed to fail, I was seeing what I thought were the older original bookmarks. But I happened to notice that a file named PC Favorites had been placed in the Bookmarks Bar which contained all the Favorites from my old Dell PC--this was apparently transferred by the Apple Store when I first purchased my Mac Desktop and had them transfer all my files. On inspection, the bookmarks on my iphone are identical to those in the PC Favorites file. I did an experiment in which I altered the bookmarks on my phone by deleting some and then tried sync again--sure enough, I got back the complete "PC Favorites" set of bookmarks. So the sync feature seemed to be working, just pulling the wrong set of bookmarks. Next, I deleted (or so I thouhgt) the PC Favorites file since it is no longer relevant to me, and then tried another sync, thinking that the Safari bookmarks would now be transferred. I got back the PC favorites even though I had deleted it. Strangely, it did not appear as a Trash item when I checked after deletion, but I can't locate it in Finder anymore and it is no longer visible in Safari. So I have to assume that the deletion of PC Favorites did not occur and it is lurking somewhere, being preferentially synced for some unknown reason.
Based on my lack of technical knowledge, I am guessing that there are any number of alternate explanations, but I am at a loss as to how to proceed now. If anyone can shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it--but what I'm considering now is just waiting until I get an iPhone 4S soon and sync directly from my computer rather than transfer from my old phone. If the problem persists, support will be covered with the new device.
Thanks for tolerating a couple of longer posts, and any info you might provide.
docbombay

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I have an update but the problem is even more confusing to me now!
I have not synced bookmarks since getting the iphone originally, and at first when the sync seemed to fail, I was seeing what I thought were the older original bookmarks. But I happened to notice that a file named PC Favorites had been placed in the Bookmarks Bar which contained all the Favorites from my old Dell PC--this was apparently transferred by the Apple Store when I first purchased my Mac Desktop and had them transfer all my files. On inspection, the bookmarks on my iphone are identical to those in the PC Favorites file. I did an experiment in which I altered the bookmarks on my phone by deleting some and then tried sync again--sure enough, I got back the complete "PC Favorites" set of bookmarks. So the sync feature seemed to be working, just pulling the wrong set of bookmarks. Next, I deleted (or so I thouhgt) the PC Favorites file since it is no longer relevant to me, and then tried another sync, thinking that the Safari bookmarks would now be transferred. I got back the PC favorites even though I had deleted it. Strangely, it did not appear as a Trash item when I checked after deletion, but I can't locate it in Finder anymore and it is no longer visible in Safari. So I have to assume that the deletion of PC Favorites did not occur and it is lurking somewhere, being preferentially synced for some unknown reason.
Based on my lack of technical knowledge, I am guessing that there are any number of alternate explanations, but I am at a loss as to how to proceed now. If anyone can shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it--but what I'm considering now is just waiting until I get an iPhone 4S soon and sync directly from my computer rather than transfer from my old phone. If the problem persists, support will be covered with the new device.
Thanks for tolerating a couple of longer posts, and any info you might provide.
docbombay

HT1296 Please Help with problem syncing Safari bookmarks from iPhone to MacBook

i have an iPhone 5 (7 software) & Macbook Pro 10.9.1. I have iCloud set to sync Safari in both. I want the bookmarks on my iPhone to sync onto/be shared with my Macbook but this is not happening. (I also have an iPad and the Safari bookmarks are automatically syncing from iPhone to iPad)
Please help!
Tx
Pamela

Hi goddessinrepose!
Here is an article for you that will help you troubleshoot this issue with your ability to sync your iCloud bookmarks:
iCloud: Troubleshooting iCloud Bookmarks and Reading List
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4001
Thanks for being a part of the Apple Support Communities!
Cheers,
Braden

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You need to connect the ipad to the computer then make sure safari is set to sync in itunes and complete a sync, it will sync that way.
You can go thru anything else you want to sync also and set that before you actualy sync. If your gonna sync then only do it once.

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Just thought I'd bring this one to people's attention (as well as submitting a bug report to Apple).
I have my bookmarks synced across all devices (MacBook, iMac, iPhone) and recently I decided to tidy them up a bit. On the MacBook I started moving bookmark folders into a newly created folder called "Archive" (wanted to just put some stuff I don't use often into a folder to reduce the number of top-level folders in the Bookmark list). I did this once successfully but the second time I tried to do it Safari threw an error, something like "You cannot do this right now because Bookmarks are being synced."
OK, I thought, I'll wait.
Then the folder that I'd just moved hundreds of bookmarks into disappeared!
No undo. No CMD+Z. Nothing would get it back.
Then the full horror dawned on me - Safari was now busy syncing this across all my devices. I checked my iMac and iPhone and yes, that folder full of bookmarks had been wiped off every device. Forever.
What I found ubelievable was:
1) Safari does not keep a 'previous version' of the Bookmarks.plist file in the same way that, say, iTunes does with it's database.
2) iCloud does not actually 'back up' your Bookmarks. Whenever you edit them on any of your synced devices you are creating/destroying bookmarks on the only single copy of those bookmarks that exists
So, thanks to that nice little bug (and poor implementation of bookmarks management in Safari), I've just lost hundreds of bookmarks that I can never ever recover.

I use Dropbox for everything. This wouldn't help though in this case as unless I'd have manually copied my bookmarks to a folder in Dropbox there is no automatic way of making use of Dropbox's features with Safari (as far as I can see and without jumping through hoops)
I'm not so much griping about whether or not iCloud backs up your data but more warning that there is a severe bug in iCloud sync whereby somehow it managed to destroy a folder full of bookmarks (which it shouldn't have done) and then propagated that through all my synced devices (which, technically, it should have done). At that point your are screwed because there's no fail-safe mechanisms in place as there is with iTunes (which makes a historic copy of your database each time you perform an operation that alters it).
Or alternatively, given that all of Sarafi bookmarks are just nodes in a single XML file, why not make it so that you can revert to previous versions as you can in, say, TextEdit.
I have submitted a bug to Apple by the way, I only posted here as a warning to others to be very, VERY careful when messing about with your bookmarks if they're synced to other devices.

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Hello all,
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First post here; trying to be helpful, but maybe my post belongs elsewhere?
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So I tried a different tack, Now, once I had reordered my BMs into the order I like, I exit S, then start up S again. Every time, the ordering stays in place. So I wonder if there's a cache S (or the Mac OS, or the 'stuff' intended for IOS or maybe icloud synching) uses, e.g., a 'shadow list'. And it's that list that doesn't get updated when editing the BMs upon exiting from the edit.
I know this is (perhaps) a long post, but what I've been doing consistently works. Perhaps it's also the case that whatever cache exists is rebuilt during S startup. In my initial testing, I turned on icloud synching after I'd setup my BMs the way I wanted (also exiting S and restarting - the restart doesn't matter BTW). The correctly ordered list showed up on my IOS devices. At this stage of testing, I've then immediately turned off S icloud synching. If my 'theory' is correct about there being some sort of cache and it's not updated until S exit (or rebuilt during S startup wold be my 'better' guess). more testing will show that up.
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Hi,
You can manage your Bookmarks anyway you like.
Start here. http://www.cultofmac.com/how-to-manage-safari-bookmarks-efficiently-macrx/35616
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Hi,
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Help here also.
http://www.cultofmac.com/how-to-manage-safari-bookmarks-efficiently-macrx/35616
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Hi,
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Type in: Bookmarks in the search field on the right.
Help here also.
http://www.cultofmac.com/how-to-manage-safari-bookmarks-efficiently-macrx/35616
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Hi people,
My bookmarks were imported from IE. I have many main folders with many subfolders in each: thus I have always had my bookmarked information very organized and I know where to find anything, by category.
However now I'm using Safari on my new MacBook. When I want to add a new bookmark, I click the Bookmarks drop-down menu. I click "Add Bookmark..." A box displays that allows me to enter two things: the name of the bookmark, and the folder I want to enter it into. Then, clicking on the arrows next to the folder list, hundreds of folders come up in a huge fast-scrolling stream. Not main folders that I can see at a glance, but ALL of my folders, at once! This is a mess. Finding my main folders takes scrutiny and fiddling, and when I'm trying to work this is a huge distraction.
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I want to find a way to display only the main category folders in the Add bookmark dropdown menu. I can choose from there which subfolders I want to open, and I don't want every single folder to show. Is there a way to do this??
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MacBook Mac OS X (10.4) still waiting for arrival

Hi
Welcome to Apple Discussions
Rather than using the Bookmarks drop-down menu, perhaps using the Bookmarks Manager might be an easier approach. To access the Bookmarks Manager, click the "book icon" on the left of the Bookmarks Bar (if you haven't done so, the Bookmarks Bar is enabled in View Menu>Show Bookmarks Bar, or Apple Key/Shift/B).
When you click on the book icon (or Apple Key/Option/B), a back screen appears showing your various Bookmark collections and History on the left, and the detail inside each collection on the right (clicking on a collection reveals its contents). You can drag the current URL from the Address window down into the folder, which is a faster way to navigate through the Bookmarks. There, you can also create folders etc.
Go to the Safari Help menu>Safari Help or Apple Key/Shift/? and type Bookmarks. Additional information is provided about how to manage your bookmarks.
Lastly, 3rd party software exists as an alternative to Safari's Bookmarks. One popular one is URL Manager Pro. Personally, I find Safari's manager sufficient, however, this is something you may want to consider.

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Keeping the folder you are moving to the far left will do the trick.

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OK, it now sort of works. A couple of problems here:
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after switching it back on, it said "turning off safari data"
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Try troubleshooting the Safari .plist file.
Quit Safari.
Open a Finder window. Select your Home Folder in the Sidebar on the left. It has a small house icon. Then open the Library folder then the Preferences folder.
Move the com.apple.Safari.plist file from the Preferences folder to the Desktop. Relaunch Safari. Try a bookmark.
If that didn't help, check Safari / Preferences then select the Extensions tab. If you have any installed, turn that off, quit then relaunch Safari.
If Extensions aren't the issue, reset Safari. From the menu bar click Safari / Reset Safari. Select the top 7 buttons, click Reset.

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Yes, that problem has been seen by myself and many others. The work-around is to restart Safari.
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Problem managing Safari bookmarks

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