Why do my bookmarks keep multiplying?

Question

I have may iPhone bookmarks and my Chrome bookmarks synced. But recently the bookmarks have started multiplying. Everytime I delete the multiplied bookmarks next time I check they have done it again. I gave up and now I have about 20 bookmarks from each original bookmark! I tried to fiddle with the iCloud settings but nothing worked!
I have iCloud on my PC and installed as a Chrome extension. I don't know if that is the problem; I thought it having both applications running would be the problem. I did try to delete the extension on Chrome and just leave the PC application running, but after deleting it off Chrome the desktop application told me I had to reinstall it for the sync to work.
Any advice would be really appreciated. Usually I'm quite tech savvy but there's nothing I can seem to do to fix this.
Thanks,
Alex

Answer 1

I had the same problem.  It seemed to be related to initially having all devices on at the same time, while having Chrome syncing through iCloud and Chrome's syncing mechanism.  This is how I solved the problem:
I went onto each device (iPhone, iPads, computers) and turned off all syncing through iCloud.  On the iPhone and iPad, this meant doing so through Settings/iCloud/Safari = off.  On the computers, this meant opening the iCloud Control Panel on each device and unchecking the Bookmarks for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome (for Chrome I also disabled the iCloud extension).
I then deleted all bookmarks on all devices.
I then used a PC to log into iCloud.com.
I then went to Favorites on iCloud.com and organized and sorted the iCloud Favorites, deleting duplicates and making renaming changes.
I then went onto each device and computer, individually, and first confirmed that all Bookmarks were still deleted.  I then turned that device's iCloud syncing back on, while checking to make sure only a single set of Bookmarks were installed.  After each installed correctly, I turned that device all the way off, while leaving the iCloud syncing capability turned on.
After performing this task on all devices, I double checked iCloud.com Favorites to confirm that the Bookmarks being propogated from there were still correct.
I then turned on each device as necessary in the normal course of my day, and the bookmarks stayed in sync.
As a side note, since Chrome also propogates through Chrome's syncing mechanism, I made sure that only one Chrome PC syncs through iCloud, with the rest syncing through Chrome.  This makes sure that Internet Explorer stays in sync with Safari and Chrome.    It seemed to me that there was some "confusion" with iCloud syncing Bookmarks with the browsers on each computer, while Chrome apparently attempted to also ensure correct syncing through Chrome's syncing mechanism.  This assumption arose from initally watching iCloud.com/Favorites propogate and multiply.  It seemed to me that this was caused by differing delays between iCloud and the various devices and computers it synced with and the delays in the Chrome synching between various computers.