Import del.icio.us Bookmarks Into Firefox 3?

[arandor]

Is there a way to import del.icio.us bookmarks into Firefox 3 so that the tags are imported into Firefox's tags field? I tried a simple export from del.icio.us, import to Firefox. That brought over all of the bookmark information except tags.

I know there are del.icio.us extensions available, but I would prefer to have my bookmarks in Firefox if possible. That way the new "smart location bar" can search on all my bookmark tags. It can't do that if they are only in del.icio.us. And I really don't want to re-tag several hundred bookmarks.

Anyone know?

Thanks

[a;skdjfajf;ak]

As far as I understand it, unless they update del-icio.us to have the ability to create a .json file in the same format that Firefox is using, there is no way at this time. Maybe someone will create a conversion extension ?

html files used for raw bookmark import/export do NOT contain your tags that were/may have been added to Firefox 3.

[arandor]

html files used for raw bookmark import/export do NOT contain your tags that were/may have been added to Firefox 3.

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. The del.icio.us html export file does contain tags. Here is a sample line from my export:

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<dt><a href="http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorspottable.html" last_visit="1211557908" add_date="1211557908" tags="technology,computers,internet,web,design,color,reference,html,css">color tables</a>

The Firefox 3 html bookmark export looks almost identical except it doesn't contain tags. I realize the import mechanism is completely different though. What is .json?

Thanks

[a;skdjfajf;ak]

While I'm no coder, or fully understand here is an article describing json: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Json

Firefox 3.0 by design does not support export/import of tags using the html format, only json. I don't know all the why-for's etc. about the decisions made in reference to bookmark backup/restore and import/export.

[fansoftech]

Just figured out a somewhat* solid solution. Download the Flock 2.0 beta, sign in to the Del.icio.us social account in the Flock browser, let Flock synchronize bookmarks (may take a few hours) with the browser's built-in bookmarks, do an export of the .json file and then import that into Firefox 3.

*Check out what I mean by "somewhat." I just posted an entry about what exactly happens when you do this process...you may not be fine with it: http://www.fansoftech.com/2008/06/16/us ... irefox-30/.

If you find a better solution, definitely post back. Regardless, it works fine for now.

[arandor]

Thanks for the tip. That worked for me. Although I hope we can find a way to get the bookmarks to actually appear in the organizer.

[thesheep]

I agree this is one of the first things I tried to do when I saw how good FF3's new bookmarking facilities are.

But importing everything from del.icio.us and getting it all in a long flat list is useless.

I guess it should be possible to write a convertor that takes the del.icio.us HTML file and outputs the correct format for FF3 to read. Given some time, I could probably do that with PHP and then let people do the conversion online.

[Bluefang]

Uh, is this what you're looking for?

http://blog.delicious.com/blog/2008/06/ ... vered.html

[arandor]

No, that is the del.icio.us extension. It does not add your del.icio.us bookmarks to the Firefox bookmarks. It keeps them separate. Since it doesn't add them to the Firefox bookmarks, then the smart location bar can't search them.

[thesheep]

It seems there is a partial solution here: http://www.fansoftech.com/2008/06/16/us ... irefox-30/

Doesn't seem to be perfect. I haven't tried it yet.

[warenhaus]

in this (maybe misplaced) thread: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=667045
I explained my desire of some sort of (online, live) connection between FF3 new bookmarks system (mainly the tag-searching in the URL bar) and online bookmarks systems like del.icio.us.

I would like to see the possibility not to export/import delicious bookmarks, but to directly connect FF3 and delicious (or another service like scuttle in my case), like live bookmarks. entering tags in the URL should then search through my online bookmarks.

wouldn't that be a good thing?

[thesheep]

Yes, that would be ideal.

[watanabe]

I was in same situation and wrote script to solve it.
You need to following steps, if you want to use it.

0. install ruby environment include library(rubygems, rexml, json) and svn client environment.
1. svn checkout http://svn.assembla.com/svn/import_delicious_bookmark_into_firefox3
2. backup firefox 3 bookmark.
[Bookmark] -> [manage this bookmark] -> [import and backup] -> [backup]
3. export del.icio.us bookmark.
access https://api.del.icio.us/v1/posts/all and save it.
4. run script
./import_delicious_bookmark.rb <created file at 2> <created file at 3> <output_file>
e.g.
% ./import_delicious_bookmark.rb bookmark_2008-xx-xx.json all.xml imported_bookmark.json
5. restore firefox 3 bookmark by using step 4's file.
[Bookmark] -> [manage this bookmark] -> [import and backup] -> [select file] -> <created file at 4>

enjoy!

[arandor]

It works! Thanks for the script.

[arandor]

Using the Ruby script method mentioned above works well. However, I imagine the less technically proficient just look at it and say, "Huh?" With that in mind, I have provided below the steps to get it working on Mac OS X 10.5. These instructions assume you are not completely inexperienced with computers or the Mac. These instructions are only for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. I have no idea if they would work with any other version of OS X.

[Note to power users: Yes, there may be different/better/faster ways to do this. I simply chose one method that could work for someone with limited experience.]

1. Ruby is installed by default. There's no need to install it. The rexml library is also installed by default so you don't have to worry about that one either. And you don't need an SVN client to get the script that makes this all work.
   
   
2. Go to this page and right click (or control-click for Mac users without a two-button mouse) on the link named import_delicious_bookmark.rb. Select [Save Link As . . . ] from the contextual menu. Save it to your desktop.
   
   
3. The following link will download the latest version of the Ruby Gems library: RubyGems-1.1.1.zip. Once it is downloaded, double click the file to expand it. Move the expanded folder to the desktop.
   
   
4. The following link will download the latest version of the json library: json-1.1.2.tgz. Once it is downloaded, double click the file to expand it. Move the expanded folder to the desktop.
   
   
5. Backup Firefox 3 bookmarks. Select [Bookmarks] > [Organize Bookmarks . . .]. The bookmarks window will open. The backup menu can be found by clicking the icon at the top of the window that looks like a star with circular chasing arrows on it. Select [Backup . . .] from this menu. It will ask for a backup location. Choose the desktop.
   
   
6. Click on the following link. It will ask for your del.icio.us name and password then display all your bookmarks as xml.
   
   View All del.icio.us Bookmarks as XML
   
   Once the page is finished loading, select [File] > [Save Page As . . .] and save this file to your desktop.
   
   
7. Now you need to open the Terminal application. It is located in your [Applications] > [Utilities] folder.
   
   
8. In the Terminal you should log in as an administrator and run these commands as root to properly install the libraries. If your current user account is not an administrator then type:
   
   

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   login [YourAdminUserNameGoesHere]

   
   It will ask for the admin password. Type the password, press return, and you will be logged in as an administrator.
   
   
9. Type the following in Terminal (without a return yet):
   
   

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   sudo[space]ruby[space]

   
   Those should be actual spaces, not the word "space". Move the Terminal window so you can see your desktop. Open the rubygems-1.1.1 folder. Click and drag the file setup.rb from the rubygems-1.1.1 folder and drop it on to the Terminal window. You'll end up with something like:
   
   

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   sudo ruby /Users/SomeName/Desktop/rubygems-1.1.1/setup.rb

   
   Press return. It will ask you for your administrator password again. After you enter your password and press return, you'll get a screen full of stuff. Now the Ruby Gems library is installed.
   
   
10. Type the following in Terminal (without a return yet):
    
    

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    sudo[space]ruby[space]

    
    Those should be actual spaces, not the word space. Move the Terminal window so you can see your desktop. Open the folder json-1.1.2. Click and drag the file install.rb from the json-1.1.2 folder and drop it on to the Terminal window. You'll end up with something like:
    
    

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    sudo ruby /Users/SomeName/Desktop/json-1.1.2/install.rb

    
    Press return. It will ask you for your administrator password again. After you enter your password and press return, you'll get a screen full of stuff. Now the json library is installed.
    
    
11. It's time to run the script. We need to make sure it's executable first. In the Terminal window type the following:
    
    

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    sudo[space]chmod[space]ugo+x[space]

    
    Again, use actual spaces not the word space. Now click and drag the file import_delicious_bookmark.rb from your desktop and drop it on to the Terminal window. You should end up with something like this:
    
    

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    sudo chmod ugo+x /Users/SomeName/Desktop/import_delicious_bookmark.rb

    
    Press return. It will ask you for your administrator password again. After you enter your password and press return, it will simply display the default terminal prompt.
    
    
12. Now we'll build the command to run the script.
    
    - Drag the import_delicious_bookmark.rb file from the Desktop and drop it on to the Terminal window.
    
    - Drag the Firefox bookmarks backup file you created in step 4 from the desktop and drop it onto the Terminal window.
    
    - Drag the del.icio.us xml bookmarks file you created in step 5 from the desktop and drop it onto the Terminal window.
    
    - Now type the name for your new bookmark file--it could be something like imported_bookmarks.json. Prefix it with the path to your desktop just like all the other files have (like /Users/SomeName/Desktop/).
    
    The result of these actions should look something like this in the Terminal:
    
    

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    /Users/SomeName/Desktop/import_delicious_bookmark.rb /Users/SomeName/Desktop/Bookmarks 2008-06-20.json /Users/SomeName/Desktop/all.xml /Users/SomeName/Desktop/imported_bookmarks.json

    
    Press return and let the magic happen.
    
    
13. Open Firefox and select [Bookmarks] > [Organize Bookmarks . . .]. The bookmarks window will open. The backup menu can be found by clicking the icon at the top of the window that looks like a star with circular chasing arrows on it. Select [Restore] > [Choose File . . .] from this menu. It will ask for a file. Choose the new file you just created on your desktop--imported_bookmarks.json.
    
    Let the magic happen.
    
    
14. Marvel at all of your del.icio.us bookmarks in Firefox 3.
    
    
15. Post a response here and tell the guy who wrote the Ruby script how much you appreciate it. Or you can send him an e-mail from this page.