Importing Favorites from MSN Explorer

mrwayne · Post by **mrwayne** » August 18th, 2005, 8:27 pm

HI Everyone... I'm brand spanking new to Foxfire. I'm impressed and am thinking to leaving the MSN Explorer which is just a fluffy version of Internet Explorer. However I can't seem to figure out how to import from MSN Explorer. The set up grabs from Internet Explorer without any problem. I appreciate advice from anyone who has made this switch. Thanks very much

Swami · Post by **Swami** » August 18th, 2005, 9:33 pm

Do a search for favorites.xml on your computer. Thats what the MSN Explorer favorites file is called. Then go to this website http://www.linkagogo.com/go/Convert?inf ... t=netscape and convert them to .html format, which you can then import into Firefox from Bookmarks>Manage Bookmarks>File>Import.
You can also try this app, 'MSN Favorites Export Toolkit' from this website http://www.mainsoft.fr/en/downloads.htm

mrwayne · Post by **mrwayne** » August 21st, 2005, 6:18 pm

Wow! I had no idea this would be so difficult. I have not been successful trying either of these suggestions. When I ran the toolkit nothing happened and when I searched for favorites.xml, nothing showed up. I guess they are hidden real good. I run Windows XP. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

MC22 · Post by **MC22** » August 21st, 2005, 6:26 pm

linkaGoGo wrote:MSN Explorer users can find the bookmark file (favorites.xml) on their local drive (mostly the C-drive) in the directory "\Documents and Settings\{Username}\Application Data\MSN6\UserData\{UID}
On some Windows version like XP, the file is completely hidden. You can copy the MSN Explorer file to your "My Documents" folder by issueing the following commands in a command shell:
Code: Select all
pushd %USERPROFILE%\App*\MSN6\Us*\{*
copy favorites.xml "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents"

rtmjr50 · Post by **rtmjr50** » August 21st, 2005, 9:39 pm

mrwayne wrote:Wow! I had no idea this would be so difficult. I have not been successful trying either of these suggestions. When I ran the toolkit nothing happened and when I searched for favorites.xml, nothing showed up. I guess they are hidden real good. I run Windows XP. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

windows search and windows explore by default do not display hidden files and folders ...
very simple fix ...

how ... this is written for firefox ... but just forget about firefox and follow along ...

for Windows Search ... place check in box next to ""Search Hidden Files and Folders"
and ...
for Windows Explore ... place check in box next to "show hidden files and folders"

# Window "Search" - Do a search for bookmarks.html and/or bookmarks.bak
Start -> Search -> "for files or folders" -> click on "All Files and folders"
(a) "All or part of the file name" type: bookmarks*
(b) click on "More Advance Options"
(c) place check in box to left of:
................"Search System Folders";
................"Search Hidden Files and Folders";
................ and "Search Subfolders".
(d) click on "Search" icon
FYI - window search default is not to have a check in "hidden files and folders" and so you will not find any of the profile folder files listed ... that is why many folks don't ever find bookmarks.html listed when they do a search

# Windows "Explore" - Look for bookmarks.html and/or bookmarks.bak
Start -> right mouse button -> click "Explore"

(winXP/2K) -- Firefox profile folders/files are located in "hidden" folders ... using window explorer will not display/find these files until you have change the default in the folder options menu: start -> settings -> control panel -> Folder Options -> view -> hidden files and folders -> check in box next to "show hidden files and folders" -> ok

See my revised post below ... for better instructions ..

later, Richard

mrwayne · Post by **mrwayne** » August 22nd, 2005, 7:22 pm

Richard.. Those are awesome and very complete directions. I have two user names on MSN Explorer. I have checked the appropriate boxes for seaching for and showing hidden files. I have searched for bookmarks.html and bookmarks.bak and just bookmarks for "all users" All that is found are a few bookmarks from one user and none from the other, where all of my bookmarks are. This is making me nuts. Alright..nuttier. I search all users and can't find them. Why did they make MSN Explorer this difficut? The only thing I can think of to do is to type in every fricking one of them. That would be quite the project. Any last ditch effort I can make?

rtmjr50 · Post by **rtmjr50** » August 22nd, 2005, 7:37 pm

mrwayne wrote:Richard.. Those are awesome and very complete directions. I have two user names on MSN Explorer. I have checked the appropriate boxes for seaching for and showing hidden files. I have searched for bookmarks.html and bookmarks.bak and just bookmarks for "all users" All that is found are a few bookmarks from one user and none from the other, where all of my bookmarks are. This is making me nuts. Alright..nuttier. I search all users and can't find them. Why did they make MSN Explorer this difficut? The only thing I can think of to do is to type in every fricking one of them. That would be quite the project. Any last ditch effort I can make?

bookmarks,html is for firefox ... what you are looking for is favorites.xml

Post updated ....... follow along .....

from the original post by Swami ...

Do a search for favorites.xml on your computer. Thats what the MSN Explorer favorites file is called. Then go to this website http://www.linkagogo.com/go/Convert?inf ... t=netscape and convert them to .html format, which you can then import into Firefox from Bookmarks>Manage Bookmarks>File>Import.
You can also try this app, 'MSN Favorites Export Toolkit' from this website http://www.mainsoft.fr/en/downloads.htm

From ... MSN Favorites Export Toolkit' website
Oddly enough, Internet Explorer cannot import your MSN Explorer favorites. This toolkit does the job by transforming the MSN favorites file (favorites.xml) into a Netscape favorites file (bookmark.htm) that is (ironically) suitable for import into IE.
If you don't find favorites.xml on your system:
This file is generally marked as hidden / system. Please set the Search options accordingly when using Windows Explorer to locate this file. It is usually located in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\MSNx\UserData\{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxx}, x being replaced with different digits depending on your configuration.
Occasionally, the XSL tranformation of the MSN XML document may fail. This might be due to special characters not being processed correctly by MSXML. We are currently investigating this problem. The readme file contains instructions about how to handle this issue. If you still encounter such difficulties, please e-mail us your favorites.xml file. The process may also fail if you have an older version of MSXML, in which case you can update

so, if favorites.xml is on your computer and you have set explorer and search to correctly show hidden files ... then you will find it by using explore or search ...

so, again ... from my original post ...

for Windows Search ... place check in box next to ""Search Hidden Files and Folders"
and ...
for Windows Explore ... place check in box next to "show hidden files and folders"

# Window "Search" - Do a search for favorites.xml
Start -> Search -> "for files or folders" -> click on "All Files and folders"
(a) "All or part of the file name" type: favorites.xml
(b) click on "More Advance Options"
(c) place check in box to left of:
................"Search System Folders";
................"Search Hidden Files and Folders";
................ and "Search Subfolders".
(d) click on "Search" icon

# Windows "Explore" - Look for favorites.xml
Start -> right mouse button -> click "Explore"

This file is generally marked as hidden / system. Set the Search options accordingly when using Windows Explorer to locate this file. It is usually located in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\MSNx\UserData\{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxx}, x being replaced with different digits depending on your configuration.

(winXP/2K) -- using window explorer will not display/find hidden files/folders until you have change the default in the folder options menu: start -> settings -> control panel -> Folder Options -> view -> hidden files and folders -> check in box next to "show hidden files and folders" -> ok

later, Richard

asrnyc · Post by **asrnyc** » September 5th, 2005, 11:01 am

Hi,
I, too, am having trouble moving my MSN Explorer favorites into Firefox bookmarks. I followed the previous instructions, making sure that "show all hidden files" was checked in both Search and Explorer, but I still can't find "favorites.xml" . I have found other .xml files, but not "favorites". Any suggestions? Could the file have a different name? (I'm on XP professional, by the way).

Thanks!

mrwayne · Post by **mrwayne** » September 5th, 2005, 1:22 pm

I feel for you. After following all of the directions above which were very appreciated, I was unbale to have any success and MSN Explorer support said, "It can't be done." which I really think sucks. They say the only way to do it is to copy each book mark over, one at a time with a copy and paste. Why would anyone conceive of screwing someone over like that. Hmmmm Let me know if you have any success.

Wayne

meanroy · Post by **meanroy** » September 5th, 2005, 2:22 pm

OK, I just checked this out.
Firstly, you will probably *NEVER* get any help from micro$oft for FireFox.

Here's what I did. Open Explorer.
go to File-Import/Export, click.
An "import/export wizard" will open.
Click "next"
A pane will appear with several options. Select "Export Favorites", click "Next".
Another pane will appear, some source folders will be listed.
high-light the top one.
click "Next".
Yet another pane will appear with check boxes for "export to an application" or "File or address"
To make sure you can actually get to them I suggest selecting "File or address", and browsing to an easily found folder on your system. I created one called "favorites" on my 'C' drive.
This saves your favorites in a file called "bookmark.htm"
You can repeat this for all the folders shown in the wizard be repeating the operation as many times as required - I added a 1, 2, 3 respectivly for each folder exported. ie. Bookmark1.htm, Bookmark2.htm, etc. You apparently have to do this for each folder.

Then I went to Bookmarks on the FireFox navigation toolbar and opened "Manage Bookmarks"
Went to File-Import and browsed to the bookmark file I just saved and selected it.
press enter and it's loaded into your bookmarks.

Worked like a charm.
Roy.

asrnyc · Post by **asrnyc** » September 5th, 2005, 3:31 pm

Roy: Many thanks for the tips.
Unfortunately, my bookmarks are in MSN explorer, Not Internet Explorer. Import/Export is not an option under "file" in MSNExplorer. However, I will see if I can use what you said about internet explorer to figure out some kind of parallel method that works for MSN Explorer. (Why they made MSN Explorer and Internet Explorer function differently from each other, I'll never know.)

I'll let you know if I figure this out!

asrnyc · Post by **asrnyc** » September 5th, 2005, 4:59 pm

Is there a Dos solution?
I just saw in MCSnowy's post above that in Windows XP, the favorites file won't appear, even if you check all the "show all" options. So I tried to follow the instructions about how to accomplish this in DOS. But I'm not DOS literate. I got so far as to get to the command prompt and pull up the
c:\documents and settings\{my user name}\application data\MSN6\User Data directory. While no "favorites" file appeared, I thought a file called "downloadlink.xml" looked promising. Unfortunately, after that I got stuck. I tried the copy command as shown below and got error messages.

Any suggestions? Maybe I'm screwing up the Dos codes? For example, I'm not sure if I'm actually supposed to type *\{* as shown below, or if they just indicate "fill in the blank." And what do I fill it in with. I appreciate everyone's help.
Alice

LinkaGoGo wrote:
MSN Explorer users can find the bookmark file (favorites.xml) on their local drive (mostly the C-drive) in the directory "\Documents and Settings\{Username}\Application Data\MSN6\UserData\{UID}
On some Windows version like XP, the file is completely hidden. You can copy the MSN Explorer file to your "My Documents" folder by issueing the following commands in a command shell:
Code:
pushd %USERPROFILE%\App*\MSN6\Us*\{*
copy favorites.xml "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents"

Lost User 36785 · Post by **Lost User 36785** » September 5th, 2005, 5:36 pm

There is a program out there that supposedly can export your MSN Explorer favorites: <a href="http://msn.mvps.org/kb/MSN_Export_Favs.htm">Export MSN Explorer Favorites</a>

I've never used this program, but it should be worth a try.

asrnyc · Post by **asrnyc** » September 5th, 2005, 6:47 pm

Thanks! Actually, I just got it figured out using the LinkaGoGo and dos method. In case anyone wants to try it:

Note: stuff in [square brackets] is for you to fill in. Don't type the square brackets [ ].

1. Open the command prompt, from windows xp: start...all programs...accessories...command prompt
2. At the c:\ prompt type: dir favorites.xml/s
3. The file will appear, complete with the correct directory: c:\documents and settings\[your username]\application data\msn6\user data\[followed by a string of numbers and letters in curly brackets {}]
4. Change the directory to match the one you just found. Type: pushd c:\documents and settings\[your username]\application data\msn6\user data\{ [the string of numbers and letters noted in step 3 above]}
5. Copy the file. type: copy favorites.xml "c:\document and settings\[your username]\my documents"
6. Go to linkagogo: http://www.linkagogo.com/go/Convert?inf ... t=netscape
7. follow their instructions to make an html file.
8. In foxfire, go to: Manage Bookmarks
9. Choose File...Import...from file
10. Choose c:\documents and settings\[your username]\my documents\bookmarks.html

It worked for me, hope it works for you.

mrwayne · Post by **mrwayne** » September 5th, 2005, 7:28 pm

Ok... whew... I tried this... got to the copy command, then went to linkagogo. I assume both the input and output format is MSN Explorer. When I browse I go to C: documents and settings, user name, and then the my documents file. nothing happens. I do not see any html files or bookmarks under that location so, I chose mydocuments .. nothing... This seems sort of complicated. I'm sure I must not be doing something right , but at the command prompt for Windows.. everything said that it copied. ...

Still Lost...

Importing Favorites from MSN Explorer

Importing Favorites from MSN Explorer

importing favorites from MSN Explorer