Android browsers and bookmarks. - General Questions and Answers

Android browsers and bookmarks. - General Questions and Answers

Rant PART (1) -
Having to recently reinstall Dolphin browser I tried to sync my bookmarks using Dolphin connect, Sync failed. After a log of faffing, reinstalled removing accounts etc etc its still failing.
To cut a very long story short i've only just found out today about google blocking chrome's API which essentially locks out every 3rd party app from syncing bookmarks, wow, just wow.
Not only that i've been unable to even import bookmarks to another browser from Chrome... wow.
When did google become apple, i'm now forced to use either chrome app which is pants or move everything to firefox which is also pants, why are these pants you say?
Rant (2)
What is the most important thing about a browser once you get beyond the fact it actually loads and its secure?, bookmarks, we all use them and most of us will probably like those on all of our devices without having to manually rebuild them every time we need to reinstall an app or get a new phone.
So bookmark sync is essential but is pretty now locked out to most third part browsers, you can only get google's from google and firefox from firefox, I couldn't even find a browser which would import any direct from either app / account, this is insane.
Rant (3)
Ok so lets say we've got our bookmarks in place, we'll no doubt use these all the time so we'll want quick access to this, oh no no no, 99% of browsers are still hiding saved / synced bookmarks behind several menus, chrome is slightly better than firefox though.
Prior to locking down its API dolphin was the best browser available for quick access, a quick swipe right reveals a list of all your shortcuts and these would update on the fly from you google chrome bookmarks on your desktop, this is no longer available and there is no manual sync.
Firefox should still be working in dolphin but dolphin haven't pulled their finger out and added support for the latest firefox so sync isnt working there either, this effectively makes Dolphin no different to any other browser so I've deleted this from my phone for the first time in years.
Why are android browsers so bad, do people who make then just not use them ,why on earth is there no swipe left/right or gestures to get quick access to bookmarks in any browsers?, the exception being lightning / dolphin browsers which does have swipe to bookmarks but as you cant import anything anymore thats totally useless, i'm not adding all 169 of my bookmarks manually to anything.
The upshot of this is i'm forced to use clunky Chrome app on android and this makes me very angry indeed.
If anyone has some workaround for these issues or can suggest a browser which does have some sort of sync or chrome bookmarks import working please let me know.

Im experiencing the same issue since rebuilding my phone. Did you ever get this resolved?

Same thing here. I've always used boat browser. Don't feel like sideloading it on my Note 9, so I downloaded puffin and then dolphin and neither have a way to import from another mobile browser or even an html file. How f'ing stupid in 2018 that you can't simply import bookmarks.
All I want is a damn browser that always has tabs at the top like a desktop browser so I'm not forced to change my workflow just because I'm on a smaller screen, and I want to save and import/export my bookmarks as needed. Neither chrome or firefox offer this. I guess I'm sticking with an old browser that still seems to do things the right way. Maybe that's why I can easily import and export bookmarks, because the last update was 2yrs ago, possibly before google crippled the **** out of how browsers work.
You would think there would be some sort of revolt, major complaint thread or something on it.

What is more amazing than today's total lack of sync is the fact that very few threads exist on this matter. It is like if everybody (else) has a secret way to do it or -worse- nobody cares. I really don't get it I must be getting too old!

cfrantzol said:
What is more amazing than today's total lack of sync is the fact that very few threads exist on this matter. It is like if everybody (else) has a secret way to do it or -worse- nobody cares. I really don't get it I must be getting too old!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google has people lulled into complacency. [emoji53]
Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

Related

[How To] Export Bookmarks from chrome to Dolphin

The objective of this thread is to be able to get the chrome bookmarks (desktop) into the dolphin hd browser (on the device).
I know that there are already apps that do that (syncing process). But, although they are not all paid, none of them really did what i was expecting and was a hole lot of trouble.
What were going to be doing is to "pass" the hole chrome bookmarks into the dolphin hd.
Theres no auto-sync function. Hell...actually theres no sync at all...its kind of a weird solution to be able to export the bookmarks.
so let me start by saying that the "idea" on how to do this came from this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1459360
in there, user wifesabitch exported the bookmarks (.html) and then transfer it to the boat browser in the phone and restore the bookmarks.
So, i took the same idea, but with my mind set in the dolphin browser.
First you have to export your bookmarks in your chrome.
1- Open chrome
Then do ---> Customize & Control (the tool logo on the upper right corner) ---> Bookmarks ----> Bookmark Manager
In Bookmark Manager go to Organize and click on the option "Export Bookmarks to HTML File"
Choose a path, name, and accept.
Ok. So now we have our hole collection of bookmarks in our nice little desktop...now what?
2- Go to your android. Open dolphin, and go search for the add-on (you can do that from the same browser) called Bookmarks to SD. Install it.
Great!. were almost there....
Now, using any file explorer, you can go to "SD/TunnyBrowser" (the dolphin folder) and youll see a new folder created there...called ...."Bookmarks". (really original...)
3- connect the android to your desktop. and copy the .html file from chrome inside that folder (SD/TunnyBrowser/Bookmarks)
4- open the newly installed add-on / app / whatever you wanna call it... (Bookmark to SD)
And youll have a few options. Go to Import. then mark in "dolphin browser" and click import.
It will ask you wich file you wanna import (you can have different ones). Choose one. and accept.
5-There you go!. you can go and check all your chrome bookmarks but within the dolphin browser.
Doas this mean that i have to do the same $"$"#$"#"#$#&T#%$&% process all over again everytime i wanna sync?
Yes. :S
Do you feel funny having to do all this mess for a simple little thing like importing bookmarks. And yet, there are ppl who can program NASA stuff?
Yes. :S
But. Hey..it is what it is.
If this help you guys, Awesome. I know that this is probably a really dumb stuff for this forum, but, i reallllllly search and could not find anything, so may be some of you can feel good having a nice simple way to do that.
I know it was good enough for me
Have Fun.

You know it REALLY burns me up that Dolphin cant have a "import bookmarks from file" option. If they really want to be taken seriously as a web browser, then they need this option.
Hell I bet internet explorer 2.0 had it, but in 2012 we still need to jump through all these hoops just to import some goddamn bookmarks.
(yes I am angry)

So here's what I do. Manual but less steps, perhaps. Works for me. Your mileage may vary.
I export my bookmarks from Chrome.
Upload the file to Dropbox.
Set the Dolphin HD home page to the Dropbox file.
When I want to update the bookmarks file, all I have to do is repeat the first two steps above. I'm running on a Mac and use a utility called Hazel that basically all I have to do is create the export and Hazel does the rest for me. Basically takse all of 15 seconds form to update the file on Dropbox.
Now when I hit the 'Home' button, I see a web page with all my links.
Hope this helps provide another way to accomplish the same thing that may be better suited to others.

I finde another solution. Just imported my Firefox bookmarks as .html file. Copied it to my phone. Opened it with Dolphin. It opens it as a list. And I added that listed page as bookmark.

nekher said:
The objective of this thread is to be able to get the chrome bookmarks (desktop) into the dolphin hd browser (on the device).
I know that there are already apps that do that (syncing process). But, although they are not all paid, none of them really did what i was expecting and was a hole lot of trouble.
What were going to be doing is to "pass" the hole chrome bookmarks into the dolphin hd.
Theres no auto-sync function. Hell...actually theres no sync at all...its kind of a weird solution to be able to export the bookmarks.
so let me start by saying that the "idea" on how to do this came from this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1459360
in there, user wifesabitch exported the bookmarks (.html) and then transfer it to the boat browser in the phone and restore the bookmarks.
So, i took the same idea, but with my mind set in the dolphin browser.
First you have to export your bookmarks in your chrome.
1- Open chrome
Then do ---> Customize & Control (the tool logo on the upper right corner) ---> Bookmarks ----> Bookmark Manager
In Bookmark Manager go to Organize and click on the option "Export Bookmarks to HTML File"
Choose a path, name, and accept.
Ok. So now we have our hole collection of bookmarks in our nice little desktop...now what?
2- Go to your android. Open dolphin, and go search for the add-on (you can do that from the same browser) called Bookmarks to SD. Install it.
Great!. were almost there....
Now, using any file explorer, you can go to "SD/TunnyBrowser" (the dolphin folder) and youll see a new folder created there...called ...."Bookmarks". (really original...)
3- connect the android to your desktop. and copy the .html file from chrome inside that folder (SD/TunnyBrowser/Bookmarks)
4- open the newly installed add-on / app / whatever you wanna call it... (Bookmark to SD)
And youll have a few options. Go to Import. then mark in "dolphin browser" and click import.
It will ask you wich file you wanna import (you can have different ones). Choose one. and accept.
5-There you go!. you can go and check all your chrome bookmarks but within the dolphin browser.
Doas this mean that i have to do the same $"$"#$"#"#$#&T#%$&% process all over again everytime i wanna sync?
Yes. :S
Do you feel funny having to do all this mess for a simple little thing like importing bookmarks. And yet, there are ppl who can program NASA stuff?
Yes. :S
But. Hey..it is what it is.
If this help you guys, Awesome. I know that this is probably a really dumb stuff for this forum, but, i reallllllly search and could not find anything, so may be some of you can feel good having a nice simple way to do that.
I know it was good enough for me
Have Fun.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for this - it was helpful to me

Well here goes nothing. I need to try this again (restored my phone)...

thanks
nico9 said:
NIce
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks! Half works for me, I had installed "Bookmarks to SD" previously but it was just throwing up a whole bunch of error. Thanks for the pointer about the "Bookmarks" directory with the "Tunnybrowser" directory.
Still, after churning for a while, I got a page saying "ERROR", nothing else. This is one nasty piece of work in my book. And the fact that in this day and age, you can't sync bookmarks between browsers? The alternatives are $ based subscription service like XMarks and CMarks?
Sorry for my rant.

Not working for me on GS3 JB rooted
Thanks to the OP for getting this going.
I tried the first post directions, but checked for the 'Booksmarks' folder in TunnyBrowser, but it was not there after installing the 'Bookmarks to SD' add-on for Dolphin.
I'm not sure if something has changed with Dolphin or the Add-On since the original post, but wondering why I don't see the 'Bookmarks' folder in sdcard/TunnyBrowser
I even created the Bookmarks folder and pasted an exported Chrome .html file in it, but 'Bookmarks to SD' will not find/see it.
Anyone else have this issue? workarounds?

Try Dolphin Connect from Chrome Web Store. I just started using this, and my bookmarks are totally synced now between Chrome and Dolphin.

BrownNote80 said:
Try Dolphin Connect from Chrome Web Store. I just started using this, and my bookmarks are totally synced now between Chrome and Dolphin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I confirm : it works fine !
I have deleted "chrome" which is a verry nice browser, but too "big" (>65Mo and not movable to Internal SD nor External SD)

Perfect Solution!
BrownNote80 said:
Try Dolphin Connect from Chrome Web Store. I just started using this, and my bookmarks are totally synced now between Chrome and Dolphin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for

thank you very much

anyone else having sync problems with this lately ??

robgee789 said:
anyone else having sync problems with this lately ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I am.
Have spent far too much time trying to get my bookmarks from Chrome to Dolphin without success
The sync between Chrome and Dolphin seems to be working okay.
Even have a Chrome bookmark folder showing in the Dolphin bookmarks list.
Inside are 3 files, Bookmarks Bar, Mobile Bookmarks and Other Bookmarks.
Only problem is, they are all empty.
Mike

mikerr44 said:
Yes I am.
Have spent far too much time trying to get my bookmarks from Chrome to Dolphin without success
The sync between Chrome and Dolphin seems to be working okay.
Even have a Chrome bookmark folder showing in the Dolphin bookmarks list.
Inside are 3 files, Bookmarks Bar, Mobile Bookmarks and Other Bookmarks.
Only problem is, they are all empty.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i loaded dolphin today and the at the top of the home screen it asked if i wanted to try the 9.4.2 beta version with flash enabled and the sync worked perfect with that version guys, if anyone cant find the 9.4.2 version just let me know and ill give you a link to it

robgee789 said:
i loaded dolphin today and the at the top of the home screen it asked if i wanted to try the 9.4.2 beta version with flash enabled and the sync worked perfect with that version guys, if anyone cant find the 9.4.2 version just let me know and ill give you a link to it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Rob,
I did download the Dolphin Beta version from the Play Store yesterday. But having exactly the same result, except there are no Chrome folders showing.Not certain what build this Beta is, as I can find no number anywhere. However flash has been disabled and it won't allow to be enabled.
The desktop Chrome is showing a link with Dolphin and even tells me how many bookmarks have been sent along with history.
Dolphin tells me it syncs okay and the download was successful. However, I cannot find the sent bookmarks anywhere in Dolphin,
I can receive a current Chrome desktop page that has been sent to Dolphin.
So, could try your source of Beta if you have the link please.
Thanks, Mike

Import Firefox bookmarks without uploading to any server

As the title says.
I want to import my Firefox desktop bookmarks, which I exported as an html file, to a web browser on my Android device.
I have Galaxy Captivate and Samsung Tab 2 tablet. Fro web browsers I have the built in browser and also Opera Mobile installed.
Now, my main requirement is a bit tricky. I DO NOT WANT TO UPLOAD my bookmarks to any OUTSIDE SERVER.
So this excludes Opera Link, and Google acount sync, and couple other apps out there that sync.
I DON'T NEED TO SYNC my bookmarks, only one time import them to my Android device.
I've already tried "Bookmarks Easy Import" app by CB56 and it does not work on my Tab 2. It says my stock browser does not support folders and that's it.
I NEED ALL MY BOOKMARK FOLDERS IMPORTED. Without folders my bookmarks are useless as I have last almost 20 years of bookmarks organized in folders. I need those on my Android devices or at least on the Tab 2 for now.
Mission Impossible?

shapeshifter910 said:
As the title says.
I want to import my Firefox desktop bookmarks, which I exported as an html file, to a web browser on my Android device.
I have Galaxy Captivate and Samsung Tab 2 tablet. Fro web browsers I have the built in browser and also Opera Mobile installed.
Now, my main requirement is a bit tricky. I DO NOT WANT TO UPLOAD my bookmarks to any OUTSIDE SERVER.
So this excludes Opera Link, and Google acount sync, and couple other apps out there that sync.
I DON'T NEED TO SYNC my bookmarks, only one time import them to my Android device.
I've already tried "Bookmarks Easy Import" app by CB56 and it does not work on my Tab 2. It says my stock browser does not support folders and that's it.
I NEED ALL MY BOOKMARK FOLDERS IMPORTED. Without folders my bookmarks are useless as I have last almost 20 years of bookmarks organized in folders. I need those on my Android devices or at least on the Tab 2 for now.
Mission Impossible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bump

shapeshifter910 said:
Bump
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So nobody knows and/or it can't be done.
And it doesn't bother anybody that you have to upload your bookmarks to someone's server in order to import them.
Nobody cares about their privacy any more?
Pretty sad state of affairs it is.

shapeshifter910 said:
So nobody knows and/or it can't be done.
And it doesn't bother anybody that you have to upload your bookmarks to someone's server in order to import them.
Nobody cares about their privacy any more?
Pretty sad state of affairs it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand your concern, but no more bumps please.

Dolphin Browser History Access-was I hacked?

So I have been using Dolphin Browser for more than two years now, and I recently found out that I had downloaded a live wallpaper on the Play Store a while back (not sure how long ago). Well, it turns out that this app has a permission allowing it to read and write my internet history on a "Default browser". Now I am worried that the app is malicious and actually sent my browser information to the developer, as it had network access (and why would a live wallpaper need to access my history and bookmarks anyway?). I know that Chrome allows other applications to read the browsing history and bookmarks as it says so in their privacy policy, but nowhere on Dolphin Browser's policy does it say that they allow apps to access such info. Do you think I got hacked? Does Dolphin let other apps see its data? I emailed Dolphin support yesterday but I have not heard back from them yet. Any help appreciated, even if it is just an opinion on whether or not my data has been compromised to some weirdo who likes spying on people for whatever reason.

AFAIK its just ad. the dev want to acces your default browser history and bookmarks just to send ad. dont worry man

Chrome seems to back history up at Google's, not matter what

Playing a lot with my Nexus 6, I came to want to try Chrome out a bit, for a change from Firefox. And I stumbled on what I consider a very big problem.
All my browsers, I set up to clear history, cache, cookies, etc, as soon as I stop using them. Be it for pr0n, bank managing, or mere general hygiene, I just want the browser to start fresh every time I launch it (I only keep bookmarks and some selected passwords).
Now, with Chrome, there doesn't seem to be any real way to wipe all the crap when exiting the browser. So I started playing with deleting of history, recent tabs and cookie files in /data/data/com.android.chrome/app_chrome, triggered by recent app swipe out (process stop) detection in Tasker. And it worked, for some time.
Problem, after having swiped Chrome out, deleted history files, and checked the history and recent tabs indeed seemed wiped, when tapping on the clock history icon, on the lower right part of the empty home page, then tapped on display whole history (translated from my language; YMWV). But OCD striked out, and I went back to the empty home page, to repeat the same process again. And again...
Until I ended up with the history appearing back, out of seemingly nowhere. So I wiped everything in the app itself (clear browser data), which works OK everytime. And now disconnected the phone from data before wiping the history and co files. And then went back to the history icon routine: now, without data, the history doesn't appear back. Then, I activated data anew, went on the repeated history checking, and bang: history appears right back...
So, when one tampers when Chrome history and co files, it seems Chrome restores those from the Internet, most probably from Google. Even though I set web history to off in my Google settings... Also tried History Cleaner Pro for root app, and end up with the same exact behaviour from Chrome. For what is worth, I use latest everything, factory 5.0.1, rooted, up to date Nexus 6.
Seriously: what's that crap?!?! Do you observe the same behaviour? Do you know of a way to teach hygiene to Chrome? Not sure I'll be touching the thing again though, even with a barge-pole... There may be a way to clean Chrome (would it be manually, in the app itself, which works as far as displaying information from previous sessions), but this experience tends to make me believe Chrome will save the history and all kind of crap at Google's, even if it doesn't display it anymore in the browser, even when you ask Google not to manage your history. And I surely won't have that. Back to Firefox, I am.

noraef said:
Playing a lot with my Nexus 6, I came to want to try Chrome out a bit, for a change from Firefox. And I stumbled on what I consider a very big problem.
All my browsers, I set up to clear history, cache, cookies, etc, as soon as I stop using them. Be it for pr0n, bank managing, or mere general hygiene, I just want the browser to start fresh every time I launch it (I only keep bookmarks and some selected passwords).
Now, with Chrome, there doesn't seem to be any real way to wipe all the crap when exiting the browser. So I started playing with deleting of history, recent tabs and cookie files in /data/data/com.android.chrome/app_chrome, triggered by recent app swipe out (process stop) detection in Tasker. And it worked, for some time.
Problem, after having swiped Chrome out, deleted history files, and checked the history and recent tabs indeed seemed wiped, when tapping on the clock history icon, on the lower right part of the empty home page, then tapped on display whole history (translated from my language; YMWV). But OCD striked out, and I went back to the empty home page, to repeat the same process again. And again...
Until I ended up with the history appearing back, out of seemingly nowhere. So I wiped everything in the app itself (clear browser data), which works OK everytime. And now disconnected the phone from data before wiping the history and co files. And then went back to the history icon routine: now, without data, the history doesn't appear back. Then, I activated data anew, went on the repeated history checking, and bang: history appears right back...
So, when one tampers when Chrome history and co files, it seems Chrome restores those from the Internet, most probably from Google. Even though I set web history to off in my Google settings... Also tried History Cleaner Pro for root app, and end up with the same exact behaviour from Chrome. For what is worth, I use latest everything, factory 5.0.1, rooted, up to date Nexus 6.
Seriously: what's that crap?!?! Do you observe the same behaviour? Do you know of a way to teach hygiene to Chrome? Not sure I'll be touching the thing again though, even with a barge-pole... There may be a way to clean Chrome (would it be manually, in the app itself, which works as far as displaying information from previous sessions), but this experience tends to make me believe Chrome will save the history and all kind of crap at Google's, even if it doesn't display it anymore in the browser, even when you ask Google not to manage your history. And I surely won't have that. Back to Firefox, I am.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stop using chrome lol.
only solution i can think of. **** i dont even use google search because they record that too. i use duckduckgo, they dont track

Phurkus said:
i dont even use google search because they record that too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I don't care so much about them recording what I do as about them forcefully flinging that crap back at me... that's what annoyed me. Anyway, yeah, stopped using Chrome, and won't go back to it.

I am looking for specific date on History Brower. Dates before and after appear but there is a gap. Any ideas how to restore these missing dates.

Phurkus said:
stop using chrome lol.
only solution i can think of. **** i dont even use google search because they record that too. i use duckduckgo, they dont track
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Censorship is also a quite a problem. So many search results get axed because the copyright mafia deems its infringing on their multi-billion dollar project copyrights.
Ironically, even Bing fares better than google and bing belongs to mcrosoft.

agreed. I use bing as my default search engine in browsers. As for Chrome, if OP is still interested, and their isnt an browser sync option in settings>accounts>google, you can use an app like disable services to disable com.google.chromesync.... or something along those lines. you'd have to look thru and find it in GooglePlayServices

Are people still having this issue with not being able to clear google chrome browser history on android?
If so, I found a way to clear it. I will be making a video tutorial if interest with this issue is still in demand. If so please don't hesitate in responding.

Google Chrome, Android and Bookmarks.

What is it about bookmarks google doesn’t like?
Google is a multi billion dollar company and has working for it some of the greatest innovative minds currently in the world – and they cant even come up with a decent web browser after years of development….
A Google web browser should be - (in order of importance IMHO)#
(1) Fully working Fast and stable
(2) Be able to sync bookmarks from desktop bookmarks.
(3) Have quick access to these bookmarks
Ok, 2 out of 3 isn’t bad right?, no this is simply ludicrous. As is stands now I can only find one browser that can do this, Dolphin and its crashy as hell with 5.0.
Has anyone found any other browsers?, I ‘ve spent ages looking for something but found no others which give me:
(a) One click or swip access to bookmarks
(b) Desktop bookmark Sync (not import)

Database Info

welcome