I accidentally synced my bookmarks from my iPhone to my computer, deleting nearly 300 bookmarks in the process. Is there anyway to recover these bookmarks? I do not have a backup of them.
I don't have an iPhone, so I'm not up-to-speed about its synching capabilities. Surprised though you can synch back into your computer the iPhones bookmarks, overwriting Safari's file. Seems there ought to be some type of warning prior to this type of synch given its ramnifications.
Unless you have a backup (Bookmarks.plist), perhaps on some external media, your options are really limited. Are you using any other browser besides Safari? If so, you can always export the bookmarks of another browser into Safari.
There are two ways to recreate the bookmarks, but both are time consuming.
First, open Safari. Then click on the Book Icon on the left of the Bookmarks Bar. Then click on the History collection. On the right you'll see the sites you recently visited. Double clicking on an entry opens the URL. Then (you'll get used to this), Apple/Option/B keys to open the Bookmarks Manager. There, you can drag the URL in the Address Window back into the Bookmarks Manager.
The groundwork required:
If you used the Bookmarks Bar, click on that collection in the Bookmarks Manager and set-up the various folders by clicking on the + button. When you have your Folder structure complete, you can start dragging the various URL's, opened via the History entries, into their respective folders.
Same holds true if you want to create any collection set for the Bookmarks Menu. In that case you would click on the + Button at the bottom of the Collections column, then on the right, create your Folder structure.
The second part of this process:
Finder>HD>Users>Your User Account>Library>Caches>Metadata>Safari>Bookmarks. Double-click on a Metadata entry opens a URL in Safari. There is no easy way to tell what site you are opening. Again drag the URL, where applicable, back to the Bookmarks Manager.
For future reference, by habit, I make a duplicate copy of my bookmarks file each week (Apple Key + D). While I use an external drive, I figure you can never have enough backups in this crazy computer world we live in.
You're welcome. Wish I could point you to an easier path.
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