iCloud not syncing IE bookmarks from PC

I had a similar issue in that I could not get IE bookmarks to sync to icloud. However, they synced fine with my two IOS devices. I tried turning the sync on and off in the icloud control panel. Nothing worked. Once I closed ITunes, the bookmarks showed up. Go figure.

All –

What I am offering up is what I can best remember from the past week of dealing with Apple problems, Bookmarks and the iCloud Control Panel. I found two solutions for my two different computers, the first solution being a subset of the latter, which was a bite-the-bullet solution.

- PROBLEM -

Computer A, my wife’s Windows 7 laptop, and Computer B, my Windows 7 laptop, were both upgraded to the iCloud Control Panel back in March. My Outlook syncing worked wonderfully, so I erroneously believed the Bookmarks were also syncing, which I recently realized they were not for both computers.

I knew I was getting to the iCloud from my iPhone and my wife’s iPad, as I could delete the iCloud Bookmarks and restore them just fine. The problem in my situation was that both computers were being prevented from having a dialogue with iCloud.

- SOLUTION 1 -

The following Apple Support article describes the need to add eight programs into your security checking, which I added to the Windows firewall (“Allow programs to communicate through Windows Firewall”):

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4175?viewlocale=en_US

• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services\iCloud.exe
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services\iCloudServices.exe
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services\AppleOutlookDAVConfig.exe
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services\BookmarkDAV_client.exe
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services\ApplePhotoStreams.exe
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services\ApplePhotoStreamsDownloader.exe
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support\APSDaemon.exe
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support\WebKit2WebProcess.exe

I also found this Apple Support article which referenced having in IE’s Trusted Sites list *.icloud.com versus https://www.icloud.com, which I also updated:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4991

After unchecking and then rechecking Bookmarks in the iCloud Control Panel, Computer A now worked, but Computer B would not! This was good news, in a way, in that I could now focus on any differences between the two computers.

- SOLUTION 1+ –

Various options I tried with Computer B which produced no positive results:

• Test with anti-virus turned off
• Install a different anti-virus program
• Do a reset of the Winsock (netsh winsock reset)
• Do countless turning Off, On, reboots

Finally, I created a new user account on Computer B and from the iCloud Control Panel I only activated the Bookmarks option (i.e., no Outlook or Photo Stream). That WORKED, which told me I had something corrupt which was blocking my computer from seeing the iCloud. (I really should have tried this step sooner!)

So, as a last resort, I decided to uninstall everything Apple, and methodically bring things back online, the first being the iCloud Control Panel, with Bookmarks only, then Outlook, then iTunes and QuickTime.

Long story short, everything now works!

- DETAILS -

I’ve added the following for those that would like some more detail.

Switching back to my ID, I exported my iTunes Library and then uninstalled:

• iCloud Control Panel
• iTunes
• QuickTime

After rebooting, I then deleted everything Apple:

• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Apple Software Update
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\
• C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Apple
• C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Apple Computer
• C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\LocalLow\Apple Computer
• C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer

After rebooting, I then installed iCloud Control Panel, signed in, but only selected the Bookmarks option. After closing iCloud Control Panel, I opened IE, and all of my Bookmarks were now synced! So I then went back and selected the Outlook option, choosing to not have any files uploaded to iCloud. With that all working fine, I then installed iTunes, and somehow it was able to put everything back on its own, though I was prepared to handle that, too.

- CONCLUSION –

For whatever reason, Computer B needed more than just Solution 1. I wish I would have tried adding a new user sooner, as that would have saved me hours of researching and testing.

While your own solution may be different, I thought I’d share my experiences as I had relied on so many of you for yours.

(Side note for Windows 7 Outlook users: Somewhere along the line, in another discussion, I remember someone complaining about having to have two sets of Contacts, etc. in Outlook, due to iCloud replicating the records. CodeTwo has a very good program which synchronizes your Outlook and iCloud contacts, tasks, and events.)

Best wishes, and thanks to all for providing tips, hints, and insight.

- Ted5612

I would also note, if not mentioned before, that you cannot have moved your IE bookmarks from the default user location. I was having a heck of time getting them to sync properly because I changed the location to somewhere other than C:\Users\User Name\Favorites. Racked my brain for hours until I moved them back to the default. Now no issues syncing.

“PC Bookmarks” iphone/ipad app by Airsee LLC. It collects all favorite urls (bookmarks) from Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome in Windows 7, XP, and then imports them to the app. check iTunes app store.

demo: http://ossly.com/bmp.html

Neither my Win7 Laptop nor PC's Inernet Explorer were syncing bookmarks with iCloud.

I went through some of the suggestions in this list and nothing really helped. Hopefully I'm not repeating anyone else here.

This is what solved my problem:

(1) Go to iCloud control panel and disable bookmarks for internet explorer.

(2) Go to your "Favorites" folder (C:\users\<username>\Favorites) using Window's Explorer and move all the contents to a New Folder on your desktop.

(3) Go back to the iCloud control panel. Within seconds the Favorites folder is re-populated from iCloud.

(4) Move any missing links from the New Folder on your desktop to the corresponding Favorites folder.

If your bookmark syncing has not been working for a while you may have a substantial number of bookmarks in the "New Folder" that were not downloaded to your Favorites folder from iCloud. I didn't have this situation and I don't know what will happen if you move a large number of items from the New Folder back over to the Favorites folder.

Hope this helps.

I concur with SaddleBear’s solution being worth a try for some PC/iCloud bookmarking syncing problems, as I happened to use the same steps several weeks ago. I found things had gotten out of sorts since my post of October 9, 2012, when the steps I outlined helped my situation then, but they didn’t help this time around. So, I decided to make my PC bookmarks a “clean slate” (i.e., moved my bookmarks to another location) and used the iCloud Control Panel to push the iCloud bookmarks to reinitialize the PC bookmarks. SaddleBear’s steps, noted above, cover everything, so I’m not going to repeat them here. Thank you, SaddleBear, for taking the time to document and share!

Thank you....Fixed it..

Thank you very much SaddleBear. Your advice worked. Problem Solved!!!!! Finally, I can two way sync my bookmarks. This is the answer I have been looking for, for months.

That did the trick.

Thanks,

Merg

SaddleBear is the Bomb! That solution worked perfectly--after spending days trying fruitlessly. Thank you very much!