Bookmarks Do Not Stay in Folders

Question

Level 1

6 points

Bookmarks Do Not Stay in Folders

My Safari bookmarks do not stay in their folders. I'd like to know how to fix this. The randomizing bookmarks began about 6 weeks ago. Prior to that I could add a bookmark to a folder and it would stay there. It would also sync correctly via iCloud with my iMac, MacBook, and iPhone.

- Software is up to date

- iCloud has tons of room

- I have about 250 bookmarks; I use them in my work

- I'm generally not too dumb with web browsers...but who knows!

What I've tried:

- Turned off Safari in iCloud on all three devices

- Organized bookmarks on MacBook and exported the bookmark.html file to the desktop

- Deleted all bookmarks on all three devices

- Imported the MacBook bookmark.html file back to Safari on the MacBook

- Turned on Safari in iCloud on the MacBook and checked to make sure the bookmarks were in the right places; they were

- Turned on Safari in iCloud on my iMac and iPhone

- The bookmarks appeared in their correct folder for about 3 days and then were again in a random list and oddly, some, but not all, were also in their original folders

- When I try to add a new bookmark it will not stay in the folder I put it in; it winds up at the bottom of a random list.

iMac and MacBook running 10.13.6, iPhone iOS 11.4.1

I've been using Safari since it first came out, around 2003 I think, with no such problem.

Thank you

MacBook, macOS High Sierra (10.13.4)

Posted on Aug 13, 2018 11:51 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

685,251 points

Aug 18, 2018 3:24 PM in response to Skyman61

Export your Bookmarks to keep a copy.

Might be a corrupt .plist.

Do a backup, preferably 2 backups on 2 separate drives.

Quit the application.

Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library. Then go to Safari/Bookmarks.plist. Move the .plist to your desktop.

Restart the computer, open the application, and test. If it works okay, delete the plist from the desktop.

If the application is the same, return the .plist to where you got it from, overwriting the newer one.

Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.

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Answer 2

Aug 14, 2018 9:19 AM in response to Skyman61

I suggest you use the program created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. It will provide a snapshot of your system which we can analyze to possibly determine the cause of your problem. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read. On the screen with Options, please open Options and check the bottom 2 boxes before running. Click “Share Report” button in the toolbar, select “Copy to Clipboard” and then paste into a reply. This will show what is running on your computer. No personal information is shown.

Etrecheck – System Information

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

685,251 points

Aug 18, 2018 3:26 PM in response to Skyman61

You are welcome. Good.

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Answer 4

Skyman61 Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 18, 2018 3:24 PM in response to Eric Root

Thank you.

Update: It turned out an iPad a family member has been using was still syncing via iCloud. When Safari was disabled in iCloud on the iPad I was able to go through the process of turning off Safari in iCloud on the remaining devices, organize the bookmarks the way I wanted in folders on one device (iMac), delete the bookmarks on the other devices (MacBook and iPhone), then re-enable Safari on iCloud first on the device I had them organized on, then re-enabled Safari on iCloud in the other devices (MacBook and iPhone). That solved the problem. I think there might be a problem with the bookmarks on the iPad, or something to do with Safari not being used for a long time on the iPad. In any case, its all working now.

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Bookmarks Do Not Stay in Folders

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