Sync your Firefox bookmarks with the iPhone

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As much as we love the Apple iPhone, we’re the first to admit that its iTunes synchronisation options are pretty inadequate. The problem is that it can only sync internet bookmarks with Internet Explorer and while it’s easy enough to create and manage bookmarks on the iPhone, we’d much rather sync our bookmarks from Firefox.

Well, it can be done, but it’s a bit of a kludge. We’re not aware of a way to synchronise the iPhone with Firefox directly, but keeping Firefox’s bookmarks in sync with Internet Explorer’s Favorites is a trivial task. And if Internet Explorer is in sync with Firefox, that means your iPhone is in sync with Firefox too. Find out how to do it after the cut.

The solution lies in a Firefox extension called SyncMarks that lets you synchronise Firefox’s bookmarks with a number of other browsers’, including Internet Explorer. Here’s how to get it up and running.

Step 1
Download and install SyncMarks (you’ll need to allow the site permission to install an extension), then restart Firefox to finish the installation.

Step 2
Once Firefox has restarted, go to Tools > Add-ons; select the SyncMarks extension in the list that appears and click its Options button.

Step 3
The SyncMarks dialog box appears. On the General tab, make sure the Firefox overwrites target option is enabled under Synchronisation Method. This means that Firefox’s bookmarks will always replace Internet Explorer’s. Enable the Synchronise on Startup and Synchronise on Exit options, too.

Step 4
Click the Choose Folder button to select which of your Firefox bookmarks to synchronise. This will usually be the Bookmarks folder, but you can select a sub-folder if you only want to synchronise some of your bookmarks. Click to select the folder, then click OK.

Step 5
Click the Favorites tab and enable the Synchronise to Windows Favorites option. If it hasn’t been selected automatically (or if you use a different folder), click the Choose Folder button to point SyncMarks at your Internet Explorer Favorites folder. Leave the other options at their defaults, then click the Synchronise Now button to perform the initial sync. Click OK and close the Add-ons dialog box.

Step 6
Open iTunes and connect your iPhone. When it appears under Devices, select it, then click the Info tab. Enable the Sync bookmarks option under Web Browser and select Internet Explorer from the list. Click the Sync button and your Firefox bookmarks will be copied to the iPhone.