Deleting "Bookmarks Bar" and "Bookmarks Menu" from Safari Sync

[clubvulgar]

I currently do not use any of my browser's bookmarking features. I do all of my bookmarking on del.icio.us

Hence, I was folowing the instructions given here (http://blog.delicious.com/blog/2008/01/using-delicious-on-your-iphone.html) to be able to bookmark from my iPhone. This involved a one time copy of a del.iciou.us link to my Safari toolbar and a sync with my iPhone. The link works fine from my iPhone, but it came along with two folders, the "Bookmarks Menu" and the "Bookmarks Bar." The del.icio.us link is inside of the latter.

I want to delete these folders and move the del.icio.us link into the main folder were all the other iphone bookmarks are. However, I can't figure out how to do this. I can't even figure out how to delete the "Bookmarks Bar" and "Bookmarks Menu" without moving the del.icio.us link. Any options besides resetting the phone?

Thanks.

 

[Xtal]

I was also stuggling with getting rid of the "Bookmarks Bar" and "Bookmarks Menu" folders.

Not sure how to adapt this to your situation, but here's what worked for me:

1. Select "Sync bookmarks from Internet Explorer" in iTunes
2. Select "Replace all information on this phone: bookmarks"
3. hit Apply

You will get all your IE bookmarks on the iPhone (note: all existing iPhone bookmarks will be deleted), and all of the folders will be deletable. You can choose which ones to keep or delete.

4. uncheck "sync bookmarks with IE" in iTunes before you sync again.

 

[clubvulgar]

In OS X, I don't have the option to sync with IE. Do you have a PC, or were you able to make this work?

Thanks

 

[Xtal]

yes, I have a thinkpad. perhaps you could sync to a pc somewhere? or maybe itunes syncs to another browser on OSX besides safari (not sure if firefox will show up in itunes), in which case the same trick might work.

other than that, restoring might be the easiest way.

 

[jonniedough]

You can delete those two folders by going to the bookmarks plist file located in ~/Library/Safari. Bookmark bar and menu are the first two entries, which should be deleted. This is most easily done with the plist editor, but you can also do it with a simple text editor.

Then save the file, and re-sync with Safari bookmarks (check the box in iTunes). Confirm that the folders are gone on the iPhone. Then turn OFF the Safari bookmark syncing option in iTunes, because otherwise those folders will reappear in the plist file and come back on the iPhone.

 

[clubvulgar]

I could not get it to work with the simple text editor, but with the trial of Plist Edit Pro it worked great. Thanks!

 

[spamdumpster]

I could not get it to work with the simple text editor, but with the trial of Plist Edit Pro it worked great. Thanks!

+1

 

[Graculus]

A simpler solution, which works with Safari 4 too

I tried editing the bookmarks plist with Textwrangler, then plist Editor Pro, but with no success. It might work with Safari 3, but it seems Safari 4 is more controlling and kept replacing them immediately. If I tried to sync after editing the plist but before restarting Safari, I just got an error message that the bookmarks on the iPod Touch (OS 3.0) were in use, though they weren't.

BUT, this worked:

1. Close Safari

2. Move ~library/Safaris/Bookmarks.plist to the trash

3. In iTunes, tick the option to sync Safaris books on the Info tab

4. Verify that the folders have disappeared from the iPhone/iPod

5. Clear the checkbox so you never sync Safari bookmarks again (these folder will return if you do)

6. restore bookmarks.plist from the trash

Somebody here suggested this:

I deleted bookmarks from user/appdata/roaming/safari/bookmarks then I synced to replace all exsisting bookmarks and that removed both folders.

Which sounds even easier, but I couldn't be bothered creating the problem again to test it.

 

[rakeshagrawal]

You can delete those two folders by going to the bookmarks plist file located in ~/Library/Safari. Bookmark bar and menu are the first two entries, which should be deleted. This is most easily done with the plist editor, but you can also do it with a simple text editor.

Then save the file, and re-sync with Safari bookmarks (check the box in iTunes). Confirm that the folders are gone on the iPhone. Then turn OFF the Safari bookmark syncing option in iTunes, because otherwise those folders will reappear in the plist file and come back on the iPhone.

Using a plist editor (PlistEdit Pro), this worked for me. I've been wanting to get rid of those two damn links for so long. Awesome!

(if it helps anyone else, make sure that Safari is closed when you edit the bookmarks plist file. I closed Safari 4, edited the file, did the sync, and then unchecked the "sync bookmarks" checkbox in Safari so it wouldn't try pushing those two folders down again)