How Do I... Use My Bookmarks Wherever I Am?

• Have you ever wished that you had your work bookmarks when you were at home?
• Have you ever wished that you could remember where that cool web site was that you discovered and saved on your home PC?
• Have you ever tried to show something to a friend or colleague using their computer but couldn't remember the URL?

Well it's happened to me many times and for years I looked for a solution and now I think that I've finally found one. It's simple to set up, easy to use and best of all, it's free.

Yahoo provides a free bookmark service for anyone who signs up so get over there now to http://bookmarks.yahoo.com and sign up.

Follow the steps below and you will have your bookmarks on line in just a few minutes.

Step 1: Sign up

Fire up your browser and head over to http://bookmarks.yahoo.com Click on the "Sign up now" link. Fill in the form with your details and click "Submit". That's it, you can now sign in using the details you just entered.

Step 2: Sign in

Return to http://bookmarks.yahoo.com and enter your Yahoo ID and password, the ones you entered when you signed up in step 1.

If you want to you can check the "Remember my ID on this computer" box to have your browser remember your details. Personally I don't like to do this because if my PC got stolen then the thief would have access to my on line details. If you have difficulty remembering passwords then take a look at my solution to that problem here

Click the "Sign In" button and you are ready to start adding your bookmarks. You can import your existing bookmarks from your PC but we'll get to that later.

Step 3: Add a folder

You will most likely want to organise your bookmarks into folders containing related bookmarks so lets start by adding a folder.

Click the "New Folder" link. Enter a Folder Name in the box. The comments are optional so you can add a short description of your folder if you wish. Click the "Save" button to save your new folder.

Step 4: Add a bookmark

Click on the Folder link that you created in step 3 then click "Add Bookmark".

Now open up a new browser window and go to the web page that you want to bookmark so that you can copy the url from the address box into the Site URL in the Yahoo bookmark page. You must enter the URL without the "http://" as Yahoo automatically puts that on for you. Add a name for the site and some comments and click the "save" button.

If you wanted to you could simply have typed in the URL without using your browser to access the page. You have to be certain that you can remember the URL to do this though.

You have just added your first bookmark.

Step 5: Add more folders and bookmarks

Repeat steps 3 and 4 to add as many folders and bookmarks as you need.

Step 6: Import your bookmarks

You will most likely want to transfer your bookmarks from your PC to Yahoo now.

Before you can import your browser bookmarks into your Yahoo bookmarks you first have to export them from your browser as an html file. Different browsers have slightly different ways of doing this so follow the instructions for your browser below.

Internet Explorer Version 6

Click on "File/Import and Export" This will start up the Import/ Export wizard. Click 'Next' and Select 'Export Favourites' then click 'Next' again. Select the Favourites folder that you want to export to Yahoo and click 'Next'. Either type in or browse to select the folder that you want to export your Favourites to, call the file 'bookmark.htm' then click 'Next' to complete the export.

Netscape 7.2

Click on "Bookmarks/Manage Bookmarks" to bring up the bookmark manager. Click "Tools/Export" and select a folder to save the bookmarks.html file then click 'Save'

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox is very similar to Netscape and the export bookmarks procedure is identical. Follow the instructions for Netscape 7.2 above.

Now that you have your local bookmarks saved in a file you can import them into Yahoo. Go to your online bookmarks at http://bookmarks.yahoo.com and log in. Click 'Import Bookmarks' to access the 'Importing Bookmarks' page.

Click the 'Browse' button towards the bottom of the page then locate and select the bookmark file that you just exported from your browser then click the 'Import Bookmarks' button. That's it, done.

Step 7: Access your bookmarks from anywhere

Now this is the really great part. No matter where you are or whatever computer you are working on you can access your online bookmarks in exactly the same way by pointing a browser to http://bookmarks.yahoo.com and logging in. Of course you do need to be connected to the Internet but if you are anything like me you will be plugged in most of the time.

If you are using Internet Explorer you can install the 'Yahoo Companion' from the sign up page. This adds a toolbar to the browser allowing fast access to your online bookmarks. I don't use it because I seem to use Mozilla Firefox or Netscape most of the time and the Companion doesn't work with these browsers.

Step 8: Backup your online bookmarks

Yahoo Bookmarks is an incredibly powerful tool and one that I have come to rely on heavily. Right now I have 552 entries in my online bookmarks. It also seems to be very reliable but you must not assume that it will be there forever or even all the time. There are a variety of reasons why your online bookmarks might get lost or corrupted and Yahoo have a right to discontinue the service at any time if they want...

So make sure that you back up your bookmarks regularly. Here is how you do it...

Log in to your online bookmarks and click 'Export Bookmarks' located along the top of your folder list. On the 'Exporting Bookmarks' page right click the 'Click here' link half way down the page. Select 'Save Link As' and enter a filename to save the bookmarks on your PC. Click the 'Save' button and it's done.

Your bookmark backup file is in the same html format as the one you imported in step 6 so the backup can be imported into your browser. Exporting a backup copy of your bookmarks regularly will ensure that you always have a way of restoring them if disaster strikes.