For users still having bookmark and speed dial issues from old to new

hitanykey

hitanykey

A short while ago I decided to give Opera 20+ a chance to prove itself after sticking with 12.16 and switching to Seamonkey as my default browser.

I couldn't get the bookmark importer to work till I found a forum post that suggested that I use the following command to start up Opera: "C:\Opera\launcher.exe" --presto-small-prefs-dir="C:\Program Files (x86)\Opera"

I have Opera 20 in a folder at C:\Opera and Opera 12.16 at C:\Program Files (x86)\Opera\

I was able to get my bookmarks and even the speed dial to import into the new Opera no problem.

Then I had a number of issues develop on my Windows 7 desktop computer (I blame Microsoft in this case not Opera) that I couldn't fix. Fixing one problem just led to another. I couldn't burn CD/DVDs. My Seamonkey became corrupted and I couldn't repair it. The Windows Explorer kept crashing.

After trying numerous suggestions online, I decided either to re-install Windows (Win7 64bit) or restore from a backup. I decided to restore from a image backup. To much work in re-installing.

Anyway I tried to set up Opera 20+ the same way again. I enabled the bookmarks bar, activated the super user settings, changed a few other settings, downloaded a few extensions and themes and then tried to import my bookmarks. This led me to a blank page with no options to import anything.

I knew I had a way to do it but couldn't remember it and had to comb through a few forum posts to get the information: "C:\Opera\launcher.exe" --presto-small-prefs-dir="C:\Program Files (x86)\Opera"

This time this command erased everything I had set up and now it's disabled the bookmark importer. It's greyed out and I can no longer use it at all.

Finally, I decided to re-install Opera one last time. I remembered reading in the forums that the bookmark importer probably will not work if you do not install the new Opera in the old Opera folder. I wasn't ready to destroy Opera 12.16 for 20 whatever. I have Opera 12.16 set up so my profile is in the Opera folder. So I copied all the contents of Opera 12.16 to C:\Opera where I intended to install Opera 21. Then I installed Opera 21. (at the time of this posting ver21.0.1432.67). It worked

Bookmark importing now available and speed dials all carried over OK.

I was going to post questions here but figured it out and just decided to post my experience anyway for anybody having similar issues with the bookmarks and speed dials from old to new.

lem729

lem729

I remembered reading in the forums that the bookmark importer probably will not work if you do not install the new Opera in the old Opera folder. I wasn't ready to destroy Opera 12.16 for 20 whatever. I have Opera 12.16 set up so my profile is in the Opera folder. So I copied all the contents of Opera 12.16 to C:\Opera where I intended to install Opera 21. Then I installed Opera 21. (at the time of this posting ver21.0.1432.67). It worked>

Wow, you went to a lot of hassle. Congratulations, first, and second, thanks for sharing all of that with us. I didn't know that the new Opera needed to be installed in the old Opera folder (directory?). Opera must have done it automatically for me, when I downloaded the New Opera, then I believe Opera 18 or 19. Now when I look at my Opera 21, I see from About Opera that it's installation folder is c:\Program Files (x86)\Opera. In Opera 12.16, the About Opera there, doesn't give an installation folder(as far as I could see), but when I actually navigated to C:\Program Files (x86) in Windows Explorer, Opera.exe is there, which if clicked on opens Opera 12.17 and launcher.exe is there, which opens Opera 21. So it would appear they are in the same directory/folder. The Bookmark Importer did work for me.

A Former User

I recently installed Opera 21 on two machines, both with Opera 12.17 installed on them. I experimented a bit, and will also share my experiences:

I found the number of available Opera install files confusing, as I had been using Opera Next 22 on my desktop pc. On the other machine, a Netbook, I went to download the 'latest' Opera Next, and ended up with Opera 21 without realizing it. There are also downloads available with a "Campaign" tag in the file name. (E.g.: Opera_21.0.1432.67_Campaign_37_Setup.exe.) (More confusing, just to test, I went to http://www.opera.com/computer, and clicked on "Free Download for Windows" twice within a minute. The first time, I was presented with Opera_21.0.1432.67_Campaign_37_Setup.exe; the second time, with Opera_21.0.1432.67_Campaign_48_Setup.exe. I recall researching the 'Campaign' appendage yesterday, and it has something to do with Opera's 'user agent string', which is possibly being sent back to the company with crash reports, etc. Why they need it, I don't know, but must say I find the proliferation of install files, each differing by a few bytes in size, disconcerting! I finally was able to obtain Opera_21.0.1432.67_Setup.exe without any 'Campaign' designation, and used that for the install. [I don't recall now just where I found it, but I think it was on an Opera site, possibly an FTP site.])

After installing Opera 21 on a (64 bit Windows 7) Netbook, I went to my desktop pc and realized that Opera Next was at version 22, and that was the release version, not the 'developer' version for testing. I had Opera Next 22 on my (32 bit Windows 7) desktop installed in a separate directory in Program Files, and nothing was imported from v. 12.17. However, on the Netbook, I installed Opera 21 into the same folder as my 12.17 install, and the toolbar bookmarks were imported to the bookmarks toolbar in version 21. (Not, however, any of the other bookmarks from 12.17, not displayed on the toolbar. Those were not imported.) I also noted that Opera Next 22 had a white colored 'O' icon, whereas Opera 21 had a flattened red 'O' icon, making it very similar to Opera 12.17's rounded red 'O' icon.

Deciding to experiment a bit on my desktop, I uninstalled Opera Next 22, and reinstalled it in the same directory as Opera 12.17. It segregated itself nicely, installing itself into a sub-sub folder named with the version number, "22.0.1471.16". Version 12.17 was launched with Opera.exe, whereas version 22 was launched with Launcher.exe, which apparently 'launches' the Opera.exe file in the sub-sub folder under the version number. That way, both versions can coexist in "c:\Program Files\Opera" without conflict, as only the Opera.exe file for version 12.17 is in the "c:\Program Files\Opera" folder, the other Opera.exe file for Opera Next being buried one folder deeper. As I recall, now, Opera Next did not import any bookmarks from v. 12.17, nor did it create a Opera Notes.html file on the desktop when it installed. The icon to launch Opera Next was still the white 'O'.

Proceeding further, I next installed Opera 21 (without the 'Next' name, and no 'Campaign' number) in the same folder as v. 12.17 on my desktop pc. This time, I ended up with the red 'O' launcher (flattened to distinguish it from v. 12.17's rounded red 'O' icon). Similar to Opera Next 22, the install process created a folder named "21.0.1432.67" in the "c:\Program Files\Opera" folder, and it DELETED THE "22.0.1471.16" FOLDER, effectively uninstalling Opera Next v. 22! Also, with this install, my toolbar bookmarks were imported into v. 21 (those shown along the top of Opera 12.17's window, below the tabs). The myriad other bookmarks I have in v. 12.17, accessed in the Bookmarks sidebar that pulls out from the left, were not. Also, a file was created on my desktop called Opera Notes.html, as Notes are not (yet?) implemented within the v. 21 browser, and this file at least can be opened in a browser tab and read, so the Notes are not lost.

I finally installed the new Opera Mail on my desktop PC, and it pulled in all my emails, labels, and account settings from v. 12.17's integrated Mail client, with two glitches, one minor, one major. The minor glitch was that my old emails were being displayed as plain text, rather than as html, as in v. 12.17. This I corrected quickly by changing the display preference in the new stand alone mail program. The major glitch confused me for a bit, as I could not send nor receive any emails, despite the fact that my account settings had supposedly been imported properly from v. 12.17. I finally entered the passwords into the account settings, and the new mail program immediately worked properly, sending and receiving emails without a problem. The reason I was confused was that the settings window showed "[Password not displayed]" in the password fields, so I thought they had been imported, along with all the other info that was imported correctly. Apparently, they had not, and the new Opera Mail gave no error message of any type when I clicked on the icon to send/receive emails. It acted as if my mouse click had not been recognized.

I know the above is long, but I hope that it helps a few others who might be puzzling over the same issues as I puzzled over, while deciding which versions to install and exactly where to install them!

aboutblank6

5/18/2014