Lost Synced Bookmarks and Speed Dials

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

I need guidance on how to locate and restore my lost synced Bookmarks and Speed Dials. I tried logging out and back in to my account with no success.
Version information
Version: 53.0.2907.110 - Opera is up to date
Update stream: Stable
System: Windows 7 64-bit

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @Guest last edited by

@makermon What do you mean by'lost synced'?

[A Former User]

A Former User @leocg last edited by

@leocg Thank you for your response. I might be explaining this incorrectly. As an avid Opera user for many years I have collected hundreds of Bookmarks that were displayed in several Folders in my Bookmarks Bar. Additionally I synced my data between four devices which provided me access to the saved Bookmarks.

Suddenly and without any warning my Bookmarks Bar went blank as did any access to these same Bookmarks on the synced devices. These are bookmarks added via Opera not to be confused with the Imported Bookmarks which are still available.

Since putting up this help request I opened and closed syncing on all my devices and it seems that all sync functions have returned to normal. EXCEPT all the aforementioned Bookmarks stored in folders are still gone.

Another welcome discovery was that many but far from all of the missing Bookmarks were in the Opera Trash bin. I was able to restore them to the Other Bookmarks Folder in the Bookmarks Menu and began the process of adding new folders and sorting the restored Bookmarks into them. Tedious but at least I was able to recover about half of the Bookmarks. I was also gratified to observe that these restored Bookmarks are showing up in the Bookmarks on the remote devices confirming normal sync opps.

So now my request for guidance centers around asking if there is a folder on my PC that stores the missing Bookmarks that I can access to restore them to my newly established subject folders? I found the Bookmarks Folders in the Opera Program Files but don’t know how to work with them.

I really appreciate your time invested in any advice you can provide.

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @Guest last edited by

@makermon Did you try checking the bookmarks page?

[A Former User]

A Former User @leocg last edited by

@leocg Yup! That's where I found some of the lost Bookmarks. They were under the "Other Bookmarks" tab in the menu which before this mess was empty. All the bookmarks I added with Opera were in folders displayed on the Bookmarks bar. The initial bookmarks I brought in from my Chrome browser were listed in the Imported Bookmarks tab in the menu.

At the same time I found the Bookmark Trash Bin in that same menu drop down which I opened for the first time and found the aforementioned missing Bookmarks.

When I open the sync page and do a discovery this is what comes back so the Sync Utility is finding them but I don't know from where.

I guess I have resigned to sort out the Bookmarks I found and give up on the ones I can't find. I was hoping that they were on an Opera server but apparently that's not the case.

I have never thought to backup or export my Bookmarks. I will now!

[A Former User]

A Former User @Guest last edited by

@makermon my bookmarks are/were in designated folders & now for some reason are all messed up some in folders marked for different topics.. Not sure what happened & the only way I can see to fix this is to start from scratch again then export to a file.. Not sure why this happened but it did & what a mess it is..

[A Former User]

A Former User @Guest last edited by

@casperandangel419
I feel your pain! I just spent about 2 hours reorganizing the Lost Bookmarks I found in Other Bookmarks and the Bookmarks Trash Bin. That said, there are still about 100 or so Bookmarks that apparently went to Opera Bookmark Heaven.

Lesson learned! After I got everything sorted out I Exported them to my PC and will make a habit of doing that on a regular basis.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 last edited by blackbird71

In every sync implementation I've encountered in software, it's wise to understand a couple of key points. First, sync is not a form of backup, even though it normally results in one's data being kept in duplicate on multiple systems... it's a way of slaving each of the multiple systems to each other in terms of the data that is sync'd. Second, when slaving systems to one another like that, bad things happening on any one of them (or in the sync system itself) can immediately ripple through to all of them and trash the data on each.

To prevent disaster when the second point occurs, it behooves users employing sync'ing of data or settings to be extremely diligent to employ separate, genuine backups somewhere within their multiple-system universe. Otherwise, this thread is exactly what can result.

[A Former User]

A Former User @blackbird71 last edited by

@blackbird71 Thank you for this excellent good guidance. Well taken and implemented! What happened to me spawned from both my ignorance and laziness. Lessons learned.