momusradar

It has been months since the last time my Safari bookmarks synced properly
with .Mac. While parusing Apple Discussions forum, I came across a post that offered a fix that garnered positive replies. After completing the perscribed actions, I am quite pleased to say that my bookmarks are properly synchronized.

The following steps did the trick (note that these steps work with Mac OS X 10.4 & 10.5:

1. Quit all applications that use .Mac syncing (Address Book, iCal, Safari, &c.)
2. Launch System Preferences and click on .Mac. Uncheck all items in the sync window, then turn off syncing in the .Mac panel of System Preferences, and quit the System Preferences application.
3. Re-launch System Preferences and click on .Mac. Unregister the computer under the Advanced tab & quit System Preferences again.
4. Launch the Terminal application—typically found in the Utilities folder (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)—and issue the following three commands to halt synchronization and move local sync data to the desktop:
   killall SyncServer syncuid
mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/SyncServices/Local/ ~/Desktop/
killall SystemUIServer
   (A folder named Local will appear on the desktop, which can be deleted afterwards. Also a System dialog box may request to login into iDisk; this can be cancelled with no harm apparently done.)
5. Quit Terminal.
6. Launch a web browser and log into .Mac (www.mac.com). Click Bookmarks to open a bookmarks window. Click on the preference panel icon at the bottom of the bookmarks window. In the following page uncheck the option to Turn on .Mac Bookmarks Synchronization and click Save. Log out completely from .Mac.
7. Re-open the .Mac panel in System Preferences & check the Synchronize with .Mac option. Set its pop-up menu to Every Hour. Check all the items whose info you want to synchronize then click Sync Now. Select the option to replace .Mac data with the computers data and quit System Preferences when the sync has completed.
8. With the web browser log back into .Mac (www.mac.com).
9. Click Bookmarks to open a bookmarks window. Click on the preference panel icon at the bottom of the bookmarks window. Check the option to Turn on .Mac Bookmarks Synchronization and click Save. In the following page select the option to replace .Mac bookmarks with the computer’s bookmarks.

Finally the bookmarks should be properly synchronized. Also since the above process completely resets .Mac syncing, when you click on Address Book in .Mac’s navigation menu, you should be presented with the option to replace .Mac Address Book enteries with those from your computer.

addendum May 18, 2008

Thanks to Bernie’s feedback, I have confirmation that this trick also works well in 10.5.

addendum June 13, 2008

Thanks to Kev’s feedback, anyone trying this who also uses the Back to My Mac service should make sure that it is turned off, as it appears leaving BtMM on will not allow you to unregister.

addendum June 17, 2008

Web access to .Mac Bookmarks ends in July 2008.

As part of the transition from .Mac to MobileMe, web access to .Mac Bookmarks will end in July 2008. You will no longer be able to access or update your bookmarks at mac.com. Mac-to-Mac sync will not be affected.

To avoid losing bookmarks saved on .Mac, please sync them with your Mac before June 30. This will ensure that MobileMe can keep your bookmarks in sync going forward. Here’s how.