Linkstash is a programme that reads the tree of browser bookmarks and displays them in an explorer-type display. But it would be far more convenient to have such a display within DOpus, because not only could we avoid a separate piece of software, but all the firepower of DOpus could be brought to bear. For example, we could write buttons to go directly to a folder or subfolder of bookmarks. A further possibility is to store all the bookmarks outside Firefox or IE in a folder with subfolders, thus avoiding all the import/export/json/html nonsense with different browsers. Is there any possibility of such a thing?
The first method could be done by someone writing a VFS plugin.
The second method (using files & folders) you could do trivially, just by dragging your bookmarks to folders (should create a .url file for the bookmark you dragged). (If it doesn't work from the bookmarks UI, you might need to go to a site and then drag the icon out of the browser's address bar.)
If you're using Internet Explorer, or can export/import the bookmarks into IE, then you've got the second thing already, since that is how IE stores its bookmarks. Just go to /favorites in Opus.
Every day I learn! Today I learnt two things! Thank you very much.
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I dragged this webpage's icon (on the left of its URL) into a DOpus panel, and yes, there is the webpage link sitting in the list of files.
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I imported all my folders and subfolder of bookmarks from Firefox into IE, and yes, there are they in my Favourites folder (which I have never used before).
I added the column "Description" to the Favourites display, and found that it shows the URL of the bookmark, which will be useful.
All sorted, except that two further questions arise about URL links displayed in the DOpus viewer pane.
- Suppose that a Favourites internet link has opened in the viewer pane. I click on links from that page, and come to a page that I want to drag into the favourites folder. There seems, however, to be no handle to drag. (Whereas when the page is opened in Firefox or UE, the URL and icon are displayed, and I can drag the icon onto the Favourites panel, as you advised.) Am I missing someting?
Perhaps there is a switch to display the URL and icon of whatever webpage is displayed in the viewer pane? That would be helpful for another reason, because it would allow one to go upwards or sideways in the tree by editing the URL.
If I go upwards (using Alt + <-- ) to the page that I came to before the webpage whose link I want to save, I can drag the hyperlink off this previous webpage onto Favourites. But it's a clumsy way to do things.
- I can right-click on the webpage, select "Add to Favourites", and find the desired subdirectory of "Favourites" using "Create in". The directory tree that comes up, however, is not sorted in alphabetical order (actually, the top level of subfolders is not, but the sub-subfolders are). Is there a way to determine the ordering of this tree?
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The viewer pane will show URL or HTML files but we are not trying to make Opus into a full web browser so you may need to open things in a real browser to do some actions.
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That's up to Internet Explorer as the dialog is not part of Opus.
Thanks, Leo. I was just checking that I hadn't missed something else that DOpus could do. One mouse click, or one press on "Enter", is all it takes to open the URL in Firefox, so there is hardly a problem.
Ten years later, I now have a large collection of .url bookmark files containing my bookmarks, and a simple script to create from a copied URL a bookmark file that I can open with any browser in any Sandboxie sandbox. Each bookmark file has an icon on the left from a collection of favicons that I have build up.
Well, only until some time around the last Windows 11 update to 22621.1992. Now each bookmark's filename is preceded by an empty white icon! It is so much harder to find a bookmark quickly in a list when there are no icons.
Has Microsoft deprecated .url bookmark files, or have I mucked up a setting somewhere?
For reference, my .url file for this forum's address is:
[InternetShortcut]
URL=https://resource.dopus.com/
IconFile=D:\DataValla\WebSave\Favicons\DOpus.ico
IconIndex=0
But the DOpus icon is no longer displayed on the left of the bookmark file.
. . . and I have deleted the icon cache several times using the approved method.
Same in File Explorer?
Works here right away. Are you sure the IconFile is still available?
Leo, I apologise for two mistakes in my post. First, File Explorer and DOpus behave the same way, which I had tested, but forgot to report. Each situation reported below was also checked in File Explorer and DOpus, and their behaviours always agreed.
Secondly, I simplified things by expanding environment variables in my post, thinking that they were not a problem. But the turgid notes below show that they appear to be the central problem.
Here is what happens when I make various changes to the icon path in line 3 of the URL file in my original post. On my system, D: is a substitute drive for C:@Data, created at boot by VisualSubst from NTWind.
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The correct DOpus icon is displayed when the path is
IconFile=D:\DataValla\WebSave\Favicons\DOpus.ico, or
IconFile=C:@Data\DataValla\WebSave\Favicons\DOpus.ico -
The Vivaldi icon (my default browser) is displayed when the path is
IconFile=/@WebSave\Favicons\DOpus.ico
— where /@WebSave is a DOpus alias for D:\DataValla\WebSave, or for C:@Data\DataValla\WebSave,
— or where /@WebSave is a DOpus alias for %@Data%\DataValla\WebSave, and %@Data% is either D: or C:@Data. -
A blank white icon is displayed when the path is
IconFile=%@Data%\DataValla\WebSave\Favicons\DOpus.ico
where %@Data% is D: or C:@Data. -
Similarly, a blank white icon is displayed when the path is
IconFile=%@WebSave%\Favicons\DOpus.ico
– where %@WebSave% is D:\DataValla\WebSave or C:@Data\DataValla\WebSave
– or where %@WebSave% is %@Data%\DataValla\WebSave, and %@Data% is either D: or C:@Data.
CONCLUSION: This all does seem to establish that:
- Icon paths with no DOpus aliases or env vars work perfectly.
- If an icon path has a DOpus alias, the icon of the default browser is displayed, whether or not an env var is also involved.
- If an icon path contains an env var but no DOpus alias, a blank white icon is displayed.
- Substitute drives are irrelevant, and so is the choice of DOpus or File Explorer.
MY PROBLEM: My icon paths have always had env vars but no DOpus aliases, and they have worked perfectly. These problems do seem (to a non-techie) to be a Windows bug introduced probably with the last update. I can write a script to change the icon path in each URL file so that it has no env vars (or DOpus aliases), but maybe I should wait for a couple of Windows updates to see if the bug is fixed.