Adding Favorites from Machine #1 to Machine #2

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fripper - 30 Nov 2005 20:57 GMT

I have a simple question ... I have a friend who has a new computer and
wants to add the IE favorites he has on his old machine to the favorites
that he alreadty has on his new machine. Can he create a file on the old
machine by exporting his favorites, copy that file to the new machine and
import it into his new machine without disrupting his existing favorites on
the new machine? Alternatively, can he go into Organize Favorites on his
old macine, right click the folders that he wants on the new machine, select
copy and paste them into a new file ... then move the file to the new
machine and copy/paste the links into his favorites on the new machine?

Thanks.

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Sid Knee - 30 Nov 2005 21:50 GMT

> I have a simple question ... I have a friend who has a new computer and
> wants to add the IE favorites he has on his old machine to the favorites
> that he alreadty has on his new machine. Can he create a file on the old
> machine by exporting his favorites, copy that file to the new machine and
> import it into his new machine without disrupting his existing favorites on
> the new machine?

Absolutely .... I've often done exactly that.

> Alternatively, can he go into Organize Favorites on his
> old macine, right click the folders that he wants on the new machine, select
> copy and paste them into a new file ... then move the file to the new
> machine and copy/paste the links into his favorites on the new machine?

Don't know if that would work or not - never tried it - but I doubt it.
The links are actually kept as folders/files in a <Favorites> diectory
in the user's directory tree under <Documents and Settings>.

In principle, you can simply copy those files and folders from the
<Favorites> directory on the old machine to the <Favorites> directory on
the new machine. I've done some of that but in practice it's less than
perfect. Some links appear to have characters in them that are strictly
illegal as filename characters in Windows. While IE will create and
manipulate those link files (illegal characters and all) in the
Favorites directory - because it has to in order for the system to work
- Windows itself cannot manipulate them and so cannot copy, move or
delete them. If you try to do a mass copy of all the favorites files,
Windows will barf when it reaches an offending name (and stop copying at
that point).

In my experience, the simplest way to do what you want is by the
export/import method that you suggested first and it works well.

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Alan Edwards - 30 Nov 2005 22:30 GMT

Yes.

...Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
http://dts-l.org/index.html

>I have a simple question ... I have a friend who has a new computer and
>wants to add the IE favorites he has on his old machine to the favorites
>that he alreadty has on his new machine. Can he create a file on the old
>machine by exporting his favorites, copy that file to the new machine and
>import it into his new machine without disrupting his existing favorites on
>the new machine?

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