Forum Discussion
Keep Favorites Synced between Internet Explorer and Edge NOT available in Edge Chromium
Chris Jackson Deleted
I'm not quite sure what's so hard to understand about the issue.
This has nothing to do with Windows 7 or with Internet Explorer specifically. How IE mode suddenly came into the picutre - I have no idea. This is all about where to store the favorites in the new Edge.
The issue is the following:
- Users are using multiple computers. To have the same desktop, documents and favorites on all those computers Microsoft's "Folder Redirection" is used and configured through GPOs.
- So Internet Explorer's favorites are stored on e.g. \\server\users\%username%\favorites
- The old Edge has a GPO that allows it to automagically sync its own favorites with Internet Explorer's favorites that are stored on that network path. If you add a favorite in either IE or the old Edge it is automagically synced to the other browser instantly.
Now the new Edge comes along and we have to face the following limitations:
- Any kind of cloud-sync or usage of Microsoft accounts is not possible due to data privacy regulations
- The new Edge is storing its favorites in the local file deep inside the %LOCALAPPDATA% folder of the user.
This causes issues for us in a number of ways.
While the first-run import of favorites (from the redirected Internet Explorer favorites) is currently broken in v80 (its supposed to be back in v81) it only provides a momentary snapshot of the redirected favorites.
The bookmarks file being a local file means that we cannot easily back it up either. And when the user receives a new PC or uses a different machine than he usually does he'll have to import all the favorites again, from the redirected Internet Explorer favorites. But all the favorites he has managed in the new Edge in the meantime are not available (or even gone for good in the case of a new PC).
Importing the same old IE favorites on different PCs will soon result in having different favorites on all those PCs. And there is no way to easily merge them either.
This is a real problem.
We really need a way to redirect the bookmarks file to a network location so that it can be:
- used from multiple PCs
- be backed up easily during the regular server backup
- not get lost when the user's PC dies or gets replaced for another reason
All this was easily doable with the redirected favorites folder used by Internet Explorer and thanks to the "keep favorites synced" GPO in the old Edge Browser.
Also, please do not suggest to use the "UserDataDir" policy. This would redirect the entire user profile to a different location. Cache and everything. It is also not quite certain whether a redirected UserDataDir can actually be used by multiple instances of Edge on different computers at the same time (locked files issue and such). But even if it was possible, we really don't want to roam 100MB+ of useless data.
All we are really looking for is the possibility to specify a network location for the "bookmarks" file that is by default stored under "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default". That's all we really want and need.
Bonus points for actually bringing back the "keep favorites synced between IE and Edge" policy that the old Edge supported. But that would really only be the cherry on top.
I have a follow up question on this. Typically, for large customers who have IE dependencies but also need to use modern websites, we would recommend using IE mode. That way, from a user perspective, you just use 1 browser and we use the site list to ensure that the sites just work.
Using IE mode, you would typically just store all of your favorites in Microsoft Edge, and the browser would take care of ensuring the site works.
We would still need to solve the problem of on-prem sync (which the team is currently investigating), but I'm wondering if it would this solve the problem to have a Microsoft Edge on-prem sync rather than syncing to IE? Are you familiar with IE mode? Would that work for you? If not, I'd love to hear that feedback!
Chris Jackson Deleted
I'm not quite sure what's so hard to understand about the issue.
This has nothing to do with Windows 7 or with Internet Explorer specifically. How IE mode suddenly came into the picutre - I have no idea. This is all about where to store the favorites in the new Edge.
The issue is the following:
- Users are using multiple computers. To have the same desktop, documents and favorites on all those computers Microsoft's "Folder Redirection" is used and configured through GPOs.
- So Internet Explorer's favorites are stored on e.g. \\server\users\%username%\favorites
- The old Edge has a GPO that allows it to automagically sync its own favorites with Internet Explorer's favorites that are stored on that network path. If you add a favorite in either IE or the old Edge it is automagically synced to the other browser instantly.
Now the new Edge comes along and we have to face the following limitations:
- Any kind of cloud-sync or usage of Microsoft accounts is not possible due to data privacy regulations
- The new Edge is storing its favorites in the local file deep inside the %LOCALAPPDATA% folder of the user.
This causes issues for us in a number of ways.
While the first-run import of favorites (from the redirected Internet Explorer favorites) is currently broken in v80 (its supposed to be back in v81) it only provides a momentary snapshot of the redirected favorites.
The bookmarks file being a local file means that we cannot easily back it up either. And when the user receives a new PC or uses a different machine than he usually does he'll have to import all the favorites again, from the redirected Internet Explorer favorites. But all the favorites he has managed in the new Edge in the meantime are not available (or even gone for good in the case of a new PC).
Importing the same old IE favorites on different PCs will soon result in having different favorites on all those PCs. And there is no way to easily merge them either.
This is a real problem.
We really need a way to redirect the bookmarks file to a network location so that it can be:
- used from multiple PCs
- be backed up easily during the regular server backup
- not get lost when the user's PC dies or gets replaced for another reason
All this was easily doable with the redirected favorites folder used by Internet Explorer and thanks to the "keep favorites synced" GPO in the old Edge Browser.
Also, please do not suggest to use the "UserDataDir" policy. This would redirect the entire user profile to a different location. Cache and everything. It is also not quite certain whether a redirected UserDataDir can actually be used by multiple instances of Edge on different computers at the same time (locked files issue and such). But even if it was possible, we really don't want to roam 100MB+ of useless data.
All we are really looking for is the possibility to specify a network location for the "bookmarks" file that is by default stored under "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default". That's all we really want and need.
Bonus points for actually bringing back the "keep favorites synced between IE and Edge" policy that the old Edge supported. But that would really only be the cherry on top.
- Hey,
The problem is very well explained!
I have the same issue and can totally understand what you are dealing with.
Did you manage to find a workaround for this?
I would be interested to find a solution.
I also need a both ways sync of favorites between edge chromium and internet explorer ABSOLUTELY - Everything exactly as described.
This is the same exact issue as we have.
We need an internal server FOLDER REDIRECTION For Chromium Edge Favorites.
By the way Netscape was the first idiotic browser to dump a thousand favorites into one file that cannot be edited without some serious issues. Microsoft had a BRILLIANT solution of creating URLs instead that can be moved and sorted, and deleted and redirected.
Now Microsoft is copying the idiotic behaviour again. This is not 1990. We don't need to live in an NT world again where everything lives in ini files or batch files or kix scripts, or in Microsofts Case now xml files.- Chromium browsers like Edge and Google Chrome have the Group policy that is a better way to manage favorites.
OR
you can use online servers of Microsoft to sync favorites.We do not want to _manage_ favorites. We do not care what kind of favorites the users save. What we care about is making sure that users have the same favorites on all devices in the company. And we care about favorites not being lost when a computer is switched out or the harddisk dies.
And again, we cannot (read: must not) use any kind of cloud-sync due to data protection regulations. GDPR and whatnot. Uploading any of our data to Microsoft's (or any other) cloud is not allowed.
- "And again, we cannot (read: must not) use any kind of cloud-sync due to data protection regulations. GDPR and whatnot. Uploading any of our data to Microsoft's (or any other) cloud is not allowed."
You need to talk to Microsoft support about your concerns on that area.
there are lots of experts in the community:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-active-directory/ct-p/AzureActiveDirectory
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure/ct-p/Azure
