Vista - favorites folder and import problems

I am newbie and running Vitsa Basic 32 bit. I hope I am in correct thread and this is my first post.

My questions are does Vista need to have a User name/ documents / favorites folder? And a User name/ favorites folder?
I had a problem importing favorites from my win XP IE 7 via a flash drive,( not a valid bookmark file error ) and after upgrading to IE 8, uninstalling IE 8 and reverting back to IE 7 I got my favorites into the User Name non documents folder.
I deleted the favs folder in documents which showed it as empty. Now I cannot re import my favs again from the flash drive.
I am trying to avoid the whole process of installing IE 8 and reverting to 7 again and I think I did some stupid deleting.

Can I just create a documents /folder name favorites and hope that IE will import form there? If so I tried it and got an error ( incomplete URL ). I am in over my head .

Should I have just been happy that my favorites seemed to work with just the User Name Favorites folder and not messed around?

Hello Peter, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It sounds like your Favorites folder does not have the default location set for it. Check with OPTION THREE in the tutorial below to make sure that it is set at it's default location.

Personal User Folder - Restore Missing Folder

Hope this helps,
Shawn

IS there a default location for it and would it be corrrect to appear in 2 locations? The only reason I started to look at it was because I had problems transferrring favs from XP. Also would deleting it in one location delete it in the other ( I THINK THAT HAPPENED )

Because I am sorta lost , is going to start/ documents / favorites the same as going to start> explore /user name / favorites . It appears there are favorites folders and there always were.

I am trying to undertsand Vista better . At this moment my favs are working fine with the 2 folders, and when I deleted the one in > Plain documents , I lost them all and had to restore them from the recycle bin.

Its confusing because they were not in the folder that I had deleted aweek ago when I transferred them into favs via the IE 8 back to IE7 route.

After you explain the workings of Vista to me , do you think I should leave well enough alone , as long as the favs seem to be working ok ?

P.S the favs folder I created in documents does not have location (general , sharing, security, location, customize) option like the one in Explore/user name / favs does . It only has the other 4 options in that file properties

Welcome to the Forum

Answers to specific questions:

Vista doesn't need to have a User name/ documents / favorites folder.


Can I just create a documents /folder name favorites and hope that IE will import form there?
We can always hope,however this probably won't work as you'd like it to.


Shoulda been happy.

In vista the Favorites folder is normally between the Downloads and Links folders in the <UserName> folder.

Shouldn't appear in two locations.

Start> explore /user name / favorites is Vista normal.


This is an oversimplification,but if you equate XP -- MyDocuments with
Vista -- <UserName> folder you should do well.

Leaving well enough alone is best until you become more Vista-familiar.


Ardneh

Well favorites is in the location you mentioned tween downloads and links.
Originally there was also a favs folder in start>documents>user name.

Unless someone tells me otherwise and explains why?, I am leaving everything as is at the moment , with the folder you mentioned and the one in start>documents>user name I recreated, and favs working ok

Peter,

Vista uses symbolic links with the user folders. Right now your Favorites folder has been moved to the C:\Users\(user-name)\Documents\Favorites location instead of it's default C:\Users\(user-name)\Favorites location. That is why it is not working for you.


If you would like to restore it back to default, then you can:

• Backup the contents of the Favorites folders to another location.
• Use the Favorites REG file download as instructed in the post above.
• Delete both Favorites folders.
• Open the Start Menu, and type shell:Favorites in the search line and press Enter.
• Restart the computer to apply. You may need to restart a couple of times.

Actually my favs have been moved to explore /desktop /computer/ OS C:/ users/PeterP/ favorites ( between documents and links) and opening it shows folders only , one of those which is another favs folder . In that other favs folder is a bookmark folder ( that is a HTML document that started all this trouble to begin with ? that has all the folders plus the individual bookmarks in it again .


It also is found in Explore / Desktop /PeterP / favs ( between documents and links) and again only the folders show and there is an additional favs folder.
In that other favs folder is a bookmark (HTML) that has all the folders plus the individual bookmarks in it again .


In start / documents is a favorites folder that I have recreated . When I click on start/documents in the address bar it says documents/ PeterP / favorites then displays the file folder I recreated . This folder opens to a file labeled bookmarks and opens to the same bookmarks I have in the favs subfolders mentioned above

You can understand my confusion. Is this what is called file sharing ?

In any event I remember distinctly that there was a favs folder in start/ documents/. That’s why I recreated it . Are you saying that there should not be any such folder. When I deleted it I lost all my favorites in IE favorites


Here is the microsft info on importing IE 7 favorites where the reference to Documents folder Bookmark.html was found.


#5 By default Internet Explorer imports from a fole called Bookmark.html in you Documents folder

Import or export favorites in Internet Explorer - Windows Vista Help


Do you think I should do the procedure you mentioned , or leave well enough alone ?

Hi Peter,

To change font sizes when making posts, click on Go Advanced.

An enhanced editing screen appears with more options available. The one you require is highlighted.


I have just edited your posts - the text in question didn't appear to have a font associated with it (or was originally written in a font that is not associated with the forum and then pasted). I simply selected all of the text and changed the font to the forum default - Verdana.

Yeah, that's to just export and import your favorites instead. I find just manually copying and pasting them as a backup from the C:\Users\(user-name)\Favorites folder easier to do.

Copy the favorites in that folder to another location as a backup to restore late from, then go ahead and follow the instructions above to restore your default C:\Users\(user-name)\Favorites user folder. This folder should not be located in the Documents folder or anywhere else.

So you are saying the imports exports info from microsoft is incorrect? and the fact that I originally had a start>documents>favorites folder on my OEM installed vista basic was wrong.

I have a tough time getting my head around both of those statements.


Also when I initially copied and pasted like you said, I could not add more favorites to the same folder. I had to enter them into favites and then go to organize favites and move each and every one I wanted to add to my self made folders in favorites.

Thats what started this whole process?