Favorites/SmartURL: Synchronization of Whole File? Or Individual Lines of Data?


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I recently re-enabled Favorites synchronization in Maxthon (after having it disabled for a while, apparently) and noticed that Maxhon synced down several folders and bookmarks from the server that have been deleted/moved/renamed in my local install.

Rather than pick through and sort my bookmarks one at a time, I thought I'd disable synchronization, restore my local Favorite.dat file from backup, make a few judicious edits to Favorites, and re-enable synchronization.  I assumed that would ensure my local Favorite.dat file was newer than the one in the Maxthon Cloud and would overwrite — but I was surprised to see my Favorites populated with old data from the Cloud, instead.  My minor local edits didn't get changed, but it seems Maxthon is pulling down individual lines of data and merging (?) the contents of the two Favorite.dat files rather than simply using whichever of the two files is newest.

I've also noticed SmartURL values disappearing from time to time, usually after I log in to a computer where I Smart Address Bar synchronization is disabled in MX Cloud Sync settings.

If I want to start with a single (local) Favorite.dat file and make sure all my devices contain exactly what it contains, how do I do that?  Can I go online to Fav.Maxthon.com and delete all online data, forcing Maxthon to sync up the local file?  (Then delete local data on other devices and force Maxthon to download the most recent, complete Favorites file from the Maxthon Cloud?)

Is there a way to do something similar for SmartURL entries?  I don't know of a way to access/edit/flush those online.

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I'd still like to confirm my suspicion that those files are compared incrementally and their contents merged (as seems to be the case) — or have someone correct me if I'm wrong.  I don't want to know too much about the synchronization process, but that would be handy to know when troubleshooting accounts that have gotten out of step over long periods of time.

I did manage to resolve my conflict.  Here are the steps I took, in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation:

  1. Backed up the Favorites.dat[1] and SmartUrl.dat[2] files locally.
  2. Deleted all my Favorites and URL Aliases from within Maxthon (including emptying the Favorites Recycle Bin).
  3. Let the empty versions of both datasets sync up to the Maxthon Cloud.
  4. Closed Maxthon.
  5. Restored the Favorites.dat and SmartUrl.dat files locally.
  6. Reopened Maxthon.
  7. Let the restored files sync up successfully to the Maxthon Cloud.

[1] Found at %appdata%/Roaming/Maxthon3/Users/%profile%/Favorite/.

[2] Found at %appdata%/Roaming/Maxthon3/Users/%profile%/SmartUrl/.

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