Sharing Netscape bookmarks on a network




There was an article in the February 97 issue (Sharing Netscape bookmark lists, p178) discussing how to share a bookmark file by e-mailing it to someone (see, we do look first!).
But what I want to do is allow all users on my LAN to share the same bookmark file, and make alterations and additions to it that all users can benefit from. We use a Windows for Workgroups LAN and are therefore using Netscape for Windows 3.11 (no registry to tamper with).
Can it be done? I thought of using a batch file to save changes every night and copy the updated one every morning, but is there an easier way?
- George Kyprios


The location of Netscape Navigator's bookmark file (bookmark.htm) is recorded either in the Windows 95 registry (for 32-bit versions) or in the netscape.ini file (for 16-bit versions). By default, the bookmark file is created in the Netscape program directory, but you can store it wherever you like.
To make a single bookmark file accessible to all network users, you need to place it on a shared drive and ensure that users have the necessary network privileges to access it.
Users of the 16-bit Navigator should track down and open netscape.ini in the Netscape directory. Scroll through the file until you find the [Bookmark List] section. Look for the line which begins File Location=. Edit this line to point to the network copy of bookmark.htm, eg File Location=n:\bookmarks\bookmark.htm. Next time users run Netscape Navigator, the network copy of the bookmark file will be loaded.
For users of the 32-bit version of Navigator, the procedure is similar, but in this case, the location of the bookmark file is stored in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Netscape\Netscape Navigator\Bookmark list. Just double-click File Location and edit the path as necessary.
It's not just network administrators who can take advantage of these settings. If you use Netscape on more than one computer (eg at home and at work), you might want to store your bookmarks on a floppy or Zip disk. That way, your bookmarks will always travel with you.
- Neville Clarkson


Category: Internet
Issue: Sep 1997
Pages: 156-158

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