Understanding Sync with PC and Android tablet
Just purchased a Windows Surface Pro and setting it up to be the same as my Windows 10 Laptop. I have synced my Laptop which I would understand to mean that my bookmarks, ID/passwords etc are copied to a master in their cloud. Signing in to Firefox on Surface Pro and turning on sync does not give me the same setup as the PC.
1st question: How does Sync know that a device should be updated to match the cloud version, or the cloud version should be updated to match the device? If two devices are made different by daily actions, and both have sync turned on, does that make duplicates on both devices?
2nd question: I was expecting to see my pinned tabs, and my bookmark folders with contents be synced as well but not sure that is included. ?
All Replies (3)
Sorry - question worded wrong. Surface Pro is obviously not an Android Tablet!!!
Hi
Thank you for your question about the Firefox Sync service.
It appears from your question, that you are using Firefox Sync as a back up service. This is not what Sync is designed to do. The Firefox Sync service takes a copy of the data you wish to include and transfers it to a second device (typically a mobile device such as a tablet or a telephone) running a copy of Firefox. The storage in between all attached devices is both temporary and fragile and is not stable enough to be (and is not designed as) a reliable backup service.
If you have a copy of your Firefox profile for desktop Firefox, you may be able to recover your bookmarks and other data. Please have a read of this article.
If you have a copy of your data on a mobile version of Firefox, please follow these instructions to connect it to Firefox Sync to copy your data.
Not thinking of backup, just trying to understand the syncing process. I was presuming there was a master copy somewhere where the syncing process was managed but that does not appear to be true, and the syncing is done directly between the different devices, correct?
I have 3 devices with Firefox installed. Windows 10 Laptop, Windows 10 Surface Pro tablet, and Android phone. I have Sync on all three turned on. If I changed a password for a website on my tablet, and Firefox captures that, my assumption is that the other two devices with have that new password associated with that web site address (within some small period of time), and when I use another device to sign in to that same website it will offer only the one (corrected) signon to click on, and not make me choose between the previous one stored on this device and the new synced one from the device where I changed it. Correct?