GetPocket

**Gankaku** · 23 May 2025, 04:44 AM

I've been using GetPocket for daily years for bookmarking. However, it's going away!

Announcement from Mozilla:
https://9to5mac.com/2025/05/22/mozil...own-of-pocket/

What is everyone else using?

I've used Diigo and I think I have a grandfathered free account. Instapaper is great, but doesn't bookmark some things (like, a website. It likes articles). I'm not sure my Diigo free account is truly a grandfathered free account. I'll check back and if it's still working after 30 days I should be good.

What other bookmarking services are there that are reliable? I'm starting to think nothing is reliable other than what you run yourself. I don't want to pay a subscription but am willing to pay a lifetime fee. Pinboard is a sub. I used to use Evernote until it became a slow, bloated hog and will only let you use it on one device. I'm also thinking of hosting my own so that I have control, but I've lost the information I had on the services you can host. If anyone has a suggestion there too, I'd appreciate it!

JeremyNicoll · 23 May 2025, 07:47 AM

I use a set of (currently) nine hand-written (but simple) HTML pages, all of which have links to all of the others. The pages are just tables of topics (and in some cases sub-topics, and rarely sub-sub-topics); the widths of the columns in the tables vary slightly according to each page's primary topic.

They live in a Dropbox folder, which is stored on each PC, but changes made to any of them get synced to the other machines' folders.

Because each page of links is just a single plain-text file (as could eg be written in something as basic as Notepad) it's also searchable by standard file-search utilities. There's no binary or proprietary format to the data.

To make a change to a page I have to edit it, but I do so in a syntax-coloured programmers' text editor (much more sophisticated than Notepad), which minimises the chance of me making a stupid mistake in the HTML code (I'm a programmer but HTML is not something I'm expert in). As the pages are HTML (with a small shared CSS file too) I can adapt the format, displayed colours etc however I want - that is I'm not subject to layouts chosen by other people.

In each browser I use I have just two fixed bookmarks on that browser's bookmark toolbar: one is for the Google advanced search page (which is also my home page in each browser); I don't use any search plugins etc.

The other fixed bookmark is a "file://path" reference to a tenth dummy bookmarks html page which contains only an internal redirect to one of the nine main bookmarks list pages - in fact to the page which contains the links I use most, on almost every day. That slight complication is only there so that if I change the naming / structure of the detail pages I only then need to change the redirect in the solitary 'initial' file to have the new set of detail pages accessible everywhere, rather than having to change a bookmark definition in each browser on each machine.

chrisretusn · 23 May 2025, 08:44 PM

I've never used Pocket.

As for bookmarks, I use my Firefox account to sync bookmarks. Makes them all available across my two devices. This computer and my cell phone.

Bamb0 · 23 May 2025, 08:56 PM

Hm I just have mine saved in my browser.. No exernal program..

JeremyNicoll · 23 May 2025, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamb0

Hm I just have mine saved in my browser.. No exernal program..

Do you not use several browsers, though? None seem to work perfectly on every site all the time.

And - if you only have one PC - you're at risk if it's stolen, or infected, or has a catastrophic hardware failure.

janusz · 24 May 2025, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremyNicoll

And - if you only have one PC - you're at risk if it's stolen, or infected, or has a catastrophic hardware failure.

In this case, the loss of my bookmarks would be the least of my worries.

JeremyNicoll · 24 May 2025, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janusz

In this case, the loss of my bookmarks would be the least of my worries.

Yes, of course... But that being so, wouldn't/don't you have more than one device, & thence a requirement to keep all sorts of things at least roughly in step (if not precisely in sync)?

**Gankaku** · 1 Jun 2025, 11:07 PM

OK I found my solution, I guess.

I had two issues, one was to get my Pocket data somewhere else. And the other was to choose another tool which I could use on both my phone and PC.

I downloaded my .csv from Pocket. I tried a lot of the other services to upload it but was getting 0 records when it was done. Nothing liked Pocket's .csv. A lot of them wanted html format to upload.

I converted the .csv to html with a tool like this: https://www.convertcsv.com/csv-to-html.htm

I tried uploading this html to different services I have, and tried some new ones. I wanted everything uploaded: all links, and tags.

Results:

Instapaper - only saved articles, not websites. So basically it didn't import a lot of my stuff.
I also was able to import all the bookmarks to my browser. But those are just links, with no tags. At least I have a backup.
Diigo - it said it uploaded, but didn't display what I'd uploaded. I have an ages-old account with them, and have other links there. I tried it again a couple days later; all the links uploaded, with their tags.
Raindrop.io - I tried this before and didn't like it, but I'm trying everything because desperate All links uploaded with their tags.

So I'm pretty happy I can still use Diigo. It will be my choice. There's a browser extension for it on PC, and I have a way to save from mobile.

I was surprised I liked Raindrop.io because I looked at it twice a long time ago and didn't like it. So that site will have a backup.

There are also self-hosted options like Wallabag which sounds great, but that's not available to me at the moment.

Just wanted to update this thread and leave it here in case anyone else needs a solution.

**ReuvenNY** · 3 Jun 2025, 05:33 AM

I have a paid version of Evernote. I clip pages with their extension clipper. It works with web pages, YouTube links, Amazon pages as well as instant clips from my RSS Reader - Inoreader. It's very versatile and can do many more things.

**Gankaku** · 12 Jun 2025, 05:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReuvenNY

I have a paid version of Evernote. I clip pages with their extension clipper. It works with web pages, YouTube links, Amazon pages as well as instant clips from my RSS Reader - Inoreader. It's very versatile and can do many more things.

Hi Reuven!

I think you were the one who told me about Evernote very long ago. I used it for years. Then they allowed only one device for free. I need at least to clip from my browser and my phone. I use each about half the day. And I didn't need the service so much that I needed to pay, just a little once in awhile. So it wasn't a solution for me when they took multiple devices away.

Inoreader - I did try that years ago. I may look at that again for an RSS reader...

Anyway, Diigo is working for me on multiple devices, and it keeps articles and websites both, so I guess I'll be sticking with that for now.

mister · 12 Jun 2025, 01:57 PM

Reading through this I realized I had a diigo account that was unused for years. Firerfox has been a problem for various reason. I've found protopage to be useful for bookmarks and notes. Through the years I've used numerous bookmark managers sitehoover and znail are two that are still around.

**Gankaku** · 14 Jun 2025, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mister

Reading through this I realized I had a diigo account that was unused for years. Firerfox has been a problem for various reason. I've found protopage to be useful for bookmarks and notes. Through the years I've used numerous bookmark managers sitehoover and znail are two that are still around.

Oh yeah Protopage is so great. I don't use it for bookmarking everything, but I do have it set up for bookmarking widgets per various projects I'm working on, and things I use regularly.

23 May 2025, 04:44 AM	#1
Gankaku Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,270	GetPocket I've been using GetPocket for daily years for bookmarking. However, it's going away! Announcement from Mozilla: https://9to5mac.com/2025/05/22/mozil...own-of-pocket/ What is everyone else using? I've used Diigo and I think I have a grandfathered free account. Instapaper is great, but doesn't bookmark some things (like, a website. It likes articles). I'm not sure my Diigo free account is truly a grandfathered free account. I'll check back and if it's still working after 30 days I should be good. What other bookmarking services are there that are reliable? I'm starting to think nothing is reliable other than what you run yourself. I don't want to pay a subscription but am willing to pay a lifetime fee. Pinboard is a sub. I used to use Evernote until it became a slow, bloated hog and will only let you use it on one device. I'm also thinking of hosting my own so that I have control, but I've lost the information I had on the services you can host. If anyone has a suggestion there too, I'd appreciate it!

1 Jun 2025, 11:07 PM	#8
Gankaku Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,270	OK I found my solution, I guess. I had two issues, one was to get my Pocket data somewhere else. And the other was to choose another tool which I could use on both my phone and PC. I downloaded my .csv from Pocket. I tried a lot of the other services to upload it but was getting 0 records when it was done. Nothing liked Pocket's .csv. A lot of them wanted html format to upload. I converted the .csv to html with a tool like this: https://www.convertcsv.com/csv-to-html.htm I tried uploading this html to different services I have, and tried some new ones. I wanted everything uploaded: all links, and tags. Results: Instapaper - only saved articles, not websites. So basically it didn't import a lot of my stuff. I also was able to import all the bookmarks to my browser. But those are just links, with no tags. At least I have a backup. Diigo - it said it uploaded, but didn't display what I'd uploaded. I have an ages-old account with them, and have other links there. I tried it again a couple days later; all the links uploaded, with their tags. Raindrop.io - I tried this before and didn't like it, but I'm trying everything because desperate All links uploaded with their tags. So I'm pretty happy I can still use Diigo. It will be my choice. There's a browser extension for it on PC, and I have a way to save from mobile. I was surprised I liked Raindrop.io because I looked at it twice a long time ago and didn't like it. So that site will have a backup. There are also self-hosted options like Wallabag which sounds great, but that's not available to me at the moment. Just wanted to update this thread and leave it here in case anyone else needs a solution.

23 May 2025, 07:47 AM	#2
JeremyNicoll Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Scotland Posts: 697	I use a set of (currently) nine hand-written (but simple) HTML pages, all of which have links to all of the others. The pages are just tables of topics (and in some cases sub-topics, and rarely sub-sub-topics); the widths of the columns in the tables vary slightly according to each page's primary topic. They live in a Dropbox folder, which is stored on each PC, but changes made to any of them get synced to the other machines' folders. Because each page of links is just a single plain-text file (as could eg be written in something as basic as Notepad) it's also searchable by standard file-search utilities. There's no binary or proprietary format to the data. To make a change to a page I have to edit it, but I do so in a syntax-coloured programmers' text editor (much more sophisticated than Notepad), which minimises the chance of me making a stupid mistake in the HTML code (I'm a programmer but HTML is not something I'm expert in). As the pages are HTML (with a small shared CSS file too) I can adapt the format, displayed colours etc however I want - that is I'm not subject to layouts chosen by other people. In each browser I use I have just two fixed bookmarks on that browser's bookmark toolbar: one is for the Google advanced search page (which is also my home page in each browser); I don't use any search plugins etc. The other fixed bookmark is a "file://path" reference to a tenth dummy bookmarks html page which contains only an internal redirect to one of the nine main bookmarks list pages - in fact to the page which contains the links I use most, on almost every day. That slight complication is only there so that if I change the naming / structure of the detail pages I only then need to change the redirect in the solitary 'initial' file to have the new set of detail pages accessible everywhere, rather than having to change a bookmark definition in each browser on each machine.

23 May 2025, 08:44 PM	#3
chrisretusn Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Philippines Posts: 929	I've never used Pocket. As for bookmarks, I use my Firefox account to sync bookmarks. Makes them all available across my two devices. This computer and my cell phone.

23 May 2025, 08:56 PM	#4
Bamb0 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 2,218	Hm I just have mine saved in my browser.. No exernal program..

3 Jun 2025, 05:33 AM	#9
ReuvenNY Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: New York Posts: 4,272	I have a paid version of Evernote. I clip pages with their extension clipper. It works with web pages, YouTube links, Amazon pages as well as instant clips from my RSS Reader - Inoreader. It's very versatile and can do many more things.

12 Jun 2025, 01:57 PM	#11
mister Essential Contributor Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 416	Reading through this I realized I had a diigo account that was unused for years. Firerfox has been a problem for various reason. I've found protopage to be useful for bookmarks and notes. Through the years I've used numerous bookmark managers sitehoover and znail are two that are still around.