1827804 - No one knows how to use FireFox Sync because the help article isn't clear.

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox for Android :: Accounts and Sync, enhancement)

Description

[Sin Shadow Fox]

Attachment: paul saying Firefox sync transfers your stuff autmatically.

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/111.0

Steps to reproduce:

Exist.

Actual results:

Nothing.

Expected results:

My tabs. tab histories, browser settings and extension settings should have migrated to my new phone after following this help article https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-set-firefox-sync-firefox-android because according to Paul (plwt) your support moderator (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/user/plwt/) clicking the sync now button after following the steps in that article should have done this automatically.

Comment 1

[Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond]]

That article and Paul's comment doesn't mention tab history, browser or extensions settings - only the things listed there are synced. I think the article is clear even if not everything you would like synced actually is. Is your bug report that these things are not synced?

Comment 2

[Sin Shadow Fox]

(In reply to Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond] from comment #1)

That article and Paul's comment doesn't mention tab history, browser or extensions settings - only the things listed there are synced. I think the article is clear even if not everything you would like synced actually is. Is your bug report that these things are not synced?

Paul said

The article does make clear the data that you can sync from Firefox for Android:

    Bookmarks <- synced
    Credit cards <- synced
    History <- not synced
    Logins <- synced
    Open tabs <- not synced

I'm very well aware of what the article said and what paul said (probably more aware of it than paul is) so either the article needs to have History and Open tabs removed from the list or FireFox sync is not working as intended.

Comment 3

[Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond]]

"Open Tabs" do sync - that doesn't mean exactly the same tabs are always open on each device, but that each device can see a list of what tabs are open on each other device, and optionally open them one at a time. "History" is synced, which is a record of URLs you visited in the past - you can see history via View->Sidebar->History. Your report mentions "tab histories", so it's not clear exactly what you mean by that.

Comment 4

[Sin Shadow Fox]

(In reply to Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond] from comment #3)

"Open Tabs" do sync - that doesn't mean exactly the same tabs are always open on each device, but that each device can see a list of what tabs are open on each other device, and optionally open them one at a time.

If this is true then you need to tell pual that because he is telling people that FireFox Sync DOES transfer tabs all at the same time:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1410185
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1410181#answer-1575873

(In reply to Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond] from comment #3)

"History" is synced, which is a record of URLs you visited in the past - you can see history via View->Sidebar->History. Your report mentions "tab histories", so it's not clear exactly what you mean by that.

Tab history is the history of a specific tab. Example: you open a new tab to google and then search for mexican restaurants in your area. You then put a new search in the search bar for chinese restaurants in your area. After that you click on the back button to be taken one page back in that tabs history to the mexican restaurant search.

Comment 5

[Sin Shadow Fox]

(In reply to Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond] from comment #3)

Also Paul (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/user/plwt/) Has been actively spreading misinformation and is refusing to stop. I've tried to talk to him about this but he refuses to listen to me. I've even conveyed the information you've given me DIRECTLY to him and he still refuses to acknowledged it. Clearly he cares more about being in charge than he does about actually helping the users here and does not posses the temperament or maturity for the position he's been given. If you could please at least talk to him about this or if necessary remove him for the sake of the other users.

I love FireFox and I don't want this place to become a boys club where the people in charge cover each other instead of taking responsibility for their actions. Please I'm begging you to do something, anything about this so that this does not go on.

Comment 6

[Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond]]

If this is true then you need to tell pual that because he is telling people that FireFox Sync DOES transfer tabs all at the same time:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1410185
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1410181#answer-1575873

No where does those posts say that sync keeps the same groups of tabs open on every device - it just says "tabs are synced" - which is true - the list of tabs is synced, but the list of open tabs isn't identical across devices.

Tab history is the history of a specific tab.

Yes, and that is not synced. "History" (not "Tab History") is synced.

Also Paul (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/user/plwt/) Has been actively spreading misinformation and is refusing to stop. I've tried to talk to him about this but he refuses to listen to me. I've even conveyed the information you've given me DIRECTLY to him and he still refuses to acknowledged it.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but note that I haven't discovered anything Paul has said to be wrong. I can see how you mis-interpreted what he said, but what he said is accurate. It doesn't help anyone to accuse him of spreading misinformation when he is voluntarily helping users by providing accurate information, even if that information can be misinterpreted.

Comment 7

[Sin Shadow Fox]

(In reply to Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond] from comment #6)

If this is true then you need to tell pual that because he is telling people that FireFox Sync DOES transfer tabs all at the same time:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1410185
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1410181#answer-1575873

No where does those posts say that sync keeps the same groups of tabs open on every device - it just says "tabs are synced" - which is true - the list of tabs is synced, but the list of open tabs isn't identical across devices.

Both of these these questions are asking about transferring all of ones open tabs and those tabs histories to a new phone (just like FireFox does every time you open it and it restores your previous session). By answering these questions with a link to FireFox Sync then Pual is implying if no out right stating that FireFox sync does this when you've made it very clear it does not.

annamattero0
4/6/23, 1:13 PM

How do I keep my tabs and bookmarks, when I transfer phones?

Sin Shadow Fox
4/6/23, 12:45 PM

How do i transfer my tabs, tab history, settings from my old phone to my new phone?

If there is a misinterpretation here it is on the part of Pual not myself or annamattero0

Also Paul (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/user/plwt/) Has been actively spreading misinformation and is refusing to stop. I've tried to talk to him about this but he refuses to listen to me. I've even conveyed the information you've given me DIRECTLY to him and he still refuses to acknowledged it.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but note that I haven't discovered anything Paul has said to be wrong. I can see how you mis-interpreted what he said, but what he said is accurate. It doesn't help anyone to accuse him of spreading misinformation when he is voluntarily helping users by providing accurate information, even if that information can be misinterpreted.

Again by answering these questions with a link to FireFox sync Pual is essentially saying that FireFox Sync will transfer your "Session" which IS misinformation and not accurate information that helps users. What doesn't help anyone is when one of your volunteers finds it to be a better use of his time sassing people who are trying to provide advice.

Paul
4/11/23, 10:42 PM

Hi

As a contributor to SUMO, have you considered sharing this approach in the contributor forum? That would be the best place for an open discussion of how we can >answer support questions where we may not have full information of the problem.

What makes you believe that my answer to the question you have provided a link to is incorrect?

Just keen to learn from your substantial experience as a contributor to Mozilla.

Paul

If "substantial experience" isn't a passive-aggressive insult then i would really like to know what it was supposed to mean.

Comment 8

[Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond]]

I'm sorry you are so upset about this. Paul could possibly have made it clearer that it's impossible to do what you want, but the next best thing might be sync. Eg, all your open tabs are not going to magically open on the new device, but at least the old tabs are available in a list and you can individually open them manually. It sounds like you think you would have been happier with no response at all or a simple "impossible" response, but many users would not be.

If "substantial experience" isn't a passive-aggressive insult then i would really like to know what it was supposed to mean.

I read it literally - it sounds to me like you are a contributor to SUMO which Paul is acknowledging. I certainly see no insult here, nor any "sassing". To be quite frank, you are getting very close to violating https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html and I think this is failing to be productive, so let's call it a day here.

Comment 9

[Sin Shadow Fox]

(In reply to Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond] from comment #8)

I'm sorry you are so upset about this. Paul could possibly have made it clearer that it's impossible to do what you want, but the next best thing might be sync. Eg, all your open tabs are not going to magically open on the new device, but at least the old tabs are available in a list and you can individually open them manually. It sounds like you think you would have been happier with no response at all or a simple "impossible" response, but many users would not be.

I'm not upset, I'm concerned and yes telling someone that what they are trying to do is not currently possible is better than being lead on or if it is possible and said moderator/volunteer doesn't understand the service in question then not answering said question with a guess or alternative leaving the question with 0 responses indicating that the question has not been answered to other moderators/volunteers that DO know the answer to the question.

Also i do not believe Paul understood the question and chose to give an alternative solution but genuinely did not understand the question or FireFox Sync.

(Btw there are several problems with individually transferring a single tab through FireFox Sync. First, a tab transferred with "share tab" will not include the tabs history. Second, when you have over a hundred tabs to transfer this process can be slow and agonizing because Third a tab transferred with "share tab" can take up to 4-8 hours to arrive IF it arrives at all (It took me over 2 weeks of non-stop work to completely transfer everything using my MUCH FASTER Bluetooth near share feature my phone had))

If "substantial experience" isn't a passive-aggressive insult then i would really like to know what it was supposed to mean.

I read it literally - it sounds to me like you are a contributor to SUMO which Paul is acknowledging. I certainly see no insult here, nor any "sassing". To be quite frank, you are getting very close to violating https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html and I think this is failing to be productive, so let's call it a day here.

I am not a contributor. I am a normal user and I'd like to think that a forum moderator and your "TOP Contributor" would know that. And knowing that he knows I'm not a contributor what he said comes off as very sarcastic. You can use your rules and make up violation to stop talking to me but everything I've said so far is true and I've made several good points so you can either choose to listen to me and address what I've said or you can choose to ignore me regardless of the reasons you make up. I'm pretty used to people making trumped up reasons to cover staff's mistakes.

P.S. Also might i suggest implementing a "session transfer" feature? I know on the desktop version of FireFox the session is stored in the previous.jsonlz4/recovery.jsonlz4/sessionCheckpoints.json/sessionstore.jsonlz4 files so making the mobile version of those files savable/uploadable/transferable would be a great benefit to FireFox Mobile users like me and annamattero0.