Lost Bookmarks

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During normal usage of Firefox, you may discover that Firefox has apparently lost your bookmarks. In most cases, the bookmarks are not lost. This article discusses the main ways in which it can appear that your bookmarks are missing and explains how you can recover them.

  • If you can add, delete, and edit your bookmarks but the changes are lost when you restart Firefox, see Bookmarks not saved.

To recover bookmarks that were previously saved but are now missing, you should try each solution in the order in which it is listed in this article.

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Table Of Contents

3:

Firefox missing some bookmarks after upgrading to Firefox 3

See Firefox 3 upgrade switches bookmarks and other settings to older version.

3, Windows:

Bookmarks missing and toolbar buttons not working

See Bookmarks and toolbar buttons not working after upgrading. If you use Norton 360, also follow our instructions on Configuring Norton 360.

Unable to find your bookmarks after importing them

If you have imported your bookmarks from another browser, they appear in the Bookmarks menu in a specific folder. To find your imported bookmarks, do the following:

  1. At the top of the Firefox window, select the Bookmarks menu. A list of your bookmarks appears.
  2. Depending on the type of browser from which you imported, your bookmarks appear in a specially named folder in the Bookmarks list.
    • Internet Explorer. Folder name is From Internet Explorer.
    • Opera. Folder name is From Opera.
    • Bookmarks imported from other browsers follow a similar pattern.
  3. If your source bookmarks were stored in a hierarchy of folders, the folder structure is preserved inside the specially named folder.
  4. If desired, you can move your imported bookmarks to other folders. For more information, see Bookmarks.
3, Windows:

No bookmarks shown in the bookmarks menu or toolbar after installing an add-on

If you have restarted Firefox after installing an add-on and no bookmarks appear it may be that Firefox did not close properly before restarting.

  1. Right-click on an empty area of the taskbar, and select Task Manager to bring up the Task Manager.
  2. Select the Processes tab.
  3. Look through the list of processes for firefox.exe, and select it.
  4. click End Process.
  5. Run Firefox and your bookmarks should be back

2.0:

No bookmarks in Bookmarks menu

If you select the Bookmarks menu and do not see any bookmarks in it, then one of Firefox's file may be corrupted. Use the following steps to determine if this issue is the cause and how you can fix it.

Determining if your localstore.rdf file has been corrupted

It is likely that the source of this issue is a corrupt localstore.rdf file. To determine if this file is corrupt, do the following:

  1. At the top of the Firefox window, select the Bookmarks menu.
  2. Verify that it contains no bookmarks.
    • If it contains the default set of bookmarks, which include links to the Mozilla.com website, then skip to the next set of troubleshooting steps.
  3. From the Bookmarks menu, select Organize Bookmarks.... The Bookmarks Manager appears.
  4. If your bookmarks appear in the Bookmarks Manager and not in the Bookmarks menu, then your localstore.rdf is corrupted.

Fixing a corrupt localstore.rdf file

  1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox windowbar, select FileFirefox and then select the ExitQuit FirefoxQuit menu item.
  2. Start Firefox in Firefox Safe Mode.
  3. In the Firefox Safe Mode dialog, select Reset toolbars and controls.
  4. Click Make Changes and Restart.
  5. Firefox restarts with your bookmarks available in the Bookmarks menu.

Default set of bookmarks is shown in Bookmarks folder

Your bookmarks are associated with the profile that you are using. For most Firefox users, the only profile used is the default one. There may be instances when Firefox creates for you a new profile. When this new profile is activated, it contains the default set of bookmarks, which may give you the impression that you have lost your personal bookmarks. This troubleshooting sequence helps you to identify if a new profile has been created and how to recover your bookmarks from the previous one.

Determining if Firefox has created a new profile

  1. Go to the Firefox profile folder.
    • For Firefox profile locations, see the Profiles article.
  2. If there is only one profile folder, then skip to the next set of steps.
    Note: Each profile folder is named something like the following:
    xxxxxxxx.<ProfileName>
    where xxxxxxxx represents a random string of 8 characters and <ProfileName> corresponds to the name of the profile. For example, the folder containing the default profile is named xxxxxxxx.default.
  3. If you have multiple profile folders in this location, then you have multiple profiles. If you have more than one profile folder, then it is likely that Firefox has made you a new profile. In this case, you must instruct Firefox to use the profile containing your saved bookmarks, by opening the Firefox Profile Manager and choosing the right profile. See the Managing profiles article for details.

Restoring bookmark backups

If Firefox is closed unexpectedly due to a crash, a loss of power, or other unexpected event, the file where your bookmarks are stored can become corrupted, and your bookmarks may be unavailable in Firefox. If you lost your bookmarks within the last five days, you can restore them from the set of backups that Firefox maintains.

3:
  1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox windowbar, click the Bookmarks menu and choose Organize Bookmarks to open the Library window.
  2. Before proceeding, you should make a backup of your current bookmarks.
    1. From the toolbar on the Library window, select Import and Backup and choose Backup...
    2. Firefox will ask you to save the bookmark backup to a folder on your hard drive. Choose a location that you will remember.
    3. Your current bookmarks have been backed up to the file you selected.
  3. From the toolbar on the Library window, select Import and Backup to open the Import and Backup menu, and pick Restore... to see a list of available bookmark backups organized by date.
  4. To restore one of the listed backups, select it from the Restore... menu. Choose the newest bookmark backup that was created before the bookmarks were lost. You will lose all changes to your bookmarks that occurred after the date you select.
    • Note: To restore a backup that you saved manually, select Choose File... from the Restore menu instead of selecting an automatic backup
  5. A confirmation window will appear asking you to confirm replacing your bookmarks with the backup. To replace the bookmarks, press OK. To go back, press Cancel.
    You cannot undo this unless you saved a backup file as instructed above.
  6. Your bookmarks have been restored to the date you selected. If your bookmarks do not show up after completing the restore process, repeat the above steps to restore an earlier backup.

2.0, Windows:
  1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, click the File menu and then select Exit.
  2. Locate your profile folder using one of the following sets of steps. (For more details, see the article on Profiles.)
    On Windows Vista
    1. Click the Windows Start button, and type %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ in the Start Search box near the bottom of the Start menu, without pressing Enter. A list of profiles will appear in the top left of the Start menu.
    2. Click on any of the profiles (e.g. xxxxxxxx.default) to open it with Windows Explorer.

    On Windows 2000 and XP
    1. Click the Windows Start button, and select Run....
    2. Type in %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ then click OK.
  3. In the profile folder, the file bookmarks.html stores your bookmarks and may become corrupted. Right-click this file, and select Rename....
  4. Rename the file to a unique name, such as the following:
    bookmarks_backup.html
  5. Open the folder named bookmarkbackups, also located in your profile folder.
  6. In the bookmarks backup folder, you should see up to five files with names like the following
    bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html
    where
    xxxx-xx-xx corresponds to the date the backup was made.
  7. Copy the backup that you wish to use to an easy-to-find location such as your desktop. Right-click the backup you wish to use. Select Copy. Go to your desktop and right click in some open space. Select Paste.
  8. Restart Firefox. You should only have the default bookmarks.
  9. Open the Bookmarks Manager by selecting Organize Bookmarks... from the Bookmarks menu.
  10. From the File menu inside the Bookmarks manager, select Import....
  11. In the Import Wizard dialog that appears, select From File and click Next.
  12. Browse to the desktop and find the copy of the bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html file you made in Step 7. Click Open.
  13. Your bookmarks should be restored. If not, repeat these steps, choosing a different backup to restore from.

2.0, Linux:

Note: these instructions may be different for your Linux distribution

  1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, select File and then select the Quit menu item.
  2. Open your profile folder:
    Each profile is stored on your hard drive in a profile folder. The default location of the Firefox profile is ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default/.
    • xxxxxxxx represents a random string of 8 characters.
    1. Click the Places menu on the top right of the screen and select Home Folder. A File Browser window will appear.
    2. Click the View menu and select Show Hidden Files if it isn't already checked.
    3. Double click the folder marked .mozilla.
    4. Double click the folder marked firefox. Your profile folders are within this folder.
    5. Open your profile folder. By default, it is xxxxxxxx.default where xxxxxxxx represents a random string of 8 characters.
  3. In the profile folder, the file bookmarks.html stores your bookmarks and has become corrupted. Right-click this file, and select Rename....
  4. Rename the file to a unique name, such as the following:
    bookmarks_backup.html
  5. Open the folder named bookmarkbackups, also located in your profile folder.
  6. In the bookmarks backup folder, you should see up to five files with names like the following
    bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html
    where
    xxxx-xx-xx corresponds to the date the backup was made.
  7. You must copy one of these backups to the profile folder. Right-click the most recently dated backup. Select Copy.
  8. Go back to the previous folder, which now contains the bookmarks_backup.html file.
  9. Right-click in the white space of the folder. Select Paste.
  10. Right click the file you just pasted (bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html). Select Rename....
  11. Rename the file to bookmarks.html
  12. Restart Firefox. Your bookmarks should now be available through the Bookmarks menu.

2.0, Mac OS:
  1. Quit Firefox. It it is open, select Firefox at the top of the screen and choose Quit.
  2. Open your profile folder:
    Each profile is stored on your hard drive in a profile folder. The default location of the Firefox profile is ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/.
    • xxxxxxxx represents a random string of 8 characters.
    1. Open Finder and go to your home folder. Note: your home folder is usually the name of your Mac user account
    2. From your home folder open Library, then Application Support, then Firefox, then Profiles.
    3. Open your profile folder. By default, it is xxxxxxxx.default where xxxxxxxx represents a random string of 8 characters.
  3. In the profile folder, select the file bookmarks.html. Click on the file name again, to rename the file.
  4. Rename the file to a unique name, such as the following:
    bookmarks_backup.html
  5. Open the folder named bookmarkbackups, also located in your profile folder.
  6. In the bookmarks backup folder, you should see up to five files with names like the following
    bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html
    where
    xxxx-xx-xx corresponds to the date the backup was made.
  7. You must choose one of these backups to import into Firefox. Drag the most recently dated backup to your Desktop.
  8. Restart Firefox, select Bookmarks from the menu at the top of the screen, and choose Organize Bookmarks. With the Organize Bookmarks window open, select the File menu and choose Import.
  9. In the Import Wizard dialog that appears, select From File.
  10. Browse to the desktop and find the copy of the bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html file you made earlier. Click Open.
  11. Your bookmarks should be restored. If not, repeat these steps, choosing a different backup to restore from.




Based on information from Lost bookmarks (mozillaZine KB)


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Page last modified on Friday 05 of June, 2009 10:18:10 PST.
Contributors to this page: Chris_Ilias , Bo , underpass , indigo , Lucy , SamHasler , Cww , zzxc , AliceWyman , djstsys , np , skulvis , RayKiddy , supernova_00 , admin , stevee and phoenix00hacker .
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