Smart Bookmarks folders

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Smart bookmarks folders are saved searches of your bookmarks and history that appear as folders in your bookmarks. For instance, you can create a folder that lists all bookmarks you visited the day before; and it is updated automatically.


Pre-installed smart folders

Firefox comes with some smart folders available:

  • Most Visited: Available from the Bookmarks toolbar, this folder lists pages you have visited the most number of times.
  • Recently Bookmarked: Available from the Bookmarks menu, this folder contains a list of the last several bookmarks you've added. Expand the Recently Bookmarked folder to see a list of sites.
  • Recent tags: Available from the Bookmarks menu, this folder keeps track of the bookmark "tags" you've used most recently. Expand the Recent Tags folder to see a list of tags, then expand each tag to show pages you've recently bookmarked using that tag. For more information on tags, see Bookmark Tags - Categorize bookmarks to make them easy to find.

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If you accidentally delete one of these Smart folders, see Restore the default Smart Bookmarks Folders.

Creating and using new Smart Folders

Smart Folders based on History

To create a new Smart Folder based on your browsing history:

  1. Click on the History menu and select Show All History. The Library window will open.
  2. In the upper-right corner, click in the Search History box.
  3. Start typing a in the Search History box. Items in your browsing history that match your search will be listed.
  4. Underneath the Search History box, click Save. The Save Search dialog box will appear.
  5. Enter a name for the new Smart Folder and click OK.

Smart Folders based on Bookmarks

To create a new Smart Folder based on your bookmarks:

  1. Click on the Bookmarks menu and select Organize Bookmarks.... The Library window will open.
  2. In the upper-right corner, click in the Search Bookmarks box.
  3. Start typing in the Search Bookmarks box. Bookmarks with a title, web ​addr​ess (URL), or tag that match your search will be listed.

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    • You can narrow your search to a single Bookmarks folder by clicking on a bookmarks folder in the left half of the Window, and then typing in your search term.
  4. Underneath the Search Bookmarks box, click Save. The Save Search dialog box will appear.
  5. Enter a name for the new Smart Folder and click OK.

The example below illustrates this process for a Bookmarks folder.


Example

This example illustrates how to make an use Smart folders. Suppose that you have several pages about economics bookmarked and want to create a Smart folder folder that updates automatically each time you bookmark another page about economics.

  1. Click on the Bookmarks menu and select Organize Bookmarks.... The Library window will open.
  2. To find all your bookmarks about economics, click in the Search Bookmarks box and then type in econ. A list of your bookmarks that have econ in their title or web address (URL) will be displayed, as well as ones that have tags that contain econ.
  3. Underneath the Search Bookmarks box, click Save. The Save Search dialog box will appear.

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  4. Enter Smart Economics Folder as the name for the new Smart Folder and click OK. The Smart Economics Folder will be created in the Bookmarks menu folder.
  5. For easy access to the new Smart folder, move it to the Bookmarks toolbar. In the Library window, click on the Smart Economics folder folder and drag it to the Bookmarks Toolbar folder.
  6. Close the Library window to return to the Firefox window. The new Smart folder will be available on the Bookmarks toolbar. Click on it to see its contents.

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  7. To add another bookmark to the folder, bookmark another page with econ in its title or web address (URL), or bookmark any page and add an econ tag to it.

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  8. Click on the Smart Economics Folder. It will have updated itself to include the newly-bookmarked page.

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