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I exported my mozilla bookmarks, passwords and info as a html before my computer was reformatted. Now when i import them into Mozilla, nothing shows up?

  • 21 cavab
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by DanielleL

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I exported and saved the html onto a flashdrive of my Mozilla bookmarks, passwords, etc as a html before getting my computer reformatted. I also exported a synched Mozilla/chrome bookmark html. I was able to import my bookmarks back onto chrome, but when i try to do it on Mozilla, nothing shows up.

I exported and saved the html onto a flashdrive of my Mozilla bookmarks, passwords, etc as a html before getting my computer reformatted. I also exported a synched Mozilla/chrome bookmark html. I was able to import my bookmarks back onto chrome, but when i try to do it on Mozilla, nothing shows up.

All Replies (20)

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Did you create an HTML backup or a JSON backup?

Make sure the bookmarks backup file has the correct (lowercase) file extension:

  • .html for a HTML backup (needs to be imported and merges bookmarks)
  • .json for a JSON backup (needs to be restored and replaces bookmarks)

If you are not sure about the file type then you can open the file in Firefox via "Firefox > New Tab > Open File" or "File > Open File". A JSON backup will show as one long text line without line breaks and a HTML backup shows as a web page with clickable links.

A JSON backup starts with: {"title":"","id":1,"dateAdded": An HTML backup starts with: <!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>

See also:

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Just a html backup. I was doing it all in a hurry because my computer kept crashing and i was afraid it wasn't gonna come back from one of the hard crashes. I saved it to my desktop then moved it to my flashdrive.

I'm unsure how to open it up in a new tab.. i don't see an open file option. But when i click properties on the html, this is what it looks like.

https://gyazo.com/950c159b63a7bb8cf78d86c1ab9bece0

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That looks OK.

You can tap the Alt key or press F10 to show the Menu Bar with the File menu. You can also drag the file in a Firefox window.

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The whole page is blank and this is what it shows in the search bar

https://gyazo.com/42115f972f059a0cacc07a261eddfafb

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That's a bad sign, bookmarks.html shouldn't be blank. If you view source (Ctrl+u) do you see any bookmarks listed there? You can use Find (Ctrl+f) for http to skip through the file.

Anyway, if you have the bookmarks in Chrome, Firefox should be able to import them from Chrome. See: Import bookmarks and other data from Google Chrome.

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I see nothing but a loading circle in the middle of the page. The bookmarks i have in Chrome were the ones i saved on Chrome. I don't see my Mozilla bookmarks on Chrome. But the html file i used to import on Chrome is the same i'm trying to use on Mozilla, but it only worked on Chrome. I synched Mozilla and Chrome and exported the html file for both and one just for Mozilla. Neither work in Mozilla.

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Sorry, I lost you there.

Chrome is or is not showing the bookmarks you want to import into Firefox?

If Chrome IS showing those bookmarks, try the article I linked to in my earlier reply.

If Chrome IS NOT showing those bookmarks, I don't know what you mean that it "worked on Chrome."

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Chrome is showing the bookmarks i exported and imported for Chrome. Mozilla is not showing the bookmarks i exported and imported for Mozilla. But the html is the same for both because i synched Chrome and Mozilla before i exported. I don't understand why it is working on Chrome and not Mozilla.

I tried importing from Chrome, but it just copied the same Chrome bookmarks into my Mozilla.

Hopefully i explained that better :)

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I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but when i right click the html on my desktop, it tells me that it opens with Chrome and it has the Chrome symbol next to it. Do i need to change what it opens with maybe?

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How did you sync Chrome and Firefox? I'm not aware of any way to do that. An add-on??

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I imported Chrome into Mozilla then exported the html. Microsoft told me to do it that way in order to save both browser bookmarks and such.

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Usually using Firefox's Import feature -- either the one documented in the above article or Import Bookmarks from an HTML file -- would not replace your Firefox bookmarks with Chrome's bookmarks, but would combine them.

Are you sure there isn't a second bookmarks.html file in your collection somewhere that you created by exporting from Firefox? I assume you used the steps in this article to create that file: Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks.

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That's what i thought it did, but that html file is only working for Chrome. I have two html files. One that is titled bookmarks.html and one i titled firefoxandchromebookmarks.html (for my own records) I tired the bookmarks one and changed the name on the firefoxandchrome to just bookmarks and tried it. Nothing :/

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Hi DanielleL, the file name should not matter. If you open the longer-named file in a tab in Firefox or Chrome, is it blank or does it contain bookmarks? Did you check the source view (Ctrl+u)?

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Did you check the ownership of the file via the right-click context menu in the Properties in case there is a permission or security issue?

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jscher2000 - It's blank when i open it in both browsers. And when i try to check the source, all i get is a spinning load circle then this pops up https://gyazo.com/072c98632ac20677c1b2c57c5e8da91a

cor-el - Here is a screenshot of the security of the html https://gyazo.com/0a131f3961c73c84a11fe84a5d341d7d

Modified by DanielleL

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DanielleL said

jscher2000 - It's blank when i open it in both browsers. And when i try to check the source, all i get is a spinning load circle then this pops up https://gyazo.com/072c98632ac20677c1b2c57c5e8da91a

Well, that's definitely not normal. "00 00" is a null character that shouldn't appear in a .html file. If you look further, do you see any characters or other pairs of numbers that might correspond to actual text? Actually I suspect not or it should have been displayed in the tab. It's sounding like this is not the right file.

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No characters at all, just a long string of 0's. It's the same file i used to import my bookmarks into Chrome, that is why this is so mind boggling to me on why it won't work with Mozilla.

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That file shouldn't work in Chrome, either. Maybe if you logged Chrome into your Gmail account those bookmarks were restored from your account rather than from the file??

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Note that the screenshot shows the permissions for System and not your (Danielle) permissions.

Make sure that the file is UTF-8 and not UTF-16 or another encoding. Try to open the File in Firefox and check the encoding.

  • View -> Text Encoding
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