Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer

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Firefox automatically creates backups of your bookmarks and saves the last fiveten backups for safekeeping. This article describes how to manually back up your bookmarks, and replace them with a backup.

Backup and restoring

Manual backup

  1. Click the menu button Fx89menuButton to open the menu panel. Click Bookmarks and then click the Manage bookmarks bar at the bottom.
  2. In the Library window, click the e3f62ffc25d52f883aa490cc65d71e2d-1252097598-804-1.png Import and Backup button and then select Backup....

    e3f62ffc25d52f883aa490cc65d71e2d-1269024873-500-1.jpg
  3. In the Bookmarks backup filename window that opens, choose a location to save the file, which is named bookmarks-"date".json by default. The desktop is usually a good spot, but any place that is easy to remember will work.
  4. Save the bookmarks json file. The Bookmarks backup filename window will close and you can close the Library window.

Restoring from backups

Caution: Restoring bookmarks from a backup will overwrite your current set of bookmarks with the ones in the backup file.
  1. Click the menu button Fx89menuButton to open the menu panel. Click Bookmarks and then click the Manage bookmarks bar at the bottom.
  2. In the Library window, click the e3f62ffc25d52f883aa490cc65d71e2d-1252097598-804-1.png Import and Backup button and then select Restore.

    e3f62ffc25d52f883aa490cc65d71e2d-1269024873-500-2.jpg
  3. Select the backup from which you want to restore:
    • The dated entries are automatic backups.
    • Choose File... lets you restore from a manual backup (see above).
  4. After choosing a backup, your bookmarks from that file will be restored. Close the Library window.

Moving bookmarks to another computer

Using Firefox Sync

You can use Firefox Sync to move your bookmarks from one computer to another.

Note: Firefox Sync continuously updates itself as you change bookmarks, so it does not provide a true backup service, nor is it intended to be used as one.

Firefox Sync is the best way to keep your bookmarks (and other profile data) synchronized between all of the computers you use. See How do I set up Sync on my computer? for more information and How do I set up Sync on my computer? for instructions on setting it up.

Using a bookmark backup file

You can also use a bookmark backup file from one computer and restore it on another computer. This is useful if you can't Sync the two computers, for some reason.

The bookmark backup file can either be a manual backup (see above) or one of the automatic dated backups located inside the Firefox profile folder bookmarkbackups folder. Place the bookmark backup file on your transfer media (e.g. a Flash drive) and copy it to the desktop (or any location) of the other computer. You can then restore the backup from the Firefox Library window, using the Choose File... option, as described in the Restoring from backups section above.