How to clean out everything in my places.sqlite except my bookmarks
I opened the places.sqlite file in my profile, so I could review and save my bookmarks. It appears that Firefox has been saving what looks like every web site I have ever visited, every search, and everything I have ever downloaded, it looks like it saved every key stroke I entered since I loaded Firefox 4 years ago. I was never aware that Firefox stored this data. I thought that when you cleared history upon log out, this info was deleted. Apparently not. I can't believe the vast amount of data Firefox is saving in this file. I want to clean out all this saved data. I only want my bookmarks to be saved. Is there a way to delete all this data and still keep all my bookmarks? Is there a way to set up Firefox to delete this info every time you log out?
All Replies (4)
The easiest way to clean out all history items would be to delete the places.sqlite file. This will make Firefox rebuild the bookmarks from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.
You can use "Clear history when Firefox closes" to clear the browsing history.
- Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history": [X] "Clear history when Firefox closes" > Settings
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/remove-recent-browsing-search-and-download-history
- Clearing "Site Preferences" clears all exceptions for cookies, images, pop-up windows, software installation, passwords, and other website specific data.
I deleted the places.sqlite file but Firefox just created a new one the same as the one I deleted only some on my bookmarks were missing. Is there a way to extract just the bookmarks and save them then I will uninstall Firefox, reinstall it then insert the bookmarks.
If some bookmarks were missing then that might have been recent bookmarks that weren't included is the last available JSON backup.
You can backup the bookmarks and create a JSON backup.
- Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Backup
Restoring a JSON backup will always replace all current bookmarks.
If you delete places.sqlite with Firefox closed then you shouldn't have any history left.
I backed up my bookmarks as you suggested, then I deleted the sqlite file. I restarted Firefox and all my bookmarks were still there only the icons to the left of the bookmarks were gone leaving a small empty box. I tried restoring the icons and nothing changed. I opened the "new" sqlite file in the Profiles directory and everything I was trying to get rid of is still there and the file is exactly the same size as the one I deleted. It appears that even if I delete the file, it is recreated exactly the same when I restart Firefox. I am deleting this file with Firefox not running. I made a copy of the original sqlite file and renamed it before I started this adventure, and if I delete the "new" sqlite file and put back the original sqlite file, the icons return, and of course all the unwanted data is still there.