FF corrupts my bookmarks. How can I delete my account to reset syncing?
Firefox corrupts my bookmarks every first time I run it on one of my computers, and then up to 6 more times before it stabilizes. (Current version is 44.0.2, on Win7 Professional.)
Rachel McGuigan <rmcguigan@mozilla.com> responded with suggestions for how to resolve the problem.
1. Turn off sync on all my computers to delete the stored data in the cloud. 2. Delete the account. 3. Create a new account by adding the devices one by one.
I have turned off sync on every computer. (By the way, because of the corruption problem, I had unchecked sync for bookmarks in my account anyway, but the corruption continued whether syncing was turned on or after I turned syncing off.)
Can you tell me how to delete my account, so I can set up a new account and try that?
Can you tell me why Firefox continues to corrupt my bookmarks even though syncing is turned off?
All Replies (3)
If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync (temporarily) while performing maintenance/repair efforts to the places.sqlite database. You can change the password for the Sync account to reset data stored on the Sync server.
You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks, history) in the Firefox profile folder.
See also:
Disconnecting all your devices from Sync doesn't clear your data from the Sync server. You need to Reset your Sync password to clear your data from the Sync server; as cor-el just mentioned.
Then use Place Maintenance on each computer to fix the corruption on each computer, otherwise that may happen all over again when your connect back into Sync.
Perchance did you have an "mobile" devices using either Firefox for Android or Firefox for iOS connected that Sync account? I have seen a good number of postings about corrupt data in Sync over the last 6 to 8 months where the user was using a "mobile" device with Sync in addition to desktop / laptop devices.
Thank you very much for your reply. I was able to get Place Maintenance installed in each of my three installations of Firefox and ran it to correct the problems it found.
Then, after re-activating my sync account and syncing the computers, I decided to let Sync also keep my bookmarks file synced, but I have continued to save/export the bookmarks file every time I had a stable session (bookmarks stopped changing) for safety's sake. I thought I was up and running. I waited to get back to you until I had had a chance to see if the changes would correct the problem.
Alas, they have not. Just today, I updated Firefox on my work desktop and my work laptop (to 46.0), and over the course of about 1/2 hour, both installations corrupted the bookmarks about 8 times. Every time, I re-imported my corrected (last stable) json bookmarks file, and it would hold for a few minutes, and then Firefox would again corrupt the bookmarks. A couple of times, It duplicated one bm folder 11 times, and another bm folder 14 times.
In addition, on my laptop (64-bit Dell Lattitude running Windows 7), Firefox crashed twice after the update. Fortunately this time, it was able to reboot without losing the installation and having to start from scratch, adding my add-ons again, etc. That is a common result for me after a crash by Firefox.
So, I admit that I have to treat Firefox as a backup browser to be used rarely, because it is not reliable enough to count on for my usual browsing. Having to re-install the bookmarks multiple times, every time I start to use it, is just too frustrating and wasteful of time. Never thought I'd have to part company with what used to be a terrific browser!
Good luck with this buggy program! bacooper