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Lost all bookmarks in re-start and none of the "help" topics are helpful!

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When Firefox updated and re-started all of my bookmarks are gone. I need to know how to get them back. I only have one profile.

When Firefox updated and re-started all of my bookmarks are gone. I need to know how to get them back. I only have one profile.

Chosen solution

That looks good.

It says there are 757 bookmark records (includes both bookmarks and folders in the count). Can you find them in an unexpected location if you try the "Library" window (Ctrl+Shift+b). Use the navigation pane on the left side to check each category:

  • Bookmarks Toolbar
  • Bookmarks Menu
  • Other Bookmaks
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All Replies (11)

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Try looking for the bookmarks file itself.

I use linux, so I can't tell you its location in Windows (though I'm sure you can query online for this info).

In Linux you can find it in /home/[user]/.mozilla/firefox/mnbyxovr.default-release/ (At least on my machine)

The file name is places.sqlite

If you can't find it, check your trash bin. Maybe you can recover it.

HTH!

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Hi coolmitch54, were there any other noticeable changes, such as different theme, different toolbar layout, different history, missing add-ons, etc.? That would yield different suggestions than only bookmarks being affected.


Access to Bookmarks

In case the problem is a toolbar or button missing:

  • You can re-enable the horizontal bookmarks toolbar (normally appears below the main toolbar) using the "Toolbars" button in the Customize panel
  • You can add the optional bookmarks menu button () by dragging it to the main toolbar in the Customize panel

Article on Customize: Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars


Recovering from data loss

Firefox keeps approximately daily bookmark backups, so restoring one of those could help. That and other suggestions are collected in this article:

Recover lost or missing Bookmarks

However, if you can't add new bookmarks, either, there could be file damage. This article discusses that situation:

Fix "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional" error message

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Are there backups available in the bookmarkbackups folder?

  • Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks -> Import & Backup -> Restore
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I didn't notice any changes after the update. I tried the Restore suggestion and it gave me a window that said unable to process backup file. Now what?? All of the bookmarks are still on my other computer. Is there a way to copy them onto my laptop, although they are much different. My laptop is my primary computer.

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Hmm, not a good error message. Could you let us know what you get when you run the "Verify Integrity" function. That's here:

Open Firefox's Troubleshooting Information page using any of these methods:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

Near the bottom, there is a section titled Places Database -- that's the file which stores history and bookmarks. Click the button labeled Verify Integrity. There may be a 10-15 second delay before results appear.

If all is well, the report that appears below the button should start with:

> Task: checkIntegrity
+ The places.sqlite database is sane
+ The favicons.sqlite database is sane

Does yours say that, or something else? You can select and copy the report, and then paste it into a reply for review and comment.

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This is the result of the verify integrity function

> Task: checkIntegrity + The places.sqlite database is sane + The favicons.sqlite database is sane > Task: invalidateCaches + The caches have been invalidated > Task: checkCoherence + The database is coherent > Task: expire + Database cleaned up > Task: originFrecencyStats + Recalculated origin frecency stats > Task: vacuum + Initial database size is 25600KiB + The database has been vacuumed + Final database size is 25600KiB > Task: stats + Places.sqlite size is 25600KiB + Favicons.sqlite size is 23360KiB + pragma_user_version is 53 + pragma_page_size is 32768 + pragma_cache_size is -2048 + pragma_journal_mode is wal + pragma_synchronous is 1 + History can store a maximum of 148384 unique pages + Table moz_places has 45423 records + Table moz_historyvisits has 77363 records + Table moz_inputhistory has 5 records + Table moz_hosts has 0 records + Table moz_bookmarks has 757 records + Table moz_bookmarks_deleted has 0 records + Table moz_keywords has 0 records + Table sqlite_sequence has 0 records + Table moz_anno_attributes has 3 records + Table moz_annos has 374 records + Table moz_items_annos has 0 records + Table sqlite_stat1 has 18 records + Table moz_meta has 9 records + Table moz_origins has 3639 records + Index sqlite_autoindex_moz_inputhistory_1 + Index sqlite_autoindex_moz_hosts_1 + Index sqlite_autoindex_moz_bookmarks_deleted_1 + Index sqlite_autoindex_moz_keywords_1 + Index sqlite_autoindex_moz_anno_attributes_1 + Index sqlite_autoindex_moz_origins_1 + Index moz_places_url_hashindex + Index moz_places_hostindex + Index moz_places_visitcount + Index moz_places_frecencyindex + Index moz_places_lastvisitdateindex + Index moz_places_guid_uniqueindex + Index moz_historyvisits_placedateindex + Index moz_historyvisits_fromindex + Index moz_historyvisits_dateindex + Index moz_bookmarks_itemindex + Index moz_bookmarks_parentindex + Index moz_bookmarks_itemlastmodifiedindex + Index moz_bookmarks_guid_uniqueindex + Index moz_keywords_placepostdata_uniqueindex + Index moz_annos_placeattributeindex + Index moz_items_annos_itemattributeindex + Index moz_bookmarks_dateaddedindex + Index moz_places_originidindex > Task: _refreshUI

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Chosen Solution

That looks good.

It says there are 757 bookmark records (includes both bookmarks and folders in the count). Can you find them in an unexpected location if you try the "Library" window (Ctrl+Shift+b). Use the navigation pane on the left side to check each category:

  • Bookmarks Toolbar
  • Bookmarks Menu
  • Other Bookmaks
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OK, they show up under Bookmarks Menu. How do I get them back to the browser?

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Never mind. They're back there. I'm not sure what I did but thank you for your help!! I was panicking there for a while!!

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I guess I SHOULD say I don't know what YOU did but thanks!

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Hi coolmitch54, the "Verify Integrity" function performs a bit of database maintenance, so that may have cleaned up some stray debris and sorted it out for you. It's great that nothing more dramatic was required.