Web Browser Wednesday
Has something ever happened to your Firefox bookmarks, and you were left wondering how you could get back the bookmarks that you lost? Some of you may be using a service such as Foxmarks (review) so that all of your bookmarks are also backed-up online, but often any change you make to your bookmarks will also be reflected in the service you’re synchronizing with. Therefore if half of your bookmarks get deleted on your computer, they will probably get deleted online as well.
There is actually an easy way for you to recover from such a catastrophe, but you only have a few days to act on it. In your Firefox profile there is a folder called bookmarkbackups, and in there you will see five days worth of bookmark backups. Ever since Firefox 1.5, the browser has created daily snapshots of your bookmarks in case anything ever happened to them, which can be imported back into Firefox to restore your bookmarks.
Firefox 3 Users: Follow this updated guide for information on restoring Firefox 3 bookmarks.
The first thing you need to do is located your Firefox profile folder:
| Operating System | Profile folder location(s) |
| Windows 95/98/Me |
|
| Windows NT 4.x | C:\Winnt\Profiles\<Windows login/user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ |
| Windows 2000 and XP | C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows login/user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ |
| Windows Vista | C:\Users\<Windows login/user name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ |
| Unix |
|
| Mac OS X |
|
Once you have found that, just look for the bookmarkbackups folder, which is pictured below. In it you should find at least 5 HTML files that are dated, each corresponding to a different day’s bookmark backup:
The best thing that you can do is copy that file somewhere else, such as your desktop, to ensure that it remains in tact. To import the bookmarks back into Firefox go to Bookmarks -> Organize (or Manage) Bookmarks -> File -> Import -> from File and browse for the HTML file that you just copied to your desktop. Firefox will then import the bookmarks back into the browser.
Alternatively you can copy the bookmark backup file, rename it to bookmarks.html, and replace your existing bookmarks.html file located in your profile folder. This will completely replace all of your existing bookmarks, which may or may not be what you want to do.
–On Demand Backups–
If you plan on doing something that could corrupt your bookmarks, or just for an added precaution, you can manually backup your Firefox bookmarks. Just go to Bookmarks -> Organize Bookmarks -> File -> Export, and choose a location to save the HTML file.
–Number of Backups–
As I mentioned earlier, Firefox only has bookmark backups for the last five days by default, but that can be changed. Here’s what you have to do:
- Start Firefox.
- In the Address Bar type about:config and press Enter.
- Find the option that is named browser.bookmarks.max_backups and double-click on it.
- Increase or decrease the value to whatever you would like. I changed mine to 10.
- That’s all!
Great tip Ryan. Now i have both offline and online backups.
The location of the profile needs updating to include Windows7.
No problem. Bookmarks are extremely valuable to me, and I can rest easy knowing that there are plenty of backups available.
This was really helpful about a week ago when my dad’s firefox profile went down for whatever reason and he lost all his bookmarks. I just looked in the backup folder and they were good as new
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I just use GMarks and store my favorites in my Google account that way my bookmarks are always there
They follow me everywhere.
Bug what if Google were to lose your bookmarks? That probably wouldn’t be good.
Thanks a tonne!! My laptop’s WindowsXP crashed and on recovery… ALL traces of my bookmarks were gone!! God bless the Mozilla folks for this feature!
Thanks for letting me know that it helped you! It’s always great to see when one of our tips helped avert a crisis.
you save my life thx
I saved your life? Would that make me a hero?
Thank you, thank you, thank you and oh yeah, THANK YOU!!!
wow, dude you are a life saver !
PPP
Thank you
Hi, this really helped me a lot, but I still have questions. I have a vista and it says that the file type is a JSON and I did rename the file but it still won’t import. Am I doing something wrong?
In Firefox 3 it’s actually easier now. You don’t need to try and reimport the file. Just go to Bookmarks -> Organize Bookmarks -> Import and Backup -> Restore. From there you should see a list of your backup files.
Wow thanks a lot.
You’re very helpful
Hi
With great anticipation I downloaded Google Chrome and, like a fool, imported my bookmarks from Firefox 3. Maybe I’m naive, but I’d assumed that importing them would have simply meant copying them and not rendering the originals unreadable.
Now I have no bookmarks at all – Chrome doesn’t seem to have any and neither does Firefox. Not only that, but Firefox now won’t import the backup bookmark files, either. It’s as if they are blank files, although the file size is almost a meg. Strangely, it also won’t open Google.co.uk as a home page, even though it should (just gives a blank page). And when I click the home page button on the toolbar, it will go to Google but not display the Google logo. Not that I’m particularly bothered at the moment, since I blame Google for all my current ills and don’t really care if it is swallowed up by a giant cyber-tsunami.
I know that Chrome is only a beta version but this is a bit much. What’s going on? How do I fix things?
regards and thanks
Chris
These were easy directions to follow. I have BOOKMARKED CyberNet as a terrific place to get troubleshooting advice. Took awhile to sort through the searches for help on Yahoo, but finally found your site.
Thanks a bunch, and keep on helping those of us who are slowly but surely getting the hang of it!!!
all my bookmarks are lost, i do that:Bookmarks -> Organize Bookmarks -> Import and Backup -> Restore. and firefox writes: unable to process the backup file on all 5 eof them
and also firefox doesn’t show anything in the http:// field! on any website, and it keeps loading smth, though everything is loaded
Sounds like you’re having some serious problems. Try finding the bookmarks file in your profile, and then try importing it manually. I don’t think that will solve the other issues you’re having though.
Only things in my Library are *.json files; no html.
I did also, and I just right clicked on bookmarks, import and backup, restore html, and choose the *.json file. And it worked!
I used Advanced URL Catalog to recover my bookmarks. This [jordysoft.com] saved me a lot of time.
Ryan or new expert,
Firefox now has bookmark backup files in .json format and I don’t know how it is going to work out later if I save it on my desktop in that format. Do I have to worry about the format?
Thanks a bunch.
You’ll always be able to copy that backup into your profile folder, so having it is still useful.
I have a macbook, using Firefox 3.6. When I go to “import” to restore my bookmarks, I have NO choice but ‘safari’??
How do I import them to recover my lost bookmarks. Also- I am not sure where the bookmark.html file is, or would go if I copy my bookmarks backup file there.
THANKS! This is the first info that actually led me to find the backup files on my mac.
I hope you can get me through the next steps to restore!!
I lost all my Firefox bookmarks on my Mac. By going to Organize Bookmarks, and selecting ‘Restore’, it would not fix my problem. I could see .json files of my bookmarks in my Firefox Profiles though.
Here instead, is what got me my bookmarks back:
)
1. Close down Firefox
2. Open the Firefox profile folder.
3. Delete or rename all files named “places.sqlite”, including “places.sqlite-journal” and any “places.sqlite.corrupt”, if found.
4. I also deleted any bookmarks .json files that were written on the day the bookmarks got screwed up.
5. Restart Firefox and a new “places.sqlite” will be rebuilt.
6. I could see my bookmarks again.
Peanut…You F’n Rock. I was about to give up, thanks
Thank you very much! This was wonderfully helpful.
its probably better to use some online service that takes care of your bookmarks. try [twohub.com] or smth like that instead
Thank you You saved my day/week/year !!!