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I updated Firefox, and now my bookmarks, toolbar, and all history are gone!

  • 5 cavab
  • 1 has this problem
  • 15 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

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I updated, and was online searching for a recipe. One of the sites was asking me to install a plug-in. I believe I installed the plug-in so that I could get to the site. Then I was asked to install something else, and I decided not to go any further with their installs. I noticed then that I didn't have a bookmarks toolbar, and tried to open my bookmarks. They, along with my history, all are gone, and I'm not getting anything added to my history as I go along. Please help! I read the article that says to click on "all bookmarks", but there is nothing there! Does anyone know what I can do to restore my bookmarks, toolbar, and history? Thanks for your help! emoss

I updated, and was online searching for a recipe. One of the sites was asking me to install a plug-in. I believe I installed the plug-in so that I could get to the site. Then I was asked to install something else, and I decided not to go any further with their installs. I noticed then that I didn't have a bookmarks toolbar, and tried to open my bookmarks. They, along with my history, all are gone, and I'm not getting anything added to my history as I go along. Please help! I read the article that says to click on "all bookmarks", but there is nothing there! Does anyone know what I can do to restore my bookmarks, toolbar, and history? Thanks for your help! emoss

All Replies (5)

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What was the plugin the site wanted you to install? Do you know what it does?

Please provide a public link (no password) that we can check out. No Personal Information Please !


Look on your desktop. Do you see a folder called; Old Firefox?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible

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Type about:support in the address bar and press Enter. Under the main banner, press the button; Copy Text To Clipboard.. Now in the Reply Box on the forum page, do a right-click in the box and select Paste.

This will show us your system details. No Personal Information Is Collected.

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Hello Fred. I wish I could look back at my history and tell you about the plug-in! I went to a Martha Stewart recipe site, and they wanted me to install it. I don't even know where to check for plug-ins. There is no folder on my desktop labeled "Old Firefox". I did a search for the old app, and nothing came up, and there is nothing in the trash. I'm just bewildered why I have been generating no history, and what has happened to all my very important bookmarks!

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First, NEVER install anything unless you know what it is and what it does. That is one-way malware gets around.

emoss28 said

I went to a Martha Stewart recipe site

Please provide a public link (no password) that we can check out. No Personal Information Please !

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Restore Bookmark Backups

Firefox automatically makes backups of the bookmarks. These are stored in the bookmarkbackups folder.

Open the Bookmarks Manager; Press the Alt or F10 key to bring up the toolbar, and select Bookmarks. Hot key is <Control> (Mac=<Command>) <Shift> B.

Once the window is open, at the top of the page, press the button labeled Import and Backup. Select Restore. From the list, pick the file you want and click it.

The backups are stored in a jsonlz4 file named something like this; bookmarks-2016-06-29_1424_enD1GTH ya0JmicnYWg4V4g==.jsonlz4

In this example; 2016-06-29 = date created, 1424 = number of entries.