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Can't backup bookmarks. The bookmarked sign on bookmarked pages dissapears few moments after every launch. Sync is stuck on syncing. Can't add new bookmarks.

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  • Last reply by Garshasb

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After starting Firefox, Sync starts and gets stuck on "Syncing" till I restart. Ever page shows as bookmarked for a while and then they all turn into not bookmarked. Backups won't be saved. Changes to bookmarks and adding new ones won't work either. Have tried a new profile, deleting xulstore.json and places.sqlite and have also tried safe-mode and all of them together. The sync is still in a loop. I have about 56000 bookmarks(I know that's a lot!) but it didn't use to take more than a few seconds. And not being able to see the last sync time by hovering really sucks as well btw.

After starting Firefox, Sync starts and gets stuck on "Syncing" till I restart. Ever page shows as bookmarked for a while and then they all turn into not bookmarked. Backups won't be saved. Changes to bookmarks and adding new ones won't work either. Have tried a new profile, deleting xulstore.json and places.sqlite and have also tried safe-mode and all of them together. The sync is still in a loop. I have about 56000 bookmarks(I know that's a lot!) but it didn't use to take more than a few seconds. And not being able to see the last sync time by hovering really sucks as well btw.

Chosen solution

You can open about:sync-log via the location bar to see if there is a recent log available. You can upload a recent log if the log is too big to put in a reply.

If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting.

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.

  • use "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page

In case errors are reported with "Verify Integrity" close and restart Firefox and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

  • keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created

See also:

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

If you use Sync then best is to reconnect one device at the time and wait for the initial Sync to finish before connecting another device once you have fixed the bookmarks.

Note that it can take a very long time if you would need to do a full initial Sync of all the 56000 bookmarks (syncing bookmarks is usually done in quite small chunks).

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Step 1 to protect your data;

Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.{web link} I use an add-on that makes backups of my user profile, Just In Case. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the current Firefox.

Every now and then, open the profile folder and create a copy of the current profile as is to another location on your hard drive. This way you will have a backup.

If you do this each day, you will not lose much data. This should be done with Firefox Closed.

Note: In case you need to restore from these backups, you may need to overwrite old or corrupted files.

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Your system details shows you are using Firefox 70.0b10 (beta). Download the current beta full installer. Is the problem still there?

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What about Sync on other devices that are connected to that Sync Account? Are you having a similar problem on another device?


With Sync disabled on that device .... Have you tried opening about:support - Troubleshooting Information and using the Places Database > Integrity -->> Verify Integrity feature to fix the Places Database?

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Chosen Solution

You can open about:sync-log via the location bar to see if there is a recent log available. You can upload a recent log if the log is too big to put in a reply.

If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting.

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.

  • use "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page

In case errors are reported with "Verify Integrity" close and restart Firefox and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

  • keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created

See also:

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

If you use Sync then best is to reconnect one device at the time and wait for the initial Sync to finish before connecting another device once you have fixed the bookmarks.

Note that it can take a very long time if you would need to do a full initial Sync of all the 56000 bookmarks (syncing bookmarks is usually done in quite small chunks).

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Thank you guys. I tried "verify integrity" and it said that my favicons.sqlite is having problems. I deleted that file and it's all working fine now. Thank you so much guys. I have tried syncing for about 10 times now and have ran into no problems. I will post an update in case I run into this problem again.

the-edmeister said

What about Sync on other devices that are connected to that Sync Account? Are you having a similar problem on another device?

With Sync disabled on that device .... Have you tried opening about:support - Troubleshooting Information and using the Places Database > Integrity -->> Verify Integrity feature to fix the Places Database?

cor-el said

You can open about:sync-log via the location bar to see if there is a recent log available. You can upload a recent log if the log is too big to put in a reply. If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting. You can check for problems with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.
  • use "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page
In case errors are reported with "Verify Integrity" close and restart Firefox and retry. If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.
  • keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created