All of my bookmarks are gone after updating firefox. I have wasted hours trying to do the suggested complex solutions. will downgrading fix my problem?
I have tried restoring from back up, I have done all the places.sqlite stuff that was suggested. I have used safemode. I have verified integrity. I have done all the steps listed in the support so far. My bookmarks are gone. Where are they stored and how can I access them? Can I downgrade and will that restore my bookmarks folder? Or is it in my old firefox data folder is there a way to open a list of bookmarks?
All Replies (8)
Downgrading will not help in this situation. I assume that an Old Firefox Data folder is visible on your desktop?
Your old Firefox profile will be in there. Sometimes there is more than one folder, but they should be dated to show which one is the newest. When you open the newest one, usually it's just a matter of copying and pasting the contents of that folder inside of your current profile.
- Open the Old Firefox Data folder
- Open the latest profile backup folder (I'll refer to it as Folder A)
- Press the Windows Key + R
- Type
%appdata%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles - Press Run
- (Optional) Copy and paste that folder to make a backup of it, which will usually be called
XXXXXX.default - Copy - Open the folder that is not a copy (I'll refer to it as Folder B)
- Delete the contents of Folder B
- Copy the contents of Folder A into Folder B
See the Recover important data from an old profile support documentation for more information.
Hope this helps.
NOTE: You will need to close Firefox in order to complete the above instructions.
I think you have three options
(A) Whole profile data transplant -- this gives you the most complete data restoration, see the first reply
(B) Cross profile restore
When you call up the Restore menu in Firefox's Library window (as described in the following article), use Choose File and point Firefox to your Desktop, into Old Firefox Data, into bookmarkbackups:
Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer
(C) Convert and import
Each profile folder should contain a folder named bookmarkbackups containing compressed backup files -- they have a .jsonlz4 file extension. There aren't any programs that read these files, but I do have a tool on my website you can use to convert a file to HTML format for easier viewing or importing.
I had already done both of those. The only bookmarks to show are ones made after the firefox update. the jsonlz4 file no matter how old it is just becomes the standard bookmarks all made after the update despite it coming from the old firefox data folder, when converted to html. Why did my bookmarks disappear? Why can't i get them back? I had 100s of link all organized for JFK research. I cannot waste my time finding everything again. I need my bookmarks.
If I downgrade to a older version of firefox will that let me see all my bookmarks? I am done wasting time running in circles with restorations that dont work. I need to be working.
Rydawson said
the jsonlz4 file no matter how old it is just becomes the standard bookmarks all made after the update despite it coming from the old firefox data folder, when converted to html.
If you have a .jsonlz4 file that contains the correct bookmarks -- confirmed by viewing the HTML conversion -- you can use it to overwrite the current set through the Restore procedure.
Alternately, you can add the HTML version as a new "Imported Bookmarks" folder through the Import procedure. After importing to a new folder, you'll need to manually move the bookmarks to the desired locations.
It sometimes is necessary to remove the database file that stores bookmarks and history and have Firefox generate a fresh one, and then restore again. See:
Fix "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional" error message
I have no idea whether a different version of Firefox would work better because I can't tell what the problem is.
That is the exact same suggestion as what was already said. I’ve been asking around and many other people had the same thing happen, Firefox erased their bookmarks with a an upgrade. The old Firefox data folder does not over write the data on the current profile even when everything Is done when fire fix is exited. Converting old Firefox data to HTML on that website just shows that the old data is the same as the new data aka there are no bookmarks other than most recent visited sites and Firefox help
Aren't there any compressed .jsonlz4 backups available, either in your current profile or in an orphaned profile that isn't listed in profiles.ini and on the about:profiles page and not in a possible "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop?
You can check if you have an orphaned profile that isn't registered in profiles.ini and that doesn't show in the Firefox Profile Manager. You can check that by opening the current profile folder via the about:profiles page and go up one level (..) to see if there are unlisted profiles present. If you have found an orphaned profile then you may want to recover some personal data or restore this profile.
Rydawson said
Converting old Firefox data to HTML on that website just shows that the old data is the same as the new data aka there are no bookmarks other than most recent visited sites and Firefox help
In that case, the bookmark backup file in Old Firefox Data was not old enough. Did you do the Refresh (creating Old Firefox Data) before or after the problem occurred?