How can I copy Firefox bookmarks from a Windows PC to a Mac?
I exported a file of bookmarks from Firefox, installed on my Windows PC, and copied that file onto the desktop of my new MacBook Air. I want to import those bookmarks into Firefox on my Mac. Neither the Firefox help page nor Google referred me to an article that explained how to do this. (Google displayed one article on the subject, written in 2007, for an older version of Firefox than the one my Mac uses. The instructions referred to items that I could not find in the Firefox drop-down menus.) Because the Firefox help page offers articles explaining how to import bookmarks from other browsers to Firefox for the Mac, I looked at one of them to determine if I could perform similar steps to accomplish what I want. The article instructed me to click on "Bookmarks", then, in the resulting drop-down menu, "Organize Bookmarks". That action produced a "Library" window, as the instructions said it would. I was then supposed to click on "Import and Export", in that Library window. However, there was no such item there. So, I am dead in the water. I would greatly appreciate it if someone could show me how to import the bookmarks file into Firefox installed in my Mac. Thank you.
Chosen solution
See:
Did you export to an HTML file or did you create a JSON backup?
JSON backup/restore:
Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Backup Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Restore > Choose File
HTML export/import:
Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Export HTML Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Import HTML : "From File"Read this answer in context 👍 3
All Replies (4)
Chosen Solution
See:
Did you export to an HTML file or did you create a JSON backup?
JSON backup/restore:
Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Backup Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Restore > Choose File
HTML export/import:
Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Export HTML Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Import HTML : "From File"
Thanks for solving my problem. The instructions that you linked me to were easy to follow and they did the job.
In the process of replying to my question, you uncovered two problems that Mozilla should fix as quickly as possible. First, in reply to my question, Firefox's Help page said that it had no posted answer to that question. It also gave me a link to what I assume was a computer-generated attempt at an answer. That "answer" had absolutely nothing to do with my question. Firefox should have, instead, directed me to the page in MozillaZine - their own knowledge base - that you had sent to me. (Also on the topic of Mozilla's left hand not knowing what its right hand is doing, the "Post a Reply" window that I am typing in now underlined "MozillaZine" in red, indicating that I misspelled it. However, I copied that spelling from their own MozillaZine web site!) To observe the second problem, you might want to simultaneously run Firefox on a Windows PC and a Mac, then view the Library windows in each. Just below the top of the PC Library window, you'll find the words "Organize", "Views", and "Import & Backup", arrayed horizontally. An icon is placed to the left of each word. In contrast, those words are left out of the Mac's Library window. For that reason, I was at first unable to perform the "Import & Backup" command, needed to do the restore. After I simultaneously opened the Library windows in my desktop Windows PC and my Mac, then carefully compared them, I noticed three icons at the top of the Mac Library window. By clicking each one, I stumbled upon the icon corresponding to "Import & Backup". And note that the icon representing "Organize" on the PC version (a pile of papers) was very different than that representing "Organize" on the Mac version (a gear). I highly recommend that the icons in the Mac version of the Library box be replaced by the words that they represent. And if the Firefox developers insist upon keeping icons, 1) those icons should be identical in the PC and Mac versions of Firefox and 2) the Mac version of the Library window should display both the icons and the words that they represent, just as the PC version does.
Again, I want to thank you for solving my problem. I hope some of the Firefox developers read my comments before the next update leaves beta testing.
Be aware that mozillaZine and Mozilla are different website and not related to each other. The mozillaZine site has been the major support site for Firefox and other Mozilla software until Mozilla launched its own Firefox Support forum a few years ago. The mozillaZine KB is more technically oriented than the SUMO KB. The SUMO KB is aimed at giving support at a level that is not too difficult to understand and much info is scattered over a lot of separate articles that do not always have a link to each other. The mozillaZine KB also gives links to bug reports and other related data that has been gathered over the years.
The main SUMO articles about exporting and importing bookmarks would be:
Thanks for the information. I stand corrected.