How to retrieve bookmarks.
I have had firefox refuse to load so I downloaded a new version. I then found that I did not keep my old bookmarks. I have followed the instructions to get the stored bookmarks but I get the message that Windows cannot open the file so i asked it to find the program on the web but with no success. What do I do and am I able to retrieve the previous Firefox bookmarks? I am using XP.
All Replies (4)
You need to restore a JSON backup in Firefox in the Bookmarks Manager (Library) and not use an external application.
- Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks -> Import & Backup > Restore
The name of a JSON bookmarks backup file includes a total item count (folders and separators included) and an hash value to prevent saving the same backup more than once.
- bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item count>_<hash>.jsonlz4.
Thanks for the help. I don't understand this : bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item count>_<hash>.jsonlz4. I did the restore as suggested but nothing seems to have changed and I still do not know if I can find my bookmarks from the previous Firefox download.
That is the way Firefox saves a compressed .jsonlz4 in the bookmarkbackups folder. This folder stores rotating backup up to a maximum of 15. The title of such a backup includes the total item count, so you can easily see how many bookmarks you had at the time this backup was created.
- bookmarks-2016-12-31_3432_xxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxx==.jsonlz4
Restoring a backup should give you the bookmarks stored in this file.
jamek said
I have followed the instructions to get the stored bookmarks but I get the message that Windows cannot open the file so i asked it to find the program on the web but with no success.
What file was it that you wanted to open? Files with extensions like .sqlite or .jsonlz4 are not meant to be opened and viewed like documents. They are data storage formats that Firefox reads on its own.