Hi, Sorry about that, to the best that I know it can not be restored. If you have a copy of your bookmarks prior to this hold onto them until Mozilla Figures out what they are doing.

Unfortunately Volunteer Support knows nothing.

If you would like to leave feedback on the need to restore that feature please go to Help --> Submit Feedback and a team will review your submission.

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

Thanks for the reply. Do you know if firefox backs up bookmarks when it does major updates? I have a backup from last week however I am unsure where Mozzilla stores the bookmarks file on a Mac... At least I could try to recover the info manually from the file.

Ya, but if stick it in again you will loose the info.

I think the files are all in the same place......I do not know how you backed up and am not a Mac person but the bookmarks are in :

• bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
• bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-lost-or-missing-bookmarks
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles

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

Ya suggest next time to Export them as HTML as I have been using mine since 1995, though nothing exists of that form.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/export-firefox-bookmarks-to-backup-or-transfer

Export your bookmarks in html format and when you view that bookmarks.html file inside of Firefox (File > Open File) you can see that Description data.

In Fx 62.0b5 and later that data is missing from from the Properties box; come Fx 64.0beta that data will be gone altogether - removed from the places.sqlite file.

WHY would Mozilla do this?

I cannot believe that the bookmarks description field was deleted on version 62.0 (64 bit).

Worse yet, it was deleted WITHOUT ANY NOTICE! I have about 200 HOURS of time invested in adding the extremely important information into nearly every bookmark description field over many, many years. Now it is gone! All gone! Deleted WITHOUT ANY NOTICE! POOF!

It will take me at least 3 X 200 hours to figure out WHAT I am missing and recreate it somewhere else! Where? In a spiral notebook?

The more i think about this, the more I shudder!

Hi rbir, the field is no longer visible in Firefox 62+, but your data is still there. I can mention two ways to access it, but neither will be within Firefox, one is within a static page and another is withing a third party tool.

Export Bookmarks to an HTML File

This was already mentioned in the Solution above, but for quick references, please see this article: Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks. That creates a web page, so you can open it in a Firefox tab, or in any browser. You'll notice the descriptions nested below the linked titles of the bookmarks that have descriptions.

Migrate Bookmarks to Zotero

Zotero is an open source bibliographic/research tool for collecting references. Zotero knows how to read a Firefox HTML bookmarks file and will preserve the descriptions. You can keep your storage purely local, or you can optionally sync with the Zotero cloud.

This is a one-way trip: you can send new references to Zotero from within Firefox using a Zotero add-on, but you won't be able to read/edit bookmark descriptions from within Firefox.

If you want to try it:

The Zotero research tool is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux from https://www.zotero.org/

When you import a bookmarks.html file, it creates entries for each page but it flattens the folder structure, so it comes out like this:

• bookmarks.html, with top-level Bookmarks Menu items
  • Bookmarks Toolbar folder
  • Folder1
  • Folder2
  • Other Bookmarks folder

When you click a bookmark, Zotero displays the Title, URL, and "Abstract" which contains the imported Description. (Screenshot #1) Double-clicking the items launches the page in the default browser.

Zotero also has an optional Firefox Connector webextension, which allow saving new pages to a Zotero collection (either under the bookmarks structure, or other folders the user created in Zotero). (Screenshot #2)

(I didn't look at cloud sync.)

Using a second program is less convenient than using Firefox features or a fully self-contained Firefox extension. However, it might suit your needs.

Hello, jscher2000

Thank you for the info and your help.

I didn’t want to disclose this originally, but it is important as to this particular issue.

I am permanently disabled (physical and other limitations). So (prior to today) the Description field was a lifesaver for me.

My current setup:

Bookmarks toolbar: 28 folders at the top of browser that I access daily. Each of the 28 folders had up to 50 or more bookmarks with descriptions.

Bookmarks menu: 26 folders listed in the sidebar that I access less frequently. Each of the 26 folders had up to 30 or more bookmarks with descriptions.

It was SO Easy when I could just click on a specific folder, choose a specific bookmark link, and then go onto whatever I needed to see.

Now, unless I buy an additional monitor or go split screen (which I will never be able to see) it is just going to be a major hassle for me, let alone probably doubling the amount of time to get to the correct link.

Additionally, correct me if I am wrong, but I assume that we have now also lost the ability to add any new bookmarks with descriptions.

I don't understand why Mozilla would do this - particularly without and prior notice. - Was it interfering with code? - Were users consulted on a possible change? - Did users request the change?

It just makes no sense to me.

Hi rbir, I don't know the reasons why descriptions are being removed.

I understand your bookmark setup, but I don't understand why it's important to have long descriptions with your bookmarks. Is the problem that the titles are too similar so it's difficult to tell them apart?

I don't know whether new bookmarks will pick up the description from the page in Firefox 62-63, but since there won't be a way to view or edit it, I guess it doesn't really matter one way or the other? In Firefox 64, the description field is planned to be removed.

I understand your bookmark setup, but I don't understand why it's important to have long descriptions with your bookmarks. Is the problem that the titles are too similar so it's difficult to tell them apart?

Hello, jscher2000

Yes, the main problem is with similar titles. In fact, sometimes the descriptions/titles are exactly identical.

I have this problem also. For years, I've been putting important information (accounts, security information, notes on how I do certain things on this site, etc.) into the description field. This information is the reason that I kept using Firefox. It will take me weeks for find another program that I can use to store this information for every website, then type in the URL and the notes that I have for that website. Once I have this database, I'll no longer have to keep using Firefox. It's hard for me to believe that there is so much value in removing this field, value that is bigger than all of the pain that you are causing users, and the ill will that this will generate.

RonD01 said

It will take me weeks for find another program that I can use to store this information for every website, then type in the URL and the notes that I have for that website. Once I have this database, I'll no longer have to keep using Firefox.

If you check my post earlier in this thread, I mention a program named Zotero which can import your Firefox bookmarks with their descriptions. this will take you about 10 minutes to set up.

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1225611#answer-1150147

If you run into any problems, let me know, I'm interested in testing it more.

So once your bookmarks are in Zotero:

• You can open one in your default browser (Firefox or otherwise) by double-clicking it
• You can add new bookmarks to Zotero from Firefox's toolbar if you install their add-on

Maybe it will work for you.

Hello RonD01,

I would encourage you to also share your experience with Mozilla/Firefox. I have, and am hopeful they will reconsider.

1. Click "Help" at the top of your browser
2. Choose "Submit feedback"
3. Choose the image that reflects how you feel
4. That will open up a window where you can submit your letter and/or other comments.

Hopefully, if enough people complain they will reconsider!

So, they finally removed the only useful option that their browser had, now I can safely uninstall it and move to google chrome.

The hotfix is to download version 61 from their repository at https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/ and disable updates, the descriptions will be back and you can export them somewhere before switching to another browser.

Hi Th3End, if you want to export your bookmarks with descriptions, you do not need to downgrade. Just do it from Firefox 62 (or 63 if you are reading this a couple months in the future):

Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks

jscher2000 said

Hi Th3End, if you want to export your bookmarks with descriptions, you do not need to downgrade. Just do it from Firefox 62 (or 63 if you are reading this a couple months in the future): Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks

For me, it is much easier to copy them from browser interface, than from html file

Th3End said

jscher2000 said

Hi Th3End, if you want to export your bookmarks with descriptions, you do not need to downgrade. Just do it from Firefox 62 (or 63 if you are reading this a couple months in the future): Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks

For me, it is much easier to copy them from browser interface, than from html file

Oh, I was taking the word "export" more literally than you intended.

For anyone working with the HTML export, when you are viewing it in a tab in your preferred browser, normally you should be able to select the entire description by triple-clicking a word in it. That should make it reasonably fast to copy them from the page.

THIS IS NUTS. Removing the description field, without notice, when so many people (read previous posts) find this one of the most useful features of FF, is very aggravating. PLEASE RESTORE THE DESCRIPTION FEATURE IN BOOKMARKS, ASAP. I've been a loyal user of FF for years, but this is really almost a fatal straw. Thanks.

Wow I just updated my Firefox and was shocked my description fields of the bookmarks are missing. I have stored valuable information to the corresponding website in it. I have to double check and update details in it on a daily basis. The browser was for me not a random software to access random linked content with cats on the internet. For me it was a tool to manage and store URLs, access specific sites, organize.

I use this function since early Firefox releases, no I think I use the same bookmark.html since Firebird. I can confirm this by added dates of the bookmarks.

Today: A big fu.ck you Mozilla to you. Really, I had to make an account after all these years of loyalty to you just to realize now, when its already late, that you simply suck. Every new release you lose more and more users, and you are still wondering why.

I would not blame you though for the tags'-function, I never used them anyway. Why didn't you remove this feature as well?

Looks like their team had some changes since version 52 or even earlier, first they killed plugins, now they are killing the last things that differs them from chrome. I bet, soon they will disable sidebars. They don't understand that their was vs chrome is already lost and firefox will never be that popular, the only reason it still lives is that it's different. But when they will remove all the differences trying to copy from google, their browser will be completely dead.

Hello to all who joined this thread. Support forum volunteers work with the Firefox we have today. We can suggest settings, add-ons, and other workarounds to resolve issues, but we don't decide (or really even influence) the direction of the product.

To give further comments on the Descriptions issue, you can use one or more of the following (depending on whether you want a suggestion box or a discussion):

• Feedback: https://qsurvey.mozilla.com/s3/FirefoxInput/
• Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/firefox
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Firefox
• Discourse: https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/firefox-development