The Views menu in the Bookmarks Manager (Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks) is for viewing the bookmarks in a different sorting order (hence the name Views) and doesn't sort bookmarks permanently. Clicking the column header does the same sorting for viewing purposes only. If you want to sort bookmarks then you need to right-click a folder and use "Sort By Name" to sort that folder. You can't sort individual bookmarks, only folders can be sorted this way.

Interesting. I note my bookmarks library does not let me drag and drop folders or individual bookmarks at present. No idea why and I have no time to figure it out now.

A quick test in a new profile though works so it is something odd in my profile, (I also have lost the troubleshooting information in this working profile so very odd indeed).

Try in Firefox's safemode, if that does not help then try creating a new additional test profile or using the Firefox reset. (CARE! Reset will delete your firefox extensions so a new profile is usually a better option)

• Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode
• Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles#w_creating-a-profile
• Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings

P.S. My bookmarks toolbar does normally allow drag and drop of bookmarks to permanently reorder them, and it does allow that in the new profile. I have that open at present and have just checked it works. This current profile does not.

Ahhh, I have found the problem! I checked my extensions and found one that automatically sorts the bookmarks alphabetically. I don't recall downloading it (it must be my age!). I deleted it and I can now manually sort :-)

Many thanks to those who responded.