Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Bookmarks Folders and Tools Won't Open

  • 4 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

more options

Ever since the most recent Firefox update, the dropdown menu when I click my bookmarks folders or tabs like "file", "tools", etc. will not appear. The folder/title will be highlighted, but there is no dropdown menu.

What is causing this, and how do I fix it? I cannot access anything I have bookmarked.

Ever since the most recent Firefox update, the dropdown menu when I click my bookmarks folders or tabs like "file", "tools", etc. will not appear. The folder/title will be highlighted, but there is no dropdown menu. What is causing this, and how do I fix it? I cannot access anything I have bookmarked.

All Replies (4)

more options

You can try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

  • Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"

You need close and restart Firefox after toggling this setting.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
more options

For bookmarks, as an emergency workaround, you can use the Bookmarks Sidebar.

Ctrl+b opens and closes the sidebar, or there's a "Sidebars" button available in the customize dialog if you prefer to use a toolbar button for this. See: Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars.

For the rest of you menu bar, hmm... hopefully cor-el's suggestions will put you on the right track.

more options

You can also access the bookmarks via the list button next to the bookmarks star on the Navigation Toolbar.

Modified by cor-el

more options

It could be your bookmarks were lost.

Problems with bookmarks and history not working properly can be caused by a corrupted places.sqlite database file.

Bookmark Backups

Open a new tab or window. type about:support in the address box and press enter. Or Press the Alt or F10 key to bring up the tool bar. Then Help > Troubleshooting Information.

Under the page logo on the left side you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To it’s right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile. Now Close Firefox.

Enter the bookmarkbackups folder. This is where Firefox makes backups of your bookmarks. Look for the file you want to restore (check the time / date). Right click on that file and select Copy. Now go back to the parent folder where you started. Right click in the folder and select Paste. Rename the file bookmarks.html by adding .old to it. The file you just pasted here, rename it to bookmarks.html. After you are done, restart Firefox.