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Bookmarks disappeared in desktop browser even though still marked with blue star

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The bookmarks disappeard on the toolbar or in the library even though the sites that were previously bookmarked are still marked with the blue star. Comically it still shows my recent additions even though they are nowhere else to be found.

On mobile the bookmarks are still there but resynching, reinstalling, restarting didn't work.

When i want to bookmark the disappeared ones again, they won't be saved and are gone again the next time I start the browser.

It's really annoying, I had a lot of them and I don't want to use desktop shortcuts or use another browser but I might just have to.

The bookmarks disappeard on the toolbar or in the library even though the sites that were previously bookmarked are still marked with the blue star. Comically it still shows my recent additions even though they are nowhere else to be found. On mobile the bookmarks are still there but resynching, reinstalling, restarting didn't work. When i want to bookmark the disappeared ones again, they won't be saved and are gone again the next time I start the browser. It's really annoying, I had a lot of them and I don't want to use desktop shortcuts or use another browser but I might just have to.

All Replies (2)

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If you use Sync, best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting.

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.

  • use the "Places Database" -> "Verify Integrity" button in "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support)

If errors are reported with "Verify Integrity", close and restart Firefox or reboot the computer and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

  • keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created
  • you lose the history when a new places.sqlite is created

You may have to restore an older bookmarks backup in the bookmarkbackups folder via the Bookmarks Manager (Library).

See also:

You can use the button in "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).

Helpful?

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Quick Thought:

If you export your bookmarks to an HTML file using the steps in the following article, are they in there?

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

The document doesn't use nesting so it can be hard to determine whether they have moved to a subfolder, etc., but if the bookmarks are in the document, that's what I would try to figure out next.

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