Can't restore bookmark export from Windows PC to Linux Mint PC
I run Firefox on a couple Windows PCs and one Linux Mint PC. Each of them is running Firefox 92.0.
My customary process had been to use one of the Windows PCs as my master copy of Firefox bookmarks. I do not use synch; rather, every so often I export the bookmarks from the master machine and restore the export to my other machines. I've not had a problem with that process in the past.
Today I encountered a problem for the first time: I exported the bookmarks from my "master" Windows PC and usual and then restored to my other PCs. The other Windows PCs did so without trouble, but the Mint PC did not restore the export file correctly: When I attempt to restore on the Mint PC, I get the folder structure from the original Windows export, but none of the folders is populated with bookmarks; instead, all 5K or so individual bookmarks are listed individually at the top level of my "Bookmarks Menu" folder, beneath the list of empty folders.
I've run the about:support Places Database "Verify Integrity" function on both the Windows master PC and on the Mint PC. The function does not flag any issues.
Any idea what's going on, and how I can resolve it? Might there be a bug in the Linux 92.0 that I should report somewhere? Is there a workaround I can try in the meanwhile, e.g., copy places.sqlite from the master machine to the Linux machine?
Thanks in advance for your help / guidance.
Regards, Rob L
Gekozen oplossing
If you run the extension Default Bookmark Folder on any of your installations of Firefox, make sure it is NOT enabled during import or restore. If it is enabled, it dutifully moves every bookmark to your default folder, which is not what you want during those operations.
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More: I've now tried the "Moving bookmarks to another computer" -> "using bookmark backup file" instructions posted at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them#w_restoring-from-backups . This time I used a Windows PC bookmark backup file from last week, and not a new export. The results were the same as I reported above: All 5K or so bookmarks end up at the top level of my Linux PC bookmarks, and not in their original folders.
What file format are you using? Sometimes the json files become corrupted.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_process_the_backup_file_-_Firefox
jscher2000 has a tool on his website to extract out your bookmarks and save them to an HTML-format bookmark export file. If you want to try it, here is the page:
https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/bookbackreader.html
To open the bookmarkbackups folder in Finder, use the "Open in Finder" button in the first table on the Troubleshooting Information page, and double-click into bookmarkbackups where you should see several dated files. From there you can drag and drop onto the conversion tool.
To import the HTML file, see the steps in this article: Import Bookmarks from an HTML file.
Thank you, Fred.
I'll take a look at those references.
Is "file format" filetype? If so, the bookmark exports I create manually are filetype .json, and the ones from my bookmarkbackups folder are filetype .jsonlz4.
Thanks again, RL
As I said above;
FredMcD said
Sometimes the json files become corrupted.
This is how I do a backup.
These instructions will combine the new bookmarks with the old.
Open the Bookmarks Manager; Press the Alt or F10 key to bring up the toolbar, and select Bookmarks. Hot key is <Control> (Mac=<Command>) <Shift> B. Firefox 84+ <Control> (Mac=<Command>) <Shift> O.
Once the window is open, at the top of the page, press the button labeled Import and Backup. Select Export Bookmarks To HTML, and follow the prompts and save it to a HTML file. Copy the file to another computer/profile. Repeat the instructions above, BUT select Import Bookmarks From HTML.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-lost-or-missing-bookmarks
Mozilla search: Import {web link}
Gekozen oplossing
If you run the extension Default Bookmark Folder on any of your installations of Firefox, make sure it is NOT enabled during import or restore. If it is enabled, it dutifully moves every bookmark to your default folder, which is not what you want during those operations.
jscher2000, thank you, that was indeed the problem.
I don't know why it finally hit me now on my linux system, and not the windows systems, but after I disabled the extension I was able to restore the bookmarks correctly.
Thanks again, RL