Right click the refresh button. In the dropdown menu that appears, select "Customize" You'll see a dialog with all kinds of buttons. Drag the one that says"Bookmarks" anywhere on the toolbar. Click it to see the familiar sidebar. P.S. To add a bookmark, just click the star in the url bar. See the screenshot below.

Tried that. Got the drop-down menu with three things in it. Bookmark Menu, Bookmark Toolbar, and Unsorted Bookmarks. There were NONE of my favorites in any of them. When I downloaded Firefox, I clicked on the import favorites option. Guess it didn't.

I also now have a browsing history I neither want nor need, and no way to clear it as in Tools on IE. And I have a bar that appears on my Home Page telling me I need Adobe Flash Player to display the items on the page. Which I already have.

So far, Firefox is a massive disappointment.

Try installing this addon: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/plainoldfavorites/ I haven't tried it yet, but it supposedly eliminates the need to import IE bookmarks.

Here is another addon that former IE users have to have when they migrate to Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/opendownload-10902/

Also, as a side note, I would recommend for you take a look at the Firefox beginners guide here to help you get used to the interface and features: https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/getting-started-firefox

I looked at the beginners guide. But thanks for mentioning it.

The add-on PlainOldFavorites has no button to click to download. I'm sure there's some way to get to a place where you can download it, but I wasn't able to find it.

The add-on OpenDownload had the download button, but I read some of the reviews first. One of them was really revealing to me. It said this add-on is really good because not everyone wants to download everything, and this lets you run it right from the internet, just like IE.

I have no interest whatsoever in learning something that is basically set up to be more complicated than IE, and needs an "add-on" to make it less so. Before I go to "open source for geeks" (Firefox) I'll try Mac, and get away from Windows completely. I like what a computer can do. I don't want to understand all about them to accomplish a task. To me, that defeats the purpose. I don't know all about what makes a car run, either, especially nowadays. But all I need the car to do is Point A to Point B. As long as it does that, I'm fine. If it demands more extensive knowledge to do something that should be simple, then they can have them.

Thanks so much for trying to help. I appreciate your time.

The "Add to Firefox" button is the download button for each addon. You'll only see it if you are running Firefox.

>>I totally understand your point of view. Coming from IE, which is very simple, to Firefox, which has an overwhelming array of options, can be daunting. Before you completely give up on Firefox, I would strongly encourage you try out one addon, Adblock Plus. This addon is why most users switch from IE to Firefox. Basically, what it does is block all online advertisements (including video ads, ex. Youtube) and in turn, speeds up page load.

I am running Firefox, the button did appear on all the add-ons except PlainOldFavorites.

Anyways, I won't be running Firefox. Too much crud. I understand, and appreciate, the attraction all that stuff has for people who are enamored of technology for its own sake. God bless them, that's what keeps these companies in business. But I'm an end result person. I have no interest in what makes it happen. I just want it to happen, and not cause me any grief in the process. I am the epitome of the "end user".

Again, thanks for your time and trouble.

No problem, glad to help:)

I had the same trouble, so, from one of the answers above, I just googled 'import favorites' and it gave me a really simple and quick menu-driven example of how to do it. I had to migrate from IE because it completely failed to work with a couple of important sites I use. Mozilla works fine with these sites

I have this problem, too. However, FF DOES have the star button to access FAVORITES, NOT Bookmarks. I have this on my older laptop but can't recall how I found it. My new laptop runs the same version (11) of FF; and I would love to have the same button on the right of the toolbar area as does my older laptop. I despise the way Bookmarks work, which is why I spent weeks awhile back to find the Favorites button with the star. If anyone has a clue as to how to get this same button on my new laptop (both are also running Win 7 HP), please share. So far the answers I've found are about bookmarks, not favorites. I prefer not to go back to ie, but will if this cannot be resolved. Also, I use Plain Old Favorites, which has NOTHING to do with this issue. I simply need the square blk box w/orange star that takes me straight to favorites without having to use the toolbar. NOTE: Plain Old Favorites does allow one to use Favs in FF, but has NOTHING to do with the button in question.

I have an additional issue, this one having to do with the toolbar itself. In order to get rid of the Bookmarks tab on my older laptop I simply right-clicked in an unused area to the right of the toolbar, un-ticked Bookmarks; and the tab was gone. However, on my new laptop (same v. or Windows and FF), whether the Bookmarks button is ticked or un-ticked I'm still stuck with the Bookmarks tab taking up space I'd rather not waste as, once again, I despise the way Bookmarks work as opposed to Favorites. Any ideas?

Your favorites probably were sent to FF from ie. However, they would be under the tab marked "Favorites". Unfortunately, the info you've received regarding the button is for Bookmarks, not Favorites. There IS a way to get the same button for Favorites b/c I have it on the laptop I'm currently using. But I can't recall how I got the button there in the first place, so don't know how to get it on my new laptop even tho both laptops have the same versions of windows and FF. If I can figure it out again I'll be glad to let you know. If you find out how to do it first, please return the favor. (One problem I've noticed when asking for help in FF is that people often answer questions using Bookmarks when the person asking the question specifically stated it's Favorites they are wanting to use, NOT Bookmarks.