Firefox bookmarks backup?

[Slarti]

I need to totally uninstall and reinstall Firefox as it appears that the file that holds my bookmarks has become corrupted and I can't delete or move any of them.

Does anybody have a favourite backup utility for doing this?


Slarti

[Infrasonic]

FF has an account sync facility that will do it, assuming you are OK setting up an account? Could use dummy info if paranoid...( )

[Slarti]

FF has an account sync facility that will do it, assuming you are OK setting up an account? Could use dummy info if paranoid...( )

I'd rather just back them up onto my PC than have to mess with things online.

Slarti

[mc2fool]

I need to totally uninstall and reinstall Firefox as it appears that the file that holds my bookmarks has become corrupted and I can't delete or move any of them.

Does anybody have a favourite backup utility for doing this?

Have you tried menu item Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks then Import and Backup -> Export/Import Bookmarks to HTML...

[Infrasonic]

FF has an account sync facility that will do it, assuming you are OK setting up an account? Could use dummy info if paranoid...( )

I'd rather just back them up onto my PC than have to mess with things online.

Slarti

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ex ... r-transfer

[Slarti]

Thanks both.

I'm sure that the last time I had to do something like this I had to use and addon

Slarti

[Infrasonic]

I've just checked Chrome and Edge and they can both import bookmarks from an HTML file, so if you ever had to use another browser temporarily whilst you sorted out FF issues that would work also.

[Slarti]

Well neither the backup or the export to HTML do anything at all.

Looks like it is totally stuffed

Slarti

[mc2fool]

Well neither the backup or the export to HTML do anything at all.

Looks like it is totally stuffed

Does Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks then Import and Backup -> Restore -> give you any options? Maybe you can restore a working set of bookmarks....

[Slarti]

Does Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks then Import and Backup -> Restore -> give you any options? Maybe you can restore a working set of bookmarks....

I'll have to see how far back my backups go and restore Firefox from the oldest one and see if I can get back to before they became corrupted.

Probably a job for Tuesday.

Slarti

[Stompa]

Is there anything useful here?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ca ... -bookmarks

(though the article is rather old)

[tractorian]

Go into Firefox.
If not already showing, show Menu Bar by right clicking at top and ticking the box.
Go into Help and then Troubleshooting information.
8 down is Profile Folder. This is where everything is held.
Click on Open Folder.
Save the folder using Explorer.

Reinstall Firefox.

Repeat process to locate where stored data has to be copied.

CLOSE Firefox and then copy and paste old onto new, using Explorer.

[tractorian]

P.S. You can do something similar in Thunderbird and, as someone who recently lost their C Drive, I recommend you copy both backup folders to a USB Drive or some other form of off-line storage.

[Nocton]

Use Mozbackup http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/download.php.
It will also work for Thunderbird. I use it every month for the latter. It is also ideal if you want to transfer from one computer to another. Though it says it is not being developed any more and there are known issues, I have never had any problem with it starting with W97 and now on W10 and the latest versions of FF and TB.

[Slarti]

Use Mozbackup http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/download.php.

That is what I was trying to remember!

Well I've bitten the bullit and removed and reinstalled Firefox, but now that I have that I may just restore from backup and try again and see if it will backup my bookmarks as I really don't want to lose them.

But not tonight.

Slarti

[Peltiq]

This doesn't make sense to me.

Whether you use Mozbackup or Firefox'ss in-built import and backup system, you are still going to save the corrupt version of your bookmarks and then recover the same thing back into your new version of FF.

Surely the only way to sort this out successfully would be to create your bookmarks again from scratch. Depending on how many bookmarks you have, this could be time-consuming!

Karen

[Slarti]

This doesn't make sense to me.

Whether you use Mozbackup or Firefox'ss in-built import and backup system, you are still going to save the corrupt version of your bookmarks and then recover the same thing back into your new version of FF.

Surely the only way to sort this out successfully would be to create your bookmarks again from scratch. Depending on how many bookmarks you have, this could be time-consuming!

Karen

Firefox's built in system is not saving anything!

The file that holds the bookmarks is so badly corrupted that nothing happens.

If I could have exported to HTML, then I would know what to re-create, even though it would take a long time.

As it is, if mozbackup works for me then at least I'd have a list of the bookmarks and if it doesn't then I'll be able to do screen captures of them, so that I know what they are.

Slarti

[Peltiq]

Good luck with the screen captures! I think you may have to resort to a big sheet of paper and a pencil!

[mc2fool]

Firefox's built in system is not saving anything!

But how about Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks then Import and Backup -> Restore ->?

On my laptop it shows daily backups for the last two weeks and on my desktop backups every few days going back about five weeks (I'm not sure why the difference...). If yours goes back to before when the corruption started you may just be able to restore a good set of bookmarks....

[Slarti]

Firefox's built in system is not saving anything!

But how about Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks then Import and Backup -> Restore ->?

On my laptop it shows daily backups for the last two weeks and on my desktop backups every few days going back about five weeks (I'm not sure why the difference...). If yours goes back to before when the corruption started you may just be able to restore a good set of bookmarks....

Well I never!

I just chose the oldest backup and there they are, restored and I can delete ones I no longer want

What a good thought.

Thanks
Slarti