Losing older downloads/history entries in Library despite "Remember history" setting
I noticed that Firefox is deleting some of my older history and download entries that are about 5-6 months old. I've set my options to "Remember history" when I first created the profile. Used the SQLite Manager to check places.sqlite and I'm not anywhere close to places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages.
In comparisons with some backups, I've noticed that the missing records in places.sqlite's moz_places table had NULL values in favicon_id. They're getting auto-cleaned at some point, which is counter to what is expected with the "Remember history" setting. I don't think it's a max_pages issue because there are still moz_places table records much older than the lost entries.
Is there a preference I can set in about:config to avoid this?
All Replies (4)
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/update-firefox-latest-version 50.0.2
Places Maintenance {web link} Allows to run Maintenance tasks on the database that drives Places, the bookmarks and history module behind Firefox.
Open the Add-ons Manager. Locate the add-on and press the Options button. Then follow the directions.
I've updated to 50.1.0. I ran both Places Maintenance and "Verify Integrity" in about:support. Everything came back without errors both times.
I'm thinking there's a bug or unintended behavior with the "Remember history" setting.
I can duplicate the issue by downloading a file where the record for it has a NULL favicon_id, setting the system clock ahead about 5 months, then leaving the browser idle for a while. I end up losing the record for the file in my download history, but earlier records remain. This is on a new, clean profile so there's no way I could've hit a page limit.
Is there an about:config preference to prevent this? Or is this a potential bug?
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox.
A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh).
Is the problem still there?
Type about:support in the address bar and press Enter. Under the main banner, press the button; Copy Text To Clipboard.. Then in the reply box at the bottom of this page, do a right click in the box and select Paste. This will show us your system details. No Personal Information Is Collected.
Note that favicons have an expiration date as you can see in the moz_favicons table.
Note that you can backup the download items with the SQLite Manager extension with the places.sqlite database (Execute SQL).
SELECT content AS Filename, datetime(dateAdded/1000000,'unixepoch','localtime') AS dateAdded, url AS Location, moz_anno_attributes.name AS Annotation FROM moz_places, moz_annos, moz_anno_attributes WHERE (moz_places.id = moz_annos.place_id) AND (moz_annos.anno_attribute_id = moz_anno_attributes.id) AND (moz_anno_attributes.name LIKE 'downloads/destinationFileURI') ORDER BY dateAdded DESC
Modified by cor-el