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Can't import bookmarks from saved .html file?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Hi Forum Folke,

This switch from Windows to Linux has been mostly disastrous, with my exported Tbird profile zipfile turning out to be corrupt and not openable, and now I can't import my saved bookmarks file either. I can open it and read the list, I can even open it in Firefox and click on any link in there and it opens in Firefox, but they simply will NOT import.

If I understand the process correctly, go to bookmarks > manage bookmarks > Import and Backup, "Import bookmarks from html..." If I click on this, it opens the file manager, and I navigate to my backup drive and click on the "bookmarks_3_24_23.html" file, then click on "open." This *should* start the import process, and then they should show up in my bookmarks, no? What it does is exactly nothing at all. The window freezes for a moment (unresponsive to any clicks), then does respond to clicks, but there are no imported bookmarks anywhere.

If I enable the bookmarks toolbar, the first button is "Import bookmarks," and if I click on that, it just tells me "No programs that contain bookmarks, history, .... can be found."

I tried dragging and dropping the file into a new tab, and it added "bookmarks_3_24_23..." to the bookmarks toolbar. I can click on it and the list opens in the tab, and I can scroll down and find and open links... but that's obtuse and awkward. I'd much rather have Firefox import the bookmarks and display them normally.

What am I missing here? I've done this before without any issues, doing exactly the same things, but this time it's a no-go. I'm starting to wonder if I've just got a buggy install of Linux ( Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa with the Cinnamon 4.8.6 desktop.)

Just went to get the current version of Firefox, and noticed that it's saying: "Updates disabled by your system administrator." Think this would apply to importing bookmarks as well?? Anyway, the version is "Firefox for Linux Mint mint-001 - 1.0" up at the top of the "about" window, and below that is "111.0 (64-bit)."

Any ideas are very much appreciated!

Hi Forum Folke, This switch from Windows to Linux has been mostly disastrous, with my exported Tbird profile zipfile turning out to be corrupt and not openable, and now I can't import my saved bookmarks file either. I can open it and read the list, I can even open it in Firefox and click on any link in there and it opens in Firefox, but they simply will NOT import. If I understand the process correctly, go to bookmarks > manage bookmarks > Import and Backup, "Import bookmarks from html..." If I click on this, it opens the file manager, and I navigate to my backup drive and click on the "bookmarks_3_24_23.html" file, then click on "open." This *should* start the import process, and then they should show up in my bookmarks, no? What it does is exactly nothing at all. The window freezes for a moment (unresponsive to any clicks), then does respond to clicks, but there are no imported bookmarks anywhere. If I enable the bookmarks toolbar, the first button is "Import bookmarks," and if I click on that, it just tells me "No programs that contain bookmarks, history, .... can be found." I tried dragging and dropping the file into a new tab, and it added "bookmarks_3_24_23..." to the bookmarks toolbar. I can click on it and the list opens in the tab, and I can scroll down and find and open links... but that's obtuse and awkward. I'd much rather have Firefox import the bookmarks and display them normally. What am I missing here? I've done this before without any issues, doing exactly the same things, but this time it's a no-go. I'm starting to wonder if I've just got a buggy install of Linux ( Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa with the Cinnamon 4.8.6 desktop.) Just went to get the current version of Firefox, and noticed that it's saying: "Updates disabled by your system administrator." Think this would apply to importing bookmarks as well?? Anyway, the version is "Firefox for Linux Mint mint-001 - 1.0" up at the top of the "about" window, and below that is "111.0 (64-bit)." Any ideas are very much appreciated!

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You can try Firefox from the official Mozilla server if you currently use a version from the repositories of your Linux distribution to see if it behaves differently.


You can copy certain files with Firefox closed to the current profile folder to transfer/recover/backup your personal data. Note that best is to avoid copying a full profile folder, especially a profile from another OS.


  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • favicons: favicons.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (encrypted logins) and key4.db (decryption key and primary password) for logins saved in the Password Manager
  • cert9.db for certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • persdict.dat for words added to the spell checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)