Hello,

Firefox automatically creates backups of your bookmarks, which can be helpful if your bookmarks are lost or missing. To recover them, follow the instructions below.

1. Click the Library button , then click Bookmarks.
2. Scroll to the bottom and click Show All Bookmarks.
3. At the top of the Library window, click on Import and Backup and select Restore.
4. Click the date of the bookmark backup you want to recover.
5. In the new window that appears, click OK.

Your bookmarks from the selected date should now be restored.

For more information, see the Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer article. For other solutions, see the Recover lost or missing Bookmarks article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

Hi! Thanks for the help, but it does not help me solve the problem. As I wrote in my question, I have saved bookmarks that are not included in these backups since the problem started, and that will disappear if I use this method.

Theodorax said

Hello, Firefox automatically creates backups of your bookmarks, which can be helpful if your bookmarks are lost or missing. To recover them, follow the instructions below.

1. Click the Library button , then click Bookmarks.
2. Scroll to the bottom and click Show All Bookmarks.
3. At the top of the Library window, click on Import and Backup and select Restore.
4. Click the date of the bookmark backup you want to recover.
5. In the new window that appears, click OK.

Your bookmarks from the selected date should now be restored. For more information, see the Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer article. For other solutions, see the Recover lost or missing Bookmarks article. Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us! Thank you.

If Firefox starts up after an update without your bookmarks and other settings, check whether your data is available in a different profile:

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it. The About Profiles page will open. This page should list at least one profile and could list many.

The profile that Firefox is currently using will show:
This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted.

Please do not delete anything here; don't use any Remove buttons.

Do you have another profile named default or default-longnumber listed on this page? If so, you can check whether it is the one you were using recently by clicking its Launch profile in new browser button.

If it isn't what you want, simply close that new window.

If it IS what you want, click the Set as default profile button for that profile on the about:profiles page. Firefox will use it automatically at the next startup.

Note: If your bookmarks are not available in another Firefox profile, see Recover lost or missing Bookmarks for other solutions.

Have tried this, but it was empty there.

Have read and tried what is under "Recover lost or missing Bookmarks".

I'll try "Moving bookmarks to another computer" -> "Using Firefox Sync" -> "Using a bookmark backup file" and see if it works. But I will use another Windows account instead of another computer to do this. Will return when I've tested.

Dear Jotakswe,

If the above information does not resolve your issue, please consider creating a new thread containing the specific details of your issue.

Doing so will allow the Mozilla volunteers to give you solutions that are more helpful to you. This may help them to solve your problem faster and more efficiently.

Please, feel free to post the link to your thread on this thread for volunteers interested in assisting you.

Thank you.

My "specific details of your issue" can be found in my original question. But thank you for trying.

Theodorax said

Dear Jotakswe, If the above information does not resolve your issue, please consider creating a new thread containing the specific details of your issue. Doing so will allow the Mozilla volunteers to give you solutions that are more helpful to you. This may help them to solve your problem faster and more efficiently. Please, feel free to post the link to your thread on this thread for volunteers interested in assisting you. Thank you.

IMO, the cause of lost bookmarks immediately after connecting your smart phone to your Sync account and not giving the Sync process enough time to be fully complete.

Many times when you're syncing that many (3000 plus what ever is already on the desktop or laptop device and on the Sync server) bookmarks it does take awhile for Sync to process everything and get the order of the bookmarks in the Bookmarks menu organized. Then restoring an HTML backup in haste, which appends all existing Firefox bookmarks, just makes matters worse with many duplicates. (BTW, Sync uses JSON for data transfer between Firefox and the Sync server; HTML format is a legacy format and the Sync server is "taxed" more when converting between formats.) Along with adding new bookmarks or re-arranging bookmarks before the "sync" process is completed can cause additional delay or cause errors. Keep mind that the Sync server that holds your data is shared by many other users and depending upon the overall load on that server can limit the time each account can be transferring or organizing user data, which means a complete sync can take quite awhile in some cases.

"And I have all my bookmarks lying in the "Bookmark menu" Why is this happening? "

The Bookmarks Menu folder is used when the user doesn't save a new bookmark to any specific folder when the new bookmark is saved (click the Blue star to make a choice of a specific folder after saving), or when the user chooses to save a bookmark there.

The hierarchy for desktop / laptop versions of Firefox in the Library window is All Bookmarks, with 2 main folders underneath All Bookmarks; Bookmarks Toolbar, then Bookmarks Menu, and Other Bookmarks at the bottom of the Bookmarks Menu folder. That is how the bookmarks are laid out in the Library. There are also 2 different "star" categories which may look like "folders", but are algorithm driven "surveys" of activity; "Most Visited" and "Recent Tags" which don't actually contain bookmarks, which are still where those bookmarks were originally saved.

The Bookmarks Toolbar folder is for bookmarks that are displayed there by the user (and will differ per device, unless the user overrides that 'standard'). The Other Bookmarks folder is at the bottom of the Bookmarks Menu folder and is used by the user or when the user doesn't save a new bookmarks to any specific folder after the new bookmark is saved.

When attempting to fix issues that you have mentioned, Disconnect from Sync when you are doing a Restore of bookmarkbackups (JSON / JSONLZ4 format) or when Importing an HTML backup; AND when re-arranging more than a few bookmarks in one sitting. Then when you are finished Connect back to the Sync server to allow all your changes to be sent in a batch, and don't rush the issue. After an hour or so restart Firefox to see the end result of your efforts.

I have to make a correction to what I wrote where I have my bookmarks. I wrote that I had them in the bookmarks menu, but that's wrong, they are in the Bookmarks Toolbar. Sorry for that mistake.

If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting.

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.

• use "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page

In case errors are reported with "Verify Integrity" close and restart Firefox and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

• keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created

See also:

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-bookmarks-and-history-will-not-be-functional

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

• Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Directory/Folder:
  Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Profiles