The bookmarks in the Bookmarks Library are only temporarily sorted on a single column.

to see your bookmarks all of them, within folders and subfolders sorted alphabetically use the :"Sort Places" extension. It will sort all of your bookmarks in 3-6 seconds. Warning turn off the option to sort all of your bookmarks automatically; otherwise, you will find it difficult to correct a bad bookmark.

References:

• SortPlaces :: Add-ons for Firefox
  https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/sortplaces/
• my notes: http://dmcritchie.mvps.org/firefox/firefox.htm#sortplaces
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Sorting_and_rearranging_bookmarks_-_Firefox

That was great!! Many thanks! I had seen the 'sort' add-on but thought it referred to the folders, not the contents. I have temporarily disabled, or rather not enabled the automatic option but can see myself adding it later as it would save having to go in and organise myself... I ought simply to choose sensible names for things when I bokmark them but of course am usually in a hurry...

Anyway, thanks a lot for such a rapid and helpful response!

You do not want to sort automatically

• Your new bookmarks are added at the bottom, and you might want to check them out carefully, you can use a bookmark separator to help maintain the separation even after sorting.
• If you want to revise a bookmark you just added, if they were sorted you would not be able to find it unless you knew the title.
• If you add a bookmark keyword to a lot of bookmarks, you want to make sure they are exactly right, and you have used them for a while. Again a bookmark separator helps.

I sort all of my bookmarks including my bookmarks toolbar, which I have bookmark separators to maintain the exact order that I want. Important ones near the center and not likely to fall off of the right side due to scrolling. (see the kb article on bookmark sorting). but automatically never. It takes 3-6 seconds to sort all of them,.

I see what you mean. As a newbie to the Firefox system (lived with Delicious till last month) I have no experience of separators and will give those a try. So far, I'm likeing Firefox better than Delicious even in its old incarnation. Thanks again!

@moth2fic

Well to sort bookmarks alphabetically I still use the easy solution :

Click on your bookmarks tab & scroll down to the folder you want to sort & right click on that folder name & when the little menu comes up just scroll down to "Sort By Name" & left click on that and that's it they are sorted alphabetically..

If you want to alphabetically sort the entire list of bookmarks just scroll all the way down to the bottom of the bookmarks list & in any open area just do the right click/ sort by name/ left click thing again & it will sort the entire bookmark list alphabetically... 

Hope I understood your question correctly..

I was doing that but had to do it again every time I wanted to find anything! It all simply kept defaulting to date order and was driving me mad. The first reply gave me the add-on to sort it out. Thanks for replying, anyway. I love the way people are so helpful and take the time to respons to queries!

Sorry it didn't work for you it still works for me thank heavens.. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.. ♥

Sorting on a single folder is not recursive. That might be the difference in expectations and working or not. I think in Netscape 3 it was, I remember using it to sort my bookmarks and then bringing them back to my current browser at the time..

Yes - I think you've explained everything! Many thanks for your help and patience! Switching from one system to another isn't as easy as it sounds - and wasn't intuitive, for me. Glad you were around!