Hi, please give this a try : Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove your Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. This process does not remove your Firefox profile data (such as bookmarks and passwords), since that information is stored in a different location.

To do a clean reinstall of Firefox, please follow these steps: Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.

1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from this page) and save the setup file to your computer.
2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (or open the Firefox menu and click the close button ).
3. Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
   • Windows:
     • C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
     • C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
   • Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
   • Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
4. Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
   1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
   2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

More information about reinstalling Firefox can be found here.

WARNING: Do not use a third party uninstaller as part of this process. Doing so could permanently delete your Firefox profile data, including but not limited to, extensions, cache, cookies, bookmarks, personal settings and saved passwords. These cannot be easily recovered unless they have been backed up to an external device! See Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.

Please report back to say if this helped you!

Thank you.

You can add the "Bookmarks Menu" button that shows the bookmarks in a drop-down list to the Navigation Toolbar via these steps:

• click the bookshelf icon on the Navigation Toolbar or alternatively use the Library menu in the "3-bar" Firefox menu button drop-down list
• click Bookmarks
• click "Bookmarking Tools", then click "Add Bookmarks Menu to Toolbar"

The Bookmark Menu button should appear on the Navigation Toolbar.

You can also drag the Bookmarks Menu button from the Customize palette to the Navigation Toolbar

See also "How do I add the Bookmarks Menu button to the toolbar?":

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/bookmarks-firefox#firefox:win10:fx57

Thanks, both. Part of the problem here is the confusion between "bookmark menu" - the litlle star in a tray which lives on the toolbar - and the words or 'section' "bookmark menu" which may of may not appear in the sidebar, So, Cor-el, I already have the button. It shows stuff. It doesn't (didn't) show bookmarks.

1 picture is worth a thousand words, so for completeness I've attached simple screenshots showing the original problem.

Bizzarely, while I was generating the screenshot on the laptop the 'text' "bookmarks menu" appeared so what I wanted now works. But this doesn't appear on the (working perfectly) PC.

Heigh ho - consider it working but puzzling and not 'fixed'.

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

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks and history) in the Firefox profile folder.

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

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locked_or_damaged_places.sqlite
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file

If "Verify Integrity" on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page cannot repair places.sqlite then remove all places.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
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_process_the_backup_file_-_Firefox

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:
  Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

Gosh, that's a very full answer - thanks. I'm away all next week - I shall let you know when I get back to it.