Firefox stores your personal data, such as bookmarks, passwords, and extensions, in a profile folder on your computer, in a location separate from the Firefox program. This article explains how to back up your profile, restore it, or move your profile to a new location or computer.

This article only applies to Firefox on desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux). To move or back up data on mobile devices, use Firefox Sync. See How do I set up Sync on my computer? to learn about Firefox Sync and connecting your mobile devices.

Locate your profile folder

• Click the menu button , click Help and select More Troubleshooting Information.From the Help menu, select More Troubleshooting Information. The Troubleshooting Information tab will open.
• Under the Application Basics section next to Profile FolderProfile Directory, click Open FolderShow in FinderOpen Directory. A window will open that contains your profile folder.Your profile folder will open.Your profile directory will open.

Back up your profile

To back up your profile, first close Firefox if it is open and then copy the profile folder to another location.

1. Locate your profile folder, as explained above.
2. Close Firefox (if open): Click the Firefox menu and select Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu and select Quit.
3. Go to one level above your profile's folder (in other words, to %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/~/.mozilla/firefox/).
4. Right-clickHold down the Control key while you click on your profile folder (for example, on the xxxxxxxx.default folder) and select Copy. If you see a file locked or in use, make sure Firefox is completely closed (check Task Manager on Windows, Force Quit on macOS). If you get an error that indicates the path file is too long, copy the contents in smaller batches or use Windows’ long-path support.
5. Right-clickHold down the Control key while you click the backup location (such as a USB-stick) and select Paste item.

Restore a profile backup

1. Click the Firefox menu and select Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu and select Quit.
2. If your existing profile folder and profile backup folder have the same name, simply replace the existing profile folder with the profile backup, then start Firefox.
   Important: The profile folder names must match exactly for this to work, including the random string of 8 characters. If the names do not match or if you are restoring a backup to a different location, follow the steps below.

You can repeat these steps to restore as many profile backups as you need if you have more than one.

Restore to a different location

If the profile folder names do not match or if you want to move or restore a profile to a different location, do the following:

1. Completely close Firefox: Click the Firefox menu and select Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen and select Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu and select Quit.
2. Use the Firefox Profile Manager to create a new profile in your desired location, then exit the Profile Manager.
   Note: If you just installed Firefox on a new computer, you can use the default profile that is automatically created when you first run Firefox, instead of creating a new profile.
3. Locate the backed-up profile folder on your hard drive or backup medium (such as your USB stick).
4. Open the profile folder backup (for example, the xxxxxxxx.default backup).
5. Copy the entire contents of the profile folder backup, such as the handlers.json file, prefs.js file, bookmarkbackups folder, etc.
6. Locate and open the new profile folder as explained above and then close Firefox (if open).
7. Paste the contents of the backed up profile folder into the new profile folder, overwriting existing files of the same name.
8. Start Firefox.

Related articles

• To back up and transfer your data using Firefox Sync when you install Firefox on a new device, see Back up and transfer your Firefox data to a new device.
• To restore or move selected information instead of the entire profile, see Restore bookmarks, passwords, and data from an old Firefox profile.
• To back up, restore or move just your bookmarks (not other data), see Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer.