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I can't open a bookmark backup file with json extension

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I opened LIBRARY folder in the TOOLS and clicked BACKUP so that I can have a copy of my bookmarks to transfer to another laptop.

I saved the file on the DESKTOP. It has a json extension. Can't open it. How can I open it. Is my registry corrupt? Thanks, cp

I opened LIBRARY folder in the TOOLS and clicked BACKUP so that I can have a copy of my bookmarks to transfer to another laptop. I saved the file on the DESKTOP. It has a json extension. Can't open it. How can I open it. Is my registry corrupt? Thanks, cp

Chosen solution

The only use of a JSON backup is to restore the file via the Bookmarks Manager in a Firefox profile, that will replace all current bookmarks with the ones in that JSON backup.
A JSON backup is a text file in object format and is not very readable.
If you want a readable backup then export the bookmarks to an HTML file.

Why do you want to open that file?

Read this answer in context 👍 4

All Replies (9)

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Do you want to restore it to Firefox, or just look at the contents of that file?

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Chosen Solution

The only use of a JSON backup is to restore the file via the Bookmarks Manager in a Firefox profile, that will replace all current bookmarks with the ones in that JSON backup.
A JSON backup is a text file in object format and is not very readable.
If you want a readable backup then export the bookmarks to an HTML file.

Why do you want to open that file?

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Just wanted to look at the contents to make sure that the file is complete before I copy it to another place. Thanks, cp

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Thanks, html solved my problem. cp

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I want to extract the tag information along with the bookmarks. I can't do that from the HTML version. Can I do it with json? Is there any documentation of the bookmark file json format?

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HTML bookmarks files don't contain the Tag data. The Tag data is in the JSON bookmarks backup file.


See this Google search of the Mozilla Developer Center for JSON documentation.

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I can parse JSON files in general, but the one with my bookmarks is 745K. I could poke around in it for a week before finding what I want. Is there some place where the structure of this particular file is documented? How do I associate URLs with tags, given my JSON file?

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Never mind, I figured it out.

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@anewc2 Could you please give me a hint on how you figured it out. I have the same problem and I can't make heads or tails of my JSON file without several days of cutting and pasting... Thank you.