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One of the recent updates to Firefox on windows 10 has apparently erased any comments that I had stored in the boofmark field below tags. Thanks forscrewing me

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It appears as if a recent Firefox update has done me in. My Bookmark file has somehow lost ALL the notes and descriptors that I had stored in the field below the Tags field that is associated with each file folder and URL. There were many of these and were important to me and ALL of them have disappeared within the last week (today is Sept7 2018).  ?????????????????? Secondly ever time I went to certain sites they automatically recognized me. This no longer happens and I have to sign in for that recognition. A great inconvenience. I do not save automatic ID and password savers which implies to me that somehow the cookies stored by these sites have been altered .

What happened ??? Is it yourproblem or mine??? How can I fix the issues???

It appears as if a recent Firefox update has done me in. My Bookmark file has somehow lost ALL the notes and descriptors that I had stored in the field below the Tags field that is associated with each file folder and URL. There were many of these and were important to me and ALL of them have disappeared within the last week (today is Sept7 2018). ?????????????????? Secondly ever time I went to certain sites they automatically recognized me. This no longer happens and I have to sign in for that recognition. A great inconvenience. I do not save automatic ID and password savers which implies to me that somehow the cookies stored by these sites have been altered . What happened ??? Is it yourproblem or mine??? How can I fix the issues???

All Replies (11)

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I reinstalled version 61.0.2 & can now see the description field to allow me to store the data elsewhere. Advanced notice that this would happen would have been nice.

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Hi All, Firefox 62 still has the Description information for each bookmark, but starting in Firefox 62, it can no longer be viewed anywhere in the program. It is expected that it will be deleted by Firefox 64, so this is a good time to export it.

Export Bookmarks to a locally saved Web Page (HTML File)

Please see this article: Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks. That creates a web page, so you can open it in a Firefox tab, or in any browser. You'll notice the descriptions nested below the linked titles of the bookmarks that have descriptions.

Optional: Migrate Bookmarks to Zotero

There probably are a number of tools you could use to manage notes and annotations on your bookmarks. This is one of them.

Zotero is an open source bibliographic/research tool for collecting references. Zotero knows how to read a Firefox HTML bookmarks file and will preserve the descriptions. You can keep your storage purely local, or you can optionally sync with the Zotero cloud.

This is a one-way trip: you can send new references to Zotero from within Firefox using a Zotero add-on, but you won't be able to read/edit bookmark descriptions from within Firefox.

If you want to try it:

The Zotero research tool is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux from https://www.zotero.org/

When you import a bookmarks.html file, it creates entries for each page but it flattens the folder structure, so it comes out like this:

  • bookmarks.html, with top-level Bookmarks Menu items
    • Bookmarks Toolbar folder
    • Folder1
    • Folder2
    • Other Bookmarks folder

When you click a bookmark, Zotero displays the Title, URL, and "Abstract" which contains the imported Description. (Screenshot #1) Double-clicking the item will launch the page in the default browser.

Zotero also has an optional Firefox Connector webextension, which allow saving new pages to a Zotero collection (either under the bookmarks structure, or other folders the user created in Zotero). (Screenshot #2)

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(I didn't look at cloud sync.)

Using a second program is less convenient than using Firefox features or a fully self-contained Firefox extension. However, it might suit your needs.

TucsonLynne said

Advanced notice that this would happen would have been nice.

Firefox doesn't have a great place to give advance notice of upcoming changes. That could be an interesting feature to add to the new tab page.

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WallySmurf said

Secondly ever time I went to certain sites they automatically recognized me. This no longer happens and I have to sign in for that recognition. A great inconvenience. I do not save automatic ID and password savers which implies to me that somehow the cookies stored by these sites have been altered .

It sounds like your cookies were cleared. Is it happening every time you exit Firefox now? There are a few possible reasons that might happen:

(1) If Firefox is set to start automatically in private browsing mode (2) If Firefox is set to clear history when it closes and "Cookies" are selected among the categories of history to delete (3) If Firefox is set to keep cookies only until Firefox is closed (4) If an add-on is changing how Firefox works with cookies (5) If other software on your system cleans up browser data (6) Gremlins

For #1, #2 and #3, you can check the Options page:

  • Windows: "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options
  • Mac: "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences
  • Linux: "3-bar" menu button (or Edit menu) > Preferences
  • Any system: type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it

In the left column, click Privacy & Security

Then on the right side, in the History category, check:

  • "Firefox will: Remember history" -- OK
  • "Firefox will: Never remember history" -- Problem!
  • "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history" -- check these additional settings:
    • "Always use private browsing mode" -- Problem!
    • "Clear history when Firefox closes" -- Problem if you check the Setting button to the right and "Cookies" is set to be cleared

Assuming the problem isn't there, under the Cookies and Site Data category, check:

  • "Keep until: they expire" -- OK
  • "Keep until: Firefox is closed" -- Problem if you didn't create an exception for each site you want to stay logged into

Does all that check out?

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Everything was set properly.

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TucsonLynne said

I reinstalled version 61.0.2 & can now see the description field to allow me to store the data elsewhere. Advanced notice that this would happen would have been nice.
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Where does one get the older firefox version 61.0.2

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Firefox 62.0 changes.

Removed the description field for bookmarks.

Users who have stored descriptions using the field may wish to export these descriptions as html or json files, as they will be removed in a future release.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/62.0/releasenotes/?utm_campaign=whatsnew&utm_medium=firefox-browser&utm_source=firefox-browser

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WallySmurf said

Where does one get the older firefox version 61.0.2

Hi, going back to an old version can cause data loss and other problems. You might be better off using the Extended Support Release - see link in the following article. Either way, please read it very carefully - Install an older version of Firefox.

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I do not know how to get an older copy of Firefox and install it without it being updated upon boot to the latest version. Anyhow I have exported the bookmark file as an html file and found out that Firefox, Waterfox and Chrome have all found all found the descriptive filed to be gone. I have used this functionality in the past and can readily see that the data is gone.

Again - Mozilla has deleted data on my PC without my knowledge or permission by producing a browser update that is not backward compatible. This indirect theft and destruction of my internal PC data is unforgivable and gives me more reason  to switch browsers to Chrome , Safari, Opera, Avast, or other browser.
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Support is useless since the data in the bookmark file has been apparently wiped clean.

Time for a change in Mozilla's SW Management????

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WallySmurf said

Support is useless since the data in the bookmark file has been apparently wiped clean.

Hi WallySmurf, Firefox 62 did not delete bookmark Descriptions, but it removed the ways that you could view them inside Firefox. What have you tried so far to view your data? The easiest way is to create a web page of your bookmarks by using the Export feature. See:

Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks

"Plan B" is to convert a backup file. These are files that Firefox creates nearly every day if you add a lot of bookmarks.

First, let's open the folder that contains these files in Windows Explorer. Then we'll drag-and-drop it onto the converter.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Double-click into the bookmarkbackups folder. Resize this window so you can see Firefox behind it, then click back to Firefox.

Open

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/bookbackreader.html

Then drag a recent bookmark backup onto the white box to decompress it and enable the export buttons.

I added an option to only export the ones with Descriptions, which could be more compact if you have tons of bookmarks.

Note: for some reason, very large bookmark files destroy the performance of this page. I suggest saving the HTML export and then closing the tab, otherwise, it seems to keep using more resources.

If you open the resulting HTML file in a Firefox tab, does it seem to have all your bookmarks?