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Deleted passwords on desktop by accident; I have a copy left on my android device, how can I recover them? either sync to a new account or export them.

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  • Last reply by McCoy

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I deleted passwords on desktop by accident, which was obviously my firefox account copy; I have a copy left on my android device which is not synced still, how can I recover them? I don't want to try sync in-case it deletes my only copy, ive had unsuccessful attempts at rooting my phone for the files which is why im asking if i can just sync them to a new account? android 7, firefox 61. Thank you

I deleted passwords on desktop by accident, which was obviously my firefox account copy; I have a copy left on my android device which is not synced still, how can I recover them? I don't want to try sync in-case it deletes my only copy, ive had unsuccessful attempts at rooting my phone for the files which is why im asking if i can just sync them to a new account? android 7, firefox 61. Thank you

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For the record id copy them 1 by 1 but its 10 years of passwords :/

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3k website login details please help

Modified by JMindy

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Hi there. This is going to be tricky. On a computer, it's just a matter of copying the right files, but this can't be done using a cell phone.

Please follow these instructions as stated.

Open Firefox on your cell and shut down sync. Then, delete the sync account.

After, create a New sync account using the cell. Note: You can't have more than one sync account.

Once the new sync is created, give it time to do its job. I don't know how long this will take.

As a precaution, make sure to make a backup of the profile.

Start the computer's Firefox. Disconnect from sync. You should get an error message as that sync was deleted.

Once you are sure the cell's data is synced to the servers, log the computer into the new sync.

Fingers crossed.


Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.{web link} I use an add-on that makes backups of my user profile, Just In Case. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the current Firefox.

Every now and then, open the profile folder and create a copy of the current profile as is to another location on your hard drive. This way you will have a backup.

If you do this each day, you will not lose much data. This should be done with Firefox Closed.

Note: In case you need to restore from these backups, you may need to overwrite old or corrupted files.


In the event that the passwords information is lost, you should record all information in a separate text file somewhere else on your hard drive, or written down. You can easily copy and paste if you need to do so. If you are concerned about someone else looking at that file, you can compress it using a password.

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Probably totally superfluous, but in addition to FredMcD's great advice :

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/sync-bookmarks-tabs-history-and-passwords-android