"Refresh Firefox" will certainly kill your preferences, so that won't be helpful in trying to save them. More: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings

This sounds a lot like other support questions - so far 1 unanswered, and 1 i cannot yet locate, but which had a lot of discussion.

Edit: Still not finding what i thought i recalled. I am hoping that someone with Firefox Accounts experience can answer you.

There have been quiet a few reports of this issue recently (specifically on Mac). I've opened a bug report about it (see bug 1601148), but no sure cause has really been determined yet.

If you go to the about:profiles page in Firefox, how many profiles are listed?

One thing that has been suggested by Ryan Kelly is that running Firefox using a downloaded .dmg file instead of saving Firefox to your computer can cause this type of issue (see this thread.

Thanks to both of you!

There are several listed in the about:profiles page default - release default default - release -1 default - relese - 2 ...3 ...4 the last one says underneath: This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted.

What does that tell me?

Im not sure about the dmg file. I read the thread but am not fully understanding, honestly. When I downloaded it, it saved to downloads, I double clicked it and followed the setup process...

(Im fairly new to Mac, so I'm not quite yet as sure about how those things work)

If you have that many new profiles, it does seem like maybe Firefox isn't installed properly. To be honest, I don't regularly use Mac, so I'm not sure off the top of my head how to install Firefox on it.

However, the How to download and install Firefox on Mac will probably be of some help to you.

You may want to delete those extra profiles.

The dmg file is just a container (disk image) that has, in this case, Firefox inside. Sort of like a zip archive file or a cd image.

See Wesley Branton's link above, but it seems that Ryan Kelly suggests extracting Firefox from the dmg file manually, not double-clicking the dmg to run it. (i am not versed in modern Macs, but i think a single click will open the mounted dmg and you can drag out the firefox.app.)

Thanks folks, I found that firefox wasnt in my applications folder at all, instead it showed up under Devices in finder - so I think you were right about the incorrect installation. I have now re-installed it, logged back in, updated my settings again, and also deleted those extra profiles - we will see how it goes. Fingers crossed! Thanks so much for you kind help on this! Anne

Fantastic! I hope that is all going smoothly for you.

Almost! Except that it now shows up twice in my bottom toolbar - one can be open (little dot), the other closed. (see attached) If I click on the second on, this message appears (see attached). Yet in applications, it only shows up once. It still also shows up as a Device in finder (listed under devices with the eject button next to it) (see attached)

Any thoughts on what is going on here now?

It looks like the DMG file is still mounted on your computer, which is why it's still listed under Devices. Press the eject button and that should close the DMG file and hopefully will remove the duplicate button on the bottom of your screen.