Recover lost or missing Bookmarks
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- Revision id: 171367
- Created:
- Creator: AliceWyman
- Comment: My Bookmarks Menu toolbar button is missing: renamed, added steps. My Google bookmarks are missing: removed
- Reviewed: Yes
- Reviewed:
- Reviewed by: AliceWyman
- Is approved? Yes
- Is current revision? No
- Ready for localization: Yes
- Readied for localization:
- Readied for localization by: AliceWyman
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If your bookmarks have suddenly disappeared, don't worry - you should be able to recover them. This article explains how to get back your bookmarks if they disappeared unexpectedly.
- If you are able to add, delete, and edit your bookmarks but the changes are lost when you restart Firefox, see Can't add, change or save bookmarks - How to fix.
Table of Contents
My Bookmarks Toolbar is missing
If you were using the Bookmarks Toolbar for quick access to your favorite bookmarks and the toolbar is now missing, you may have turned off the option to display the Bookmarks Toolbar. To turn it back on:
- Right-click on an empty section of the navigation bar and select in the pop-up menu.
- On the menu bar, click , select , and then select .
For more information, see the Bookmarks Toolbar - Display your favorite websites at the top of the Firefox window article.
I can't find all of my bookmarks and folders
Follow these steps to add a Bookmarks Menu toolbar button that shows all of your bookmarks and folders:
- Click the Library button on the toolbar, then click .
- Click .
- Click .
A Bookmarks Menu toolbar button will appear on the toolbar next to the Library button.
My bookmarks have disappeared
To recover bookmarks that were previously saved in the Bookmarks menu or on the Bookmarks toolbar but are now missing, see Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer.
No bookmarks are visible after installing an add-on
If you have restarted Firefox after installing an add-on and your bookmarks are gone, it's possible that Firefox did not close properly before restarting itself. To recover your bookmarks, restart your computer.
I can't find my bookmarks after importing them
If you have imported your bookmarks from another browser, they may appear in the Bookmarks menu in a specific folder. To find your imported bookmarks, do the following:
- Click the menu button to open the menu panel. Click and then click the bar at the bottom.
- Depending on the type of browser from which you imported, your bookmarks may appear in a specially named folder in the Bookmarks list.
- Internet Explorer - Folder name is From Internet Explorer.
- Opera - Folder name is From Opera.
- Bookmarks imported from other browsers follow a similar pattern.
- If your source bookmarks were stored in a hierarchy of folders, the folder structure is preserved inside the specially named folder.
If desired, you can move your imported bookmarks to other folders. For more information, see Bookmarks in Firefox.
I can see only the default set of bookmarks in the Bookmarks folder
Your bookmarks are associated with the profile that you are using. For most Firefox users, only the default profile is used. There may be instances when you wish to create a new profile in Firefox. When this new profile is activated, it contains the default set of bookmarks which may give you the impression that you have lost your personal bookmarks. This troubleshooting sequence helps you to identify if a new profile has been created and how to recover your bookmarks from the previous profile.
Determine if Firefox has created a new profile
- Go to the Firefox profile folder.
- For Firefox profile locations, see the Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data article.
- If there is only one profile folder, then stop.Note: Each profile folder is named something like the following:
xxxxxxxx.<ProfileName>
where xxxxxxxx represents a random string of 8 characters and <ProfileName> corresponds to the name of the profile. For example, the folder containing the default profile is named xxxxxxxx.default. - If you have multiple profile folders in this location, that means you have multiple profiles. If you have more than one profile folder, then it is likely that a new profile has been created in Firefox. In this case, you need to change the profile Firefox is currently using to the profile that contains your saved bookmarks. You can do this by opening the Firefox Profile Manager and choosing the correct profile. See the Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles article for details.
Based on information from Lost bookmarks (mozillaZine KB)