Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

updating profile (history and bookmarks)from old computer

more options

My old computer crashed, but the content on the hardrive is intact. I'm on a Mac. I have a new imac with OS Sierra, how do up date Firefox on my new computer so it has the same history and bookmarks as the firefox on my crashed computer. I read your h elp files but they confuse me. Years ago there was a "history" file and I could just transfer that over, but now I see that doesn't exsist. Please help.

My old computer crashed, but the content on the hardrive is intact. I'm on a Mac. I have a new imac with OS Sierra, how do up date Firefox on my new computer so it has the same history and bookmarks as the firefox on my crashed computer. I read your h elp files but they confuse me. Years ago there was a "history" file and I could just transfer that over, but now I see that doesn't exsist. Please help.

Chosen solution

traceburroughs said

I found the "bookmarkbackups" folder on both the old and new computer and with Foxfire closed copied over the backup files ending i jsonlz4 but nothing changed when I rebooted Foxfire..

Firefox won't automatically restore a bookmark backup unless the places.sqlite file is completely missing. You can restore it manually through the Library window. This article has the steps: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer.

Does that work?

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (20)

more options

History and bookmarks are stored together in a data file named places.sqlite. (When Firefox is running, there are some companion files created for journaling changes, but when Firefox shuts down normally, those files should be removed after they are reconciled with the main file.)

Can you find your old places.sqlite database file on your hard drive? Since it is in a hidden folder, this article may help you navigate: Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data. If you do not automatically get Mac information, expand the Editing Tools in the left column, and use the OS drop-down to select MacOS X.

And then this article may also be useful: Recovering important data from an old profile.

more options

Thank you. I was able to find those files you mentioned. Where do I put t hem on my new computer?....Please don't refer me to an article because I find them unclear. Thank you for your help..

more options

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page. You can replace the existing places.sqlite file with Firefox closed.

If there are places.sqlite-shm and places.sqlite-wal SQLite temp files then remove these files before starting Firefox. You can also consider to recover more personal data.

You can copy files like these to the current Firefox profile folder to recover specific data.

  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved form data
  • logins.json and key3.db (decryption key) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
  • cert8.db and possibly cert_override.txt for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • persdict.dat for words you added to the spelling checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other Site Preferences
  • sessionstore.js for open tabs and pinned tabs

See also:

more options

I did that copying places.sqlite to Applicaton Support folder after I quit out of Firefox and removed places.sqlite-shm and places.sqlite-wal from Application support folder before opening Firefox again, but the bookmaks did not show up after I started up Firefox.

more options

traceburroughs said

I did that copying places.sqlite to Applicaton Support folder after I quit out of Firefox and removed places.sqlite-shm and places.sqlite-wal from Application support folder before opening Firefox again, but the bookmaks did not show up after I started up Firefox.

How about the history? Was that also a no-show?

Could you check your current profile folder again to see whether Firefox rejected the database? It would be renamed to something like places.sqlite-corrupted.

(I refer to the current profile folder because you are copying from an old profile folder to the current one and I want to be clear which one I'm talking about. Launching the folder through Firefox's Troubleshooting Information page is the surest route to the current folder.)

more options

Yes, I'm checking the new folder in the new computer.....History was also not transferred and there was no places.sqlite-corrupted file

more options

attached is what I see when I click on trouble shooting file. What do i do with that.... don't see the files you listed?

more options

I figured out the troublshooting page and the link to "profile"....Firefox updated History but not bookmarks

more options

If you copy the bookmarkbackups folder with the compressed .jsonlz4 backups to the current profile folder and remove all places.sqlite (move them to a safe location), does that make Firefox create a new places.sqlite file with the bookmarks?

Make sure to remove newer compressed .jsonlz4 backup, so only the files from the old hard drive are there. This is because Firefox uses the most recent backup to rebuild the bookmarks when places.sqlite is missing.

more options

The history is "today" and older than 6 months. Nothing in between?

more options

traceburroughs said

The history is "today" and older than 6 months. Nothing in between?

With that large a gap, it sounds as though you might not have found your latest profile folder on your old drive. Was it in basically the same path as your profile folder on the new drive, other than the starting drive letter and the semi-random name of the profile folder itself?

more options

I assume that you also only get old bookmarks??

You can see the date of a compressed .jsonlz4 backup as part of its file name.

The name of a JSON bookmarks backup file includes a total item count (folders and separators included) and an hash value to prevent saving the same backup more than once.

  • bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item count>_<hash>.jsonlz4.
more options

When I search for .jsonlz4, I get dozens and dozens of files, with too many characters/numbers and at the end is .jsonlz4.......attached is the screenshot of the "Application support" folder from the computer that crashed, there isn't eve a Firefox folder....i -mac os Maverick.

more options

I didn't get any old book marks that I saved on my old computer for 8 years.

more options

I made a mistake with the scree shot from my old computer. Attached is the old computer screen shot of "applicatio support" folder.....there is no firefox folder

more options

I assume that the Carbonite folder stores backups, so it is quite normal that this would show as a search result.

I don't know about the other folders. The .jsonlz4 file extension should only show for files in the bookmarkbackups folder in the Firefox profile folder.

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<profile>/

In all other locations there should be no relation to Firefox.

The bookmarkbackups folder I was talking about should be in the same profile folder where you found the places.sqlite file.

more options

traceburroughs said

Attached is the old computer screen shot of "applicatio support" folder.....there is no firefox folder

It should be inside the Mozilla folder.

Edit: As a Windows user, I can't really say that for sure, but it's worth checking.

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

more options

Note that you should look in the "~/Library/Application Support" folder in your Home directory (/Users/<user>) and not in the global Application Support folder.

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<profile>/
more options

Yes, I looked in the above location for the Application Support folder. I quit from Foxfire and moved the bookmarkbackups from old computer to new computer. There was no places.sqlite in that folder and when I restarted Foxfire, it didn't create a new one and put it in that folder. The file places.sqlite was outside that folder in the "Profiles" folder.

I have carbonite, but it does't back up applications. It might have backed up the Library files, but I have not resintalled Carbonite on my new computer yet, because I've been so busy with all the other problems involved when you buy a new computer and OS......Apple support giving me bogus info 4 times with 4 different calls to them and I finally had to drive to an Apple store twice 20 minutes away to get some answers. I will reconnect to carbonite tomorrow.

I hope you will stick with me to solve this problem. Thank you,

more options

My "user" folder does not have a "library" or "application support" folder. Both those folders are only in the "Macintosh HD" folder, along with System, User and Applications folders.

  1. 1
  2. 2