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your solution to restoring my bookmarks doesn't work

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  • 2 have this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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After I installed your latest update my bookmarks have disappeared so I followed your advice to restore them, went to Import and Backup, selected Restore, none of the files listed works I just get "Unable to process the backup file. Tried backup file name shown is "bookmarks-2019-03-18" save as json on my desktop and it doesn't save. Using Windows 10 64 bit

After I installed your latest update my bookmarks have disappeared so I followed your advice to restore them, went to Import and Backup, selected Restore, none of the files listed works I just get "Unable to process the backup file. Tried backup file name shown is "bookmarks-2019-03-18" save as json on my desktop and it doesn't save. Using Windows 10 64 bit

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If the above does not help,

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_process_the_backup_file_-_Firefox

jscher2000 has a tool on his website to extract out your bookmarks and save them to an HTML-format bookmark export file. If you want to try it, here is the page:

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

To open the bookmarkbackups folder in Finder, use the "Open in Finder" button in the first table on the Troubleshooting Information page, and double-click into bookmarkbackups where you should see several dated files. From there you can drag and drop onto the conversion tool.

To import the HTML file, see the steps in this article: Import Bookmarks from an HTML file.

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Hi Bellante, this problem could be in the compressed backup file, OR it could be a problem with the Places database that is supposed to receive the data.

To check on the database side, could you let us know what you get when you run the "Verify Integrity" function. That's here:

Open Firefox's Troubleshooting Information page using any of these methods:

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

Near the bottom, there is a section titled Places Database -- that's the file which stores history and bookmarks. Click the button labeled Verify Integrity. There may be a 10-15 second delay before results appear.

If all is well, the report that appears below the button should start with:

> Task: checkIntegrity
+ The places.sqlite database is sane
+ The favicons.sqlite database is sane

Does yours say that, or something else? You can select and copy the report, and then paste it into a reply for review and comment.

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If "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page cannot repair places.sqlite then remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

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:preferences page.