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i've tried and followed the instructions but cannot recover bookmarks

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el
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macky1234
macky1234

i can find the files but they are gibberish/computer language which is far beyond me. i've tried all the restore suggestions and just can't find them....i have files that indicate i have backup files of bookmarks, but i don't know how to solve the problem. is ther a possibility of getting help via remote access??

best, and thanks, -m.

i can find the files but they are gibberish/computer language which is far beyond me. i've tried all the restore suggestions and just can't find them....i have files that indicate i have backup files of bookmarks, but i don't know how to solve the problem. is ther a possibility of getting help via remote access?? best, and thanks, -m.

All Replies (2)

Wesley Branton
Wesley Branton

My assumption is that you lost your bookmarks after an update. This is when we most commonly see this type of question, but most recently we have seen this a lot and I can explain why.

Your Firefox profile is the folder that holds all of your data (bookmarks, passwords, etc). With a recent update, Firefox changed how it handles storing that data to make it easier for people to run multiple profiles.

Because of this, some people appear to have lost their bookmarks and other data. Fortunately, the data isn't actually lost and it's quite easy to recover. All that happened is that Firefox created a new profile for you and that's the one that it's opening.

Like I said, it's generally quite easy to fix. Just do the following:

  1. Type about:profiles in your Firefox address bar (the search bar at the top of the page).
  2. You should see two profiles. One will have a lot of buttons under it and the other will not because it's the one you are currently using. Under one of the profiles, there should be the Launch profile in new browser. If so, click it.
  3. Now a new window should appear. This is the profile that Firefox was previously using and it should have all of your bookmarks in it. Verify that your bookmarks are actually in there.
  4. If they are, go back to the about:profiles page and select Set as default profile.

Now when you open Firefox, it should load the profile with your data in it rather than the useless empty one.

Hope this helps.

cor-el
cor-el
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See also "Determine if Firefox has created a new profile":