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Trouble with Bookmarks

  • 15 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 10 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

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Ever since I deleted my history, Bookmarks will not allow me to bookmark a page. When I click "Bookmark this page," nothing happens. The Star in the address bar is not highlighted and when I click it, it doesn't respond. When I checked my Preferences, everything is setup correctly. I don't know how long this has been happening, but I noticed it the other day. I have refreshed Firefox, and it didn't help. I have the newest version of Firefox. I only mention the deleting history in the beginning of the post for context. Thanks.

Ever since I deleted my history, Bookmarks will not allow me to bookmark a page. When I click "Bookmark this page," nothing happens. The Star in the address bar is not highlighted and when I click it, it doesn't respond. When I checked my Preferences, everything is setup correctly. I don't know how long this has been happening, but I noticed it the other day. I have refreshed Firefox, and it didn't help. I have the newest version of Firefox. I only mention the deleting history in the beginning of the post for context. Thanks.

All Replies (15)

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Hello,

You may have seen a post or received a notification regarding support for Firefox or Thunderbird with a link to another site or a phone number being posted. This is a scam and is not a method to receive support from Mozilla. Mozilla does not have telephone or email support. Please do not click on the link and do not interact by calling any phone numbers or email addresses listed. I apologize for any inconvenience caused. You are currently posting on the official Mozilla website and will receive assistance here.

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If you have sync, and there is a problem anywhere, Shut Down Sync Immediately On All Devices to prevent the problem from spreading. Once the problem is fixed, perform the same repair on all computers/profiles before using sync again.


[v57+] Places Maintenance is built into Firefox.

Type about:support<enter> in the address bar.

You will find Places Database near the bottom. Press the Verify Integrity button.

When done, copy and post the results here.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-bookmarks-and-history-will-not-be-functional

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> Task: checkIntegrity - Unable to check places.sqlite integrity: Error: Error(s) encountered during statement execution: > Task: invalidateCaches - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: checkCoherence - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: expire - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: originFrecencyStats - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: vacuum - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: stats - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: _refreshUI - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task.

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The places.sqlite file contains your History and Bookmarks. And it looks like it is corrupted.

Type about:support<enter> in the address bar.

Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To its right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile. Now Close Firefox.

Locate the above file. Then rename or delete it. Restart Firefox. The browser should then create a new place.sqlite and recover your bookmarks from the backup files.

Note: Your history is not backed up and will be lost.

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What about the "places.sqlite-wal" file? delete that file, too?

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yes. Remove it.

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Now all my saved bookmarks were erased.

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Firefox automatically makes backups of the bookmarks. These are stored in the bookmarkbackups folder.

Open the Bookmarks Manager; Press the Alt or F10 key to bring up the toolbar, and select Bookmarks.
Hot key is <Control> (Mac=<Command>) <Shift> B.

Once the window is open, at the top of the page, press the button labeled Import and Backup. Select Restore. From the list, pick the file you want and click it.

The backups are stored in a jsonlz4 file named something like this;
bookmarks-2016-06-29_1424_enD1GTH ya0JmicnYWg4V4g==.jsonlz4

In this example; 2016-06-29 = date created, 1424 = number of entries.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-lost-or-missing-bookmarks

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/forum-response-recover-bookmarks-after-update

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Make sure that Firefox is closed when you make changes to files in the profile folder.

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"Import and backups" button does not appear.

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Here is an image.

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You need to open the Bookmarks Manager (Library) via "Show All Bookmarks" (Shift + Command + B) to access "Import and backups". On Mac you only have button on the toolbar in the Library and "Import and backups" is the third button with the up/down arrow.

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I "restored" a previous bookmarks saved file. It seems to have worked.

Thanks for all the help.

Will this issue happen again when the cache and cookies are erased?

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If you only clear cache and cookies then there shouldn't be problems with the bookmarks, so if there are problems with the bookmarks like you experienced then that has another cause.

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Create your own backup:

Open the Bookmarks Manager; Press the Alt or F10 key
to bring up the toolbar, and select Bookmarks.
Hot key is <Control> (Mac=<Command>) <Shift> B.

Once the window is open, at the top of the page, press the button labeled Import and Backup. Select Export Bookmarks To HTML, and follow the prompts and save it to a HTML file. Copy the file to another computer/profile. Repeat the instructions above, BUT select Import Bookmarks From HTML.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-lost-or-missing-bookmarks

Mozilla search: Import {web link}