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Where did my bookmarks go? And help with Session Sync add-on

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I am currently using someone elses computer because mine wont connect to the internet for some reason. But that computer should be getting fixed soon, so I wanted to take the bookmarks from this computer and be able to view them on my own later. Also, I fear I may have added too many bookmarks and add-ons because Firefox has been running extremely slowly lately. So I was going to give it a reset, which would result in losing everything. I can simply get the add-ons again but I want to be able to keep my bookmarks. I've been using an add-on called Session Sync, which bookmarks every tab you have open all at once. However, when I went to export those bookmarks, it says: "Saved session are stored as bookmarks. It's recommended to use Firefox Account to sync your bookmarks. Currenly you can only use Firefox Bookmark Manager (CTRL + SHIFT + B) to export/import all your bookmarks (which includes all Session Sync saved data). Session Sync detects automatically all updated bookmarks after an import."

So, I did what it said and exported my bookmarks but I signed in to my firefox account first. Perhaps that is what messed things up. Because now, every single bookmark I saved individually (not using Session Sync) is gone. When I look at my bookmarks, I see things I do not even recognize. I probably bookmarked them months ago, so I don't remember. There is certainly no trace of pages I have bookmarked recently, including today. When I take a look at the exported bookmarks, it's the same thing. None of the recent indivual bookmarks are there are absolutely none of the Session Synced bookmarks are there at all. So what happened to them? Why didn't Session Sync's bookmarks get included in the export like it said it would? Could have it been because I signed into my Firefox account which hadn't been used in a long time, so it swapped out the bookmarks on this computer with the ones from my account? I thought I'd try signing into this computers owner's account and hope things go back to how they were before but neither of us even new she had one or remember the password. I was going to reset the password but then it says we may lose all the bookmarks, which would defeat the purpose. But it only says it's a possibility. Is that true? Is there a good chance I will not lose them?

All I want is my bookmarks back and to be able to keep the ones from Session Sync. I did not expect this to turn into such a pain.

Thank you for any assistance, it is very, very much appreciated :)

I am currently using someone elses computer because mine wont connect to the internet for some reason. But that computer should be getting fixed soon, so I wanted to take the bookmarks from this computer and be able to view them on my own later. Also, I fear I may have added too many bookmarks and add-ons because Firefox has been running extremely slowly lately. So I was going to give it a reset, which would result in losing everything. I can simply get the add-ons again but I want to be able to keep my bookmarks. I've been using an add-on called Session Sync, which bookmarks every tab you have open all at once. However, when I went to export those bookmarks, it says: "Saved session are stored as bookmarks. It's recommended to use Firefox Account to sync your bookmarks. Currenly you can only use Firefox Bookmark Manager (CTRL + SHIFT + B) to export/import all your bookmarks (which includes all Session Sync saved data). Session Sync detects automatically all updated bookmarks after an import." So, I did what it said and exported my bookmarks but I signed in to my firefox account first. Perhaps that is what messed things up. Because now, every single bookmark I saved individually (not using Session Sync) is gone. When I look at my bookmarks, I see things I do not even recognize. I probably bookmarked them months ago, so I don't remember. There is certainly no trace of pages I have bookmarked recently, including today. When I take a look at the exported bookmarks, it's the same thing. None of the recent indivual bookmarks are there are absolutely none of the Session Synced bookmarks are there at all. So what happened to them? Why didn't Session Sync's bookmarks get included in the export like it said it would? Could have it been because I signed into my Firefox account which hadn't been used in a long time, so it swapped out the bookmarks on this computer with the ones from my account? I thought I'd try signing into this computers owner's account and hope things go back to how they were before but neither of us even new she had one or remember the password. I was going to reset the password but then it says we may lose all the bookmarks, which would defeat the purpose. But it only says it's a possibility. Is that true? Is there a good chance I will not lose them? All I want is my bookmarks back and to be able to keep the ones from Session Sync. I did not expect this to turn into such a pain. Thank you for any assistance, it is very, very much appreciated :)

All Replies (1)

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Hi Redstar2613, it sounds like you have been using this computer for a while now, so Firefox should have made at least a couple daily backups of your bookmarks. Let's investigate what you have there.

Open up the Library window (Ctrl+Shift+O as in "Organizer").

Click the "Import and Backup" menu, and then expand the "Restore" sub-menu. Please don't actually restore anything yet, just look at the number of items for the most recent backups. I assume there are many.

Using Restore will completely wipe the current set of bookmarks and replace it with the contents of the backup. Since you created an export, and you're not that excited about what you have now anyway, that might be fine.

More info in this article: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer


If you're not sure and you want to see what is in a backup file, I do have a conversion tool. Here are the steps to use it:

(1) Open your profile folder in Windows File Explorer

Either:

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

That will open in a new tab. In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows File Explorer.

Double-click into the bookmarkbackups folder. Here you should see the compressed backup files.

Resize this window so you can easily see Firefox.

(2) Switch back to Firefox and open the converter

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

(3) Position the Windows File Explorer window where you can drag and drop a backup file onto the white box in the converter page

(4) Click the Export HTML button to generate an "export" file from the backup

You can save that anywhere, or open it in a tab. Does it have what you need?