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How can I export all firefox settings,passwords,bookmarks, cookies etc.. in clean, human readable text files ?

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Hello

I have been using firefox sync for a long time to migrate between PC to PC

My firefox sync profile is full of old stuff and I would like to clean up my settings by wiping out my firefox sync settings and starting fresh.

However, before doing that I wish to export all my data/settings/password/cookies/bookmarks and everything, so files on my computer.

Files that I can read in notepad and inspect. See which settings I have in there and decide which settings I want to put back in my new installation.

I have found a locked question about this on this forum

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1065938

It mentions two plugins for this purpose

FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension)

OPIE

Unfortunately and worryingly, they have been removed from the firefox addon store

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/febe/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/opie/

I found a wikipedia article about FEBE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_Environment_Backup_Extension a very old link to download a probably broken version https://febe.en.softonic.com/

and a reddit thread about FEBE which states that there is no equivalent and that it is not possible to export firefox settings anymore

https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/t2zmjb/febe_alternatives/

as for OPIE, I am unable to find explanation of what it was, where it went or who used it

I know that my profile is stored in

C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\4vdt083m.default-release

However the files and structure in that folder are inscrutable

I would like to have control over the settings of my browser, what they are, to save them and modify them on my own terms.

I would like to export about:config completely to a regular plain text file, edit them and import them back in.

Hello I have been using firefox sync for a long time to migrate between PC to PC My firefox sync profile is full of old stuff and I would like to clean up my settings by wiping out my firefox sync settings and starting fresh. However, before doing that I wish to export all my data/settings/password/cookies/bookmarks and everything, so files on my computer. Files that I can read in notepad and inspect. See which settings I have in there and decide which settings I want to put back in my new installation. I have found a locked question about this on this forum https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1065938 It mentions two plugins for this purpose FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) OPIE Unfortunately and worryingly, they have been removed from the firefox addon store https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/febe/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/opie/ I found a wikipedia article about FEBE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_Environment_Backup_Extension a very old link to download a probably broken version https://febe.en.softonic.com/ and a reddit thread about FEBE which states that there is no equivalent and that it is not possible to export firefox settings anymore https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/t2zmjb/febe_alternatives/ as for OPIE, I am unable to find explanation of what it was, where it went or who used it I know that my profile is stored in C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\4vdt083m.default-release However the files and structure in that folder are inscrutable I would like to have control over the settings of my browser, what they are, to save them and modify them on my own terms. I would like to export about:config completely to a regular plain text file, edit them and import them back in.

All Replies (1)

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That location in AppData\Local is the wrong location.

Firefox uses two locations in the hidden "AppData" location for the Firefox profile folder. One location in "AppData\Roaming" for personal data like bookmarks and logins and another location in "AppData\Local" for temporary files like the disk cache, so make sure to look in the correct location.

Primary location used for the main profile that keeps your personal data (Root Directory on about:profiles).

  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>

A lot of data in the profile folder is LZ4 compressed like backups in the bookmarkbackups folder or stored in SQLite or JSON databases, possibly encrypted like logins and passwords, in the profile folder and can't be easily inspected in an external editor, you can export some like bookmarks and login data in Firefox as readable data.


  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • favicons: favicons.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (encrypted logins) and key4.db (encryption key/primary password) for logins saved in the Password Manager
  • cert9.db for certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • persdict.dat for words added to the spell checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)