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Firefox 14.01 not importing html bookmarks

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Before upgrade to 14.01 happened, I could have any html file containing links and it would happily get imported into Firefox bookmarks.

Now Firefox is only importing html files generated through export from Firefox itself.

Before upgrade to 14.01 happened, I could have any html file containing links and it would happily get imported into Firefox bookmarks. Now Firefox is only importing html files generated through export from Firefox itself.

All Replies (20)

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I am not sure any change has occurred that makes that happen.

Firefox is unlikely to know if a HTML file was created by Firefox or some other application, or even by yourself using a text editor or whatever.

Note however Firefox does not normally use HTML filesfor storing bookmarks, and the HTML files only get appended to the bookmarks file when imported.

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Also: you can consider the Reset Firefox feature via Help (Alt + H) > Troubleshooting Information and check.

(To revert to the previous profile, close the new profile, start Firefox and choose the *.default profile. While the Profile Manager is open, you can also delete the newly reset profile (the one containing random numbers)).

Managing profiles

Profiles Howto

Modified by dumdidadida

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John99 - something has changed - I have windows and linux set up - windows has latest version of Firefox 14.01 and Linux is still on the old 13 something version.

The format of the bookmark file exported by firefox has changed I think and the import does not any longer accept simple html generated by hand or any other program.


dumdidadia - I have already uninstalled, deleted all folders containing firefox data, re-installed latest version and still same.

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It seems to be okay with the exported Internet Explorer favorites. The imported bookmarks are placed at the end of the Firefox bookmarks listing. Are you getting any visible errors?? If so, can you please create a screenshot of the problem you're seeing by following the guide mentioned at How do I create a screenshot of my problem?.

Once you've done this, attach the saved screenshot file to your forum post by clicking the Browse... button below the Post your reply box. You really help us to visualize the problem.

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dumdidadida - No visible errors.

I think its the doctype headers which I have in my html files which are not accepted by firefox.

By using the header from a file exported by firefox and adding to my html, I can import my html. Its nowhere as neat as it used to be - I could simply import files without worrying about headers.

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Seems to work ok and as expected with html bookmarks. I have been caught out before by saying something works without actually testing it, but a few minutes ago I have as a test exported from IE to a Windows and Canonical Firefox, and to Mozilla fx14.0.1 on Ubuntu.

(My Ubuntu Canonical is Aurora fx15. presumably the Canonical channels will update in a few days.)

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Attached is a small bit html that won't import into firefox for me.

Modified by hotkee

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I did not manage to import a copy of your file that I made.

I do note it is not in the same format as bookmarks I just imported.

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Try to only place the <a href=""> links in the HTML file and not the rest of the HTML code.

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cor-el - that does work but its not the best solution. All links end up in the main bookmark folder and are not separated into individual folders.

Firefox 14 is definitely not doing what previous versions did - the format has been more rigid. Its a step backwards - this was the one browser that allowed you to mes around with bookmarks easily - opera is the only other one that behaved like firefox 13 and earlier.

I use import/export a lot daily and I do want to be editing html files all the files.

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john99 - that is what I mean, the exported file from firefox 14 has a new format to earlier versions and the import method has changed.

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Specifically, what do you see as being changed about the exported bookmarks.html file in 14.0.1?

I seriously doubt that any change was made for Firefox 14.0.1 on purpose, as the bookmarks.html format is no longer used for anything except import and export of bookmarks which other browsers can understand. It's the default interchange standard. It is possible that your perception of the "change" is a "Bug", but being that you are using import/export in an not-intended manner I doubt if it would stand a chance of it being fixed.

Have you tried using the correct header for a bookmarks.html file?

<!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
<!-- This is an automatically generated file.
     It will be read and overwritten.
     DO NOT EDIT! -->
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<TITLE>Bookmarks</TITLE>
 
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Your screenshot shows that you use a normal HTML file with a head and body part.
The bookmarks.html uses a different format with DL and DT tags and H3 tags for folders and apparently your HTML markup isn't working, so you either need to remove it altogether or reformat it properly.

You can check the format by inspecting an HTML export in a text editor.

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I fired up the PortableApps edition of Firefox 11 and was stunned when it imported links from a random page. I had no idea this functionality was in Firefox.

Over the past year, developers have been refining Firefox's migration code as part of an effort to streamline migration of bookmarks and other data from other browsers. In Firefox 14, the function of importing bookmarks from an HTML file was switched from the old code to the new code, and the old parser was completely removed from Firefox.

The new code doesn't appear to handle random pages. I get these script errors in the console:


Timestamp: 7/23/2012 10:57:52 PM Error: this._curFrame is undefined Source File: resource:///modules/BookmarkHTMLUtils.jsm Line: 292

Timestamp: 7/23/2012 10:57:52 PM Error: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80570021 (NS_ERROR_XPC_JAVASCRIPT_ERROR_WITH_DETAILS) [nsINavBookmarksService.runInBatchMode]" nsresult: "0x80570021 (NS_ERROR_XPC_JAVASCRIPT_ERROR_WITH_DETAILS)" location: "JS frame :: resource:///modules/BookmarkHTMLUtils.jsm :: walkTreeForImport :: line 732" data: no] Source File: resource:///modules/BookmarkHTMLUtils.jsm Line: 732

Presumably someone will create an add-on to parse an open page and create the bookmarks from the links. It seems the old Multi Links extension could do that, but recent reviews are reporting conflicts with the context menu.


References:

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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You can open the resource:///modules/BookmarkHTMLUtils.jsm file via the location bar to check its contents and also see which tags and attributes are supported.

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jscher2000 - that bit of functionality (importing random page of links) is what has been lost with Firefox 14.01.

Got firefox 13 still on debian but no doubt it will get upgraded to 14 soon. I might try to install opera on Windoze and see if it still contains that functionality.

the-edmeister - the format does not seem to have changed from v13 to v14 but the import functionality has.

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Something definitely changed in version 14 or 14.0.1. I have Macs at home, but I use Firefox on my Windows PC at work. I would regularly export bookmarks from Safari on my Mac and import them into Firefox on Windows with no problem. Since version 14, the import on the PC no longer works and gives no error message whatever. You click OK and nothing happens. I would love to get this functionality back.

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Problems with bookmarks and history not working properly can be caused by a corrupted places.sqlite database file.

You can try to check and repair the places database with this extension:

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Thanks cor-el but afraid that does not work either.

I have also already uninstalled and installed a completely fresh copy of firefox (after removing all profile data) and still the same issue with v14.

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Hi hotkee, sorry for the confusion, but I think cor-el's post was addressed to GeezJan, who just posted in your thread. We already know that Firefox 14 doesn't support formats other than the one it expects, but we thought Safari actually used that format. So GeezJan's issue might be the same as or might be different than yours.

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