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Why does pinning on the new tab page not hold even if I have not closed my browser?

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I bring up the new page through clicking on the "+" sign. I drag a new website down from my toolbar into the page and it appears as one of the websites on my page to be pinned. I "pin" it. It leaves and another website that I have visited that I do not want to pin shows up in its place.

I bring up the new page through clicking on the "+" sign. I drag a new website down from my toolbar into the page and it appears as one of the websites on my page to be pinned. I "pin" it. It leaves and another website that I have visited that I do not want to pin shows up in its place.

All Replies (9)

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You can change the order of the boxes on the about:newtab page and drag them to a different position to pin them to that position or you can remove them by clicking the close X of an item to block them. You can drag a bookmark or history item and drop them in a slot on the about:newtab page to pin them.

Changes manually made on the about:newtab page are stored in the chromeappsstore.sqlite file in the Firefox Profile Folder under the pinnedLinks key and blockedLinks key.

If you can't make changes then it is possible that there is a problem with the chromeappsstore.sqlite file.

Maybe also check if DOM storage is enabled by checking the dom.storage.enabled pref on the about:config page.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes).

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Where is the Firefox Profile Folder?

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You can use this button to go to the Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Open Containing Folder

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The chromeappsstore.sqlite file in the Firefox Profile Folder is unabled to be opened. I cannot associate an application to open it with since .sqlite does not show up in my Folder Options through my Control Panel therefore I cannot check the pinnedLinks key and blockedLinks key.

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Use this extension in Firefox:

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Okay, a got the app - and still nothing shows up in my Folders in Control Panel. How am I supposed to use the app to view the chrome app folder?

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Okay, I've found the SQLite Manager and the chromeappstore file - I see nothing that talks about Linked or Blocked pins.

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If there isn't such a key saved in the chromeappsstore.sqlite file then you won't keep pinned URLs on the about:newtab page.

Is there a new chromeappsstore.sqlite file created if you move the current file?

You may need to reset the browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone pref via the right-click context menu to the default on the about:config page and close and restart Firefox to restore the about:home page to its default after you've deleted the chromeappsstore.sqlite file.

  1. Open the about:config page via the location bar
  2. Type in the Filter bar: mstone
  3. Right-click the browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone line and select: Reset
  4. Close and restart Firefox
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Thank you for your attempted assistance. All of this toing and froing could have been avoided if the directions to the new tab pinning format simply said, "When you drag a website to its position, it will automatically be pinned there. The pin button is a toggle. From it you can pin and unpin."

So what happened was that when I thought I was pinning, I was inadvertently "unpinning". I discovered this on my own. Come on, Mozilla. You're better than this.