Firefox Community Forum

I tried to open my Firefox browser, but was unable to. Same thing with my Google chrome browser. I ran the troubleshooter for network problems, but unable to get a solution.

I downloaded a new Firefox browser in the hopes that it would let me access the other browser so I could retrieve all the settings, bookmarks, etc. However, everything disappeared when the new browser was installing.

Is there any way for me to retrieve that information or is it a total loss?

I would like to be able to download YouTube videos.

Is there a Firefox add-on that will allow me to download YouTube videos onto my MacMini?

I tried Video DownloadHelper and YouTube Video Downloader and didn't see any action.

Do I need to setup settings a certain way to make it work?

What are the steps to make it work?

Thank you for your assistance.

Hello, After the last MacBook Pro M4 update my tabs keep disappearing. This is quite ANNOYING as I use ALL my tabs. Plus when I go to HISTORY there is NO Restore Previous session...so I am losing EVERYTHING. Do I just need to go out to another browser and make them my default? I can find NO help when I go out to your support for my problem. Thank you, Patty

/edit: moved thread from Firefox for iOS (for iPhone/iPad) to Firefox section as you have macOS.

Note: I always export all bookmarks to backup file and copy that to several safe locations for needed synchronization across different browsers and also restoring them if needed. Problem: I have repeatedly selected all items in Firefox bookmarks sub-folders and then followed by importing html bookmarks thinking that I was updating my bookmarks, so all my browsers had same. Instead, what I find is duplicated sets of bookmarks building up about 10-fold so that now any search for a site yields far too many duplicate listings and it is a mess. How do I prevent this from happening and how do I actually and truly delete all boomkarks in Firefox?

Aside topic: For all the folks who have accidentally lost bookmarks, my experience with losses has lead to always having backup files of bookmarks and backup listings in word or Excel of all my settings and extensions, etc. Automation has advantages, but it introduces new headaches. I can never allow myself to believe that everything will one day be just rosy. Also, multiple different browsers can be very helpful.

I want to copy/clone information in my Firefox Profile (Bookmarks, Logins, ..) from one device to another. Once that was accomplished, then I would enable Firefox Sync for the two devices.

Scenario: Device “A” (Profile A): Primary/Original/Source Device “B” (Profile B): Copy/Clone/Duplicate

I understand that if I set up Firefox Sync first and then sync the two devices what I will get is a combination/fusion of the information on the 2 devices, i.e., all the “good” stuff in Profile A plus all the superfluous stuff in Profile B that I would just as soon ignore/delete – which is not what I want. This issue has been raised in a number of other posts on this forum but with no suitable resolution offered (that I could find). I’m wondering if there might be a “work-around” that would achieve the desired result.

So ... would this work?

1) Back everything up first (of course!) 2) Glean any unique information to be preserved (Logins, etc.) from Profile B and incorporate it into Profile A (Profile A now has everything essential!) 3) Purge Profile B

   a) Create a New Profile on Device B (and delete old?)
   b) Delete everything possible from the new Profile B (default bookmarks, etc.)

4) Login to Mozilla account and enable Sync

The idea is to create a “blank” Profile on Device B so that when Profile A and Profile B are Synched together (combined), Profile A remains unchanged, and Profile B is populated with everything in Profile A (a perfect copy!). The result that I want after Sync is essentially A+B=A, the solution of which is of course B=0, hence the focus on creating a "blank" Profile B.

Instead of purging Profile B as above, an alternate method might be to first “pre-load” Bookmarks in Profile B by the usual method of Backing up Profile A Bookmarks and then Restoring them to Profile B. At this point Profile A and Profile B Bookmarks would be exactly the same and Synching the two devices should make no changes to either’s Bookmarks. Logins and other information would still have to be purged, but this could at least be a head start.

Presumably this idea could be extended to more than 2 devices (but with only one being the “Primary”).

Note that I am (myself) only concerned about Bookmarks and Logins, and am thus glossing-over how other information that might be important to others (Browsing History, Tabs, etc.) might be Synched.

Could someone from Mozilla/Firefox with a knowledge of the inner workings of these features please comment as to the efficacy of this “work-around”?

Thanks.

Hello,

I have Firefox browser and ATT internet and email. I was unable to load email today until I spoke with live ATT tech support. He instructed me in clearing cache and cookies, had me open a private window, then asked me to open another window. He did get my ATT email restored, but when I had 2 windows open I accidentally closed my main window which had many pinned tabs and other tabs I wished to get to. Yes, too many tabs! So I have a new browser which does not have the configuration I want which is the one I had when I first called ATT. So I made a mistake and closed the wrong browser, I knew it as it happened but it was too late, I guess speaking with and listening to the tech messed up my concentration. I have made this mistake before and closed the wrong browser but fumbling around somehow I managed to recover the browser I wanted, I don't remember how exactly. I think it has been a couple of years since I screwed up this way. The History section of my Firefox menu does not offer a selection called 'restore previous session' that the instruction page shows, the only options at the top are Recently closed tabs, Recently closed windows, Search history. Then a bar followed by Clear Recent history, then today's history in the new browser. So I only get history from today's new browser. I am old and not tech savvy there is a lot of terminology I do not understand, I need a kindergartner's step by step instruction on this I am afraid, in clear English. I am afraid to do things like refresh or reinstall without knowing what I am doing. I appreciate your help. I use desktop Firefox for email, reading items of interest, social media, ordering merch. I do not do gaming, I have no website. It is late and I am going to bed soon. You can email me at jaelizlang@att.net. Thanks so much, Jane Langston, Clarkston GA

How could i restore the bookmarks that i mistakenly deleted? Going back to the sync from 2 weeks ago, I don't have any of my bookmarks at all, I don't have them locally saved, the deletion happened before I reinstalled the operating system

I am going round in circles. The last Firefox update reset my Firefox on my laptop to default settings including losing my master password. I started to reset all my old settings but when I got to the part where I setup the sync with my phone version of Firefox, Mozilla asked me to log in. My password was not recognised so I hit "Forgot password" having set up a new password using one of my 10 digit authentication codes, I was then asked to log in with my new password, I did this & when trying to do the sync, I am being asked for a six digit authentication code! I have no idea where to find this code. Please help.

Yesterday, something went wrong in my Windows 11 desktop (I have a virus program installed). One of the casualties involved corrupting Firefox (it would not open). I reinstalled Firefox without removing the old version. Now I have a new installation but all my bookmarks and other data are missing. There is a folder on my desktop labelled as "Old Firefox data". It is possible to restore Firefox to a previous time (a day ago)? Thank you.

I am trying to get rid of old bookmarks.

I logged out of all my devices except my main PC, deleted many folders of unwanted bookmarks.

changed my password

on my other devices that were not connected to sync, I deleted all bookmarks completely.

I only wanted what was on my main PC that I worked so hard on.

now tonight on my PC all the old bookmarks are back again.

this page doesn't make any sense, there is no option to "Delete data from this device" when I sign out.

[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/delete-sync-data-firefox-signing-out...]

I do a lot of research, and may have 300 - 400 tabs open. 2. I needed to do a clean install of Win 11, so I saved my open tabs as bookmark, I checked and they were all there. I also saved the folder from AppData Roaming - Firefox\Firefox\Profiles\ivdajzll.default-release\sessionstore-backups. Only when I open a tab with about:sessionrestore, the below Restore Session button is grayed out.

I then exported my book marks as an HTML file. I installed FF, opened up bookmarks manager, and chose to import from html, pointed to my saved file and selected open, nothing happens. When I look at the side panel in bookmarks manager, my book marks have not been added.

2. I also tried the second option by opening Settings / General / Import Data and Select the Bookmarks from HTML file option. I point to my saved html file, it spins for a few seconds, says success and I click on the Done button, still my bookmarks have not been added.

Need help finding my old bookmarks on my hard drive that might have been erased when I did a reset Windows 10 install. Unfortunately, I had to restore my hard drive, and the Windows 10 tech advisor didn't tell me to save my Firefox bookmarks before I started the restore process. But the bookmarks might still be somewhere on my computer? And I don't think I ever created a Firefox account. So I don't think Firefox saved them.