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When Firefox new version got installed, the personal data which I had entered in the Properties tab of a menu bookmark got lost. Can I recover?

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When Firefox new version got installed, the personal data which I had entered in the Properties tab of a menu bookmark got lost. Can I recover the old version of the Properties tab and its data? I am including a screenshot of the New current tab...

thanks, giovanni

[Personal information removed by moderator. Please read Mozilla Support rules and guidelines, thanks.]

When Firefox new version got installed, the personal data which I had entered in the Properties tab of a menu bookmark got lost. Can I recover the old version of the Properties tab and its data? I am including a screenshot of the New current tab... thanks, giovanni ''[Personal information removed by moderator. Please read [[Forum rules and guidelines]], thanks.]''

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Réiteach roghnaithe

ninive said

thanks, I have done it, taking the oldest backup available (May 2018) but this has NOT restored the data I had entered.  :(

You may need to restore a more recent automatic bookmark backup if you edit the descriptions frequently, and then make the export.

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please no personal information, delete your email.


Firefox automatically creates backups of your bookmarks, which can be helpful if your bookmarks are lost or missing. To recover them, follow the instructions below.

  1. Use one of these methods to open the Bookmarks Library window:
    • Click the Bookmarks button Bookmarks-29 and select Show All Bookmarks.
    • Previous Firefox versions: Click the Firefox button and click on Bookmarks. (If you don't have a Firefox button, click the Bookmarks button Bookmarks button win 2 or Bookmarks menu item and select Show All Bookmarks.)
  2. At the top of the Library window, click on Import and Backup and select Restore.
  3. Click the date of the bookmark backup you want to recover.
  4. In the new window that appears, click OK.
  5. Your bookmarks from the selected date should now be restored.

For more information, see the Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer article. For other solutions, see the Recover lost or missing Bookmarks article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

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thanks, I have done it, taking the oldest backup available (May 2018) but this has NOT restored the data I had entered.  :(

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type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

This page should list all the profiles Firefox is currently aware of. If you see a profile that is not currently set as default that looks promising, scroll down to it and click the Set as default profile button below that profile, then scroll back up and click the Restart normally button. (There are some other buttons, but I think those are still "under construction" so please ignore them.)

Firefox should exit and then start up using the other profile.

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I appreciate your help, unfortunately I see only the Defaul profile (see attachment), nothing else. In any case, in my opinion is not a matter of restoring an old profile, because even if I had an old one to load, the new version of Firefox installed still has now a new layout of the Properties tab, hence that is, in my opinion, the problem. Perhaps, assuming that somewhere in my laptop I still have the data I have entered, it should be a combination of loading an old profile and an old version of Firefox, but even in this case I do not know if it would work.... I am desperate...thanks. thanks.

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Hi giovanni, Firefox 62 no longer shows the "Description" field for bookmarks. The data is still available on your system, but can't be viewed within Firefox. It is planned to be removed in Firefox 64.

To access and archive that data now, you can:

Export Bookmarks to a locally saved Web Page (HTML File)

Please see this article: Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks. That creates a web page, so you can open it in a Firefox tab, or in any browser. You'll notice the descriptions nested below the linked titles of the bookmarks that have descriptions.

(If you are visitor from the future after the data was deleted so you can't use Export, try converting one of Firefox's automatic .jsonlz4 bookmark backup files to HTML format using this tool: https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/bookbackreader.html)


Next steps:

This will depend on your needs.

(A) If you just need to consult the existing descriptions, the HTML file may be good enough.

(B) If you need to occasionally update the descriptions but don't need them within Firefox, then you could consider using a reference program such as Zotero (more info below) to store your bookmarks and descriptions.

(C) If you need to access descriptions within Firefox, but it's not essential that they be properties of your bookmarks, you could investigate new extensions. These may be rough for the first few weeks/months as user concerns are addressed and you may want to consider extensions that associate notes with their own list of sites rather than necessarily tying them to bookmarked addresses.

I don't have any recommendations at the moment.

(D) If you can't live without descriptions integrated with your bookmarks, you may consider the Extended Support Release of Firefox 60, also known as ESR. The ESR track was designed for companies that only want feature changes on an infrequent basis. So Firefox 60 ESR will only get security updates for the next 10-12 months, staying stable with the features of Firefox 60. Then ESR will jump to a new version, expected to be Firefox 68.

More info on this option: Switch to Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) for personal use.


Migrating Bookmarks to Zotero

There are a number of tools you could use to manage notes and annotations on your bookmarks. This is one of them.

Zotero is an open source bibliographic/research tool for collecting references. Zotero knows how to read a Firefox HTML bookmarks file and will preserve the descriptions. You can keep your storage purely local, or you can optionally sync with the Zotero cloud.

This is a one-way trip: you can send new references to Zotero from within Firefox using a Zotero add-on, but you won't be able to read/edit bookmark descriptions from within Firefox.

If you want to try it:

The Zotero research tool is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux from https://www.zotero.org/

When you click an item in your bookmarks collection, Zotero displays the Title, URL, and "Abstract" which contains the imported Description. (Screenshot #1) Double-clicking the item will launch the page in the default browser.

Zotero also has an optional Firefox Connector webextension, which allow saving new pages to a Zotero collection (either under the bookmarks structure, or other folders the user created in Zotero). (Screenshot #2)

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(I didn't look at cloud sync.)

Using a second program is less convenient than using Firefox features or a fully self-contained Firefox extension. However, it might suit your needs.

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Réiteach Roghnaithe

ninive said

thanks, I have done it, taking the oldest backup available (May 2018) but this has NOT restored the data I had entered.  :(

You may need to restore a more recent automatic bookmark backup if you edit the descriptions frequently, and then make the export.

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it works!!! thanks a lot!!!

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How to get 'er back. First off Mozilla is going the way of Microsoft and doing it their way and not how you want it. To get back you "properties" with all the remarks in them you will have to go backwards. I just did this the other day when I found more complaints. The version you will end up with is 60.2.0esr (extended service release) which is for corporations that can't upgrade all the time. If you go to: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/ pick you language and operating system, download the file (it should say firefox setup 60.2.0esr) and then install it. I didn't even have to delete the 62.0 as it installed right over it. I have my properties back with all the notes still in them. Mozilla may not like this reply and delete it. Hope it helps you as it worked for me.