Recent answers to "Restore bookmarks" from JSON not working in Firefox 84https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/13214872021-01-13T13:10:58-08:00jscher2000 said
cor-el said
You shouldn't lose separators with an HTML backup, as these are supporte2021-01-13T13:10:58-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487?page=2#answer-1383759<em><p>jscher2000 <a href="#answer-1383560" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote><em><p>cor-el <a href="#answer-1383550" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote>You shouldn't lose separators with an HTML backup, as these are supported via &lt;hr&gt; tags.
I don't know if they are supported by the tool to convert JSON to HTML.
</blockquote>
<p>They were not before, but I just added it.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Late update here but the .JSON bookmarks did load overnight. When I woke up the next morning, Firefox was frozen, but after re-launching it, they were there.
</p><p>I didn't try the bookmarks tool with the separators yet, will try it on a smaller file soon...
</p>cor-el said
You shouldn't lose separators with an HTML backup, as these are supported via <hr>2021-01-12T14:32:11-08:00jscher2000https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487?page=2#answer-1383560<em><p>cor-el <a href="#answer-1383550" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote>You shouldn't lose separators with an HTML backup, as these are supported via &lt;hr&gt; tags.
I don't know if they are supported by the tool to convert JSON to HTML.
</blockquote>
<p>They were not before, but I just added it.
</p>You shouldn't lose separators with an HTML backup, as these are supported via <hr> tags.
I don2021-01-12T12:59:29-08:00cor-elhttps://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487?page=2#answer-1383550<p>You shouldn't lose separators with an HTML backup, as these are supported via &lt;hr&gt; tags.
I don't know if they are supported by the tool to convert JSON to HTML.
</p>I should add is that one thing drawback going with .html instead of .json is that I lost all the sep2021-01-12T11:34:20-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487?page=2#answer-1383546<p>I should add is that one thing drawback going with .html instead of .json is that I lost all the separators used to organize the bookmarks. When you have a ton of them, it's not the end of the world, but those separators do help, and it's too bad to have lost them (so far).
</p><p>I'm going to still try to import the .json overnight and see if it just takes hours to load. Will update tomorrow.
</p>jscher2000 said
Sorry, that checkbox was being ignored by the code. Fixed now, please try again.
Th2021-01-12T11:12:20-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487?page=2#answer-1383544<em><p>jscher2000 <a href="#answer-1383539" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote>Sorry, that checkbox was being ignored by the code. Fixed now, please try again.
</blockquote>
<p>That worked perfect, thanks!
</p><p>I now have the bookmarks back. This was a day in my life spent on bookmarks, lol. Jscher2000, thanks for making this tool, and for making that extra mod today. It was a huge help.
</p><p>Mozilla still has not fixed the .JSON issue in Firefox 84, so for anyone having this problem at the moment, using jscher2000's tool might be your fix. Hopefully Mozilla will see the problem and work on it for v85.
</p>Sorry, that checkbox was being ignored by the code. Fixed now, please try again.
2021-01-12T09:59:41-08:00jscher2000https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383539<p>Sorry, that checkbox was being ignored by the code. Fixed now, please try again.
</p>jscher2000 said
The converter was able to read the 37MB file without dying or giving you an error? I2021-01-12T08:43:14-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383519<em><p>jscher2000 <a href="#answer-1383509" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote>The converter was able to read the 37MB file without dying or giving you an error? I'm surprised, but glad to hear that.
But neither Firefox 78 nor 84 can import the HTML file? Bummer.
Can Chrome import it? If so, you could test whether Firefox's "Import from Another Browser" tool can pull them. (<a href="/en-US/kb/import-bookmarks-google-chrome" rel="nofollow">Import bookmarks and other data from Google Chrome</a>)
</blockquote>
<p>I seem to have been able to get it to import. It may crash Firefox, but when you restart it, it's there. Thanks so much for making that tool, it's a major help.
</p><p>The one issue that seems to be remaining is that the bookmark folders have date added attached. For example, it might show up as:
</p><p>Biology research [Added: 2013-04-06 2:21:35 PM]
</p><p>Instead of
</p><p>Biology research
</p><p><br>
Any ideas of why? I tried unchecking the boxes in the tool, but the HTML file seems to still tack on the "[Added ... ]" on the end.
</p>The converter was able to read the 37MB file without dying or giving you an error? I'm surprised, bu2021-01-12T08:24:30-08:00jscher2000https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383509<p>The converter was able to read the 37MB file without dying or giving you an error? I'm surprised, but glad to hear that.
</p><p>But neither Firefox 78 nor 84 can import the HTML file? Bummer.
</p><p>Can Chrome import it? If so, you could test whether Firefox's "Import from Another Browser" tool can pull them. (<a href="/en-US/kb/import-bookmarks-google-chrome" rel="nofollow">Import bookmarks and other data from Google Chrome</a>)
</p>I was able to verify that the links in the HTML file that your tool generated are in there -- so in 2021-01-12T07:36:32-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383493<p>I was able to verify that the links in the HTML file that your tool generated are in there -- so in some form, I still have an archive of all the things I bookmarked. However, I'm not sure as to why they are not loading into Firefox 78 or 84...
</p>jscher2000 said
Is your browsing/download history in the new Firefox 84 profile important? If not, y2021-01-12T07:16:20-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383471<em><p>jscher2000 <a href="#answer-1383413" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote>Is your browsing/download history in the new Firefox 84 profile important? If not, you could try:
Install Firefox 78 ESR side-by-side with the stable release. It should launch in its own dedicated profile. Restore your .json file there. Success? Transplant the resulting bookmarks.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files from the Firefox ESR profile folder into your Firefox 84 profile folder (while Firefox is closed, of course).
<a href="https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/#product-desktop-esr" rel="nofollow">https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/#product-desktop-esr</a>
That hash should change the first selector to "Firefox Extended Support Release" but YMMV.
</blockquote>
<p>It's not that important, but I have probably hundreds or thousands of items for my research now gone, which is killer. I have a JSON from today (which may or may not be good) and one from mid-month last month.
</p><p>I loaded it into your tool (thanks for that, fantastic) and converted it to .html, but it won't load properly in the v78 ESR or in 84.
</p>Is your browsing/download history in the new Firefox 84 profile important? If not, you could try:
In2021-01-12T05:24:57-08:00jscher2000https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383413<p>Is your browsing/download history in the new Firefox 84 profile important? If not, you could try:
</p><p>Install Firefox 78 ESR side-by-side with the stable release. It should launch in its own dedicated profile. Restore your .json file there. Success? Transplant the resulting bookmarks.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files from the Firefox ESR profile folder into your Firefox 84 profile folder (while Firefox is closed, of course).
</p><p><a href="https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/#product-desktop-esr" rel="nofollow">https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/#product-desktop-esr</a>
</p><p>That hash should change the first selector to "Firefox Extended Support Release" but YMMV.
</p>The problem is I need to get access to those bookmarks, as I do research for my job and I have deadl2021-01-12T05:22:03-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383412<p>The problem is I need to get access to those bookmarks, as I do research for my job and I have deadlines this week...
</p>jscher2000 said
(Not sure why that reply is in moderation)
There were some UI changes in Firefox 842021-01-12T05:20:50-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383411<em><p>jscher2000 <a href="#answer-1383392" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote><em>(Not sure why that reply is in moderation)</em>
There were some UI changes in Firefox 84 related to the Bookmarks Toolbar, as you noted.
For example, you can choose whether to only show it on new tabs, and you can turn it on and off using Ctrl+Shift+B (Mac: Command+Shift+B). Now Windows and Mac users need to learn the Linux shortcut Ctrl+Shift+O/Command+Shift+O to open the Library window. But that's many other threads...
The "empty toolbar placeholder" that you mentioned -- "For quick access, place your bookmarks here on the boomarks toolbar. Manage bookmarks..." -- can appear if either:
(1) You removed all bookmarks from the Bookmarks Toolbar
(2) You removed the "Bookmarks Toolbar Items" control from the Bookmarks Toolbar in Customize (<a href="/en-US/kb/customize-firefox-controls-buttons-and-toolbars" rel="nofollow">Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars</a>)
I'm not aware of any changes for backup and restore related to the UI changes.&nbsp;??
</blockquote>
<p>With a little more experimentation, I can conclude the following:
</p><p>1) If I remove all of the bookmarks, and then add a few, I can get them to "restore". So the size here must matter.
</p><p>2) Sometimes trying to load the large file will crash my entire system to the point where I can move the cursor but nothing I click on works, and I have to reboot.
</p><p>Mozilla must have done something to v84 beyond the UI.
</p><p>One option I have here is to try to roll back to Firefox 83, but it's a pain in Linux to do, and it seems like a bad solution, especially from a security standpoint.
</p>jscher2000 said
(Not sure why that reply is in moderation)
There were some UI changes in Firefox 842021-01-12T04:29:16-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383396<em><p>jscher2000 <a href="#answer-1383392" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote><em>(Not sure why that reply is in moderation)</em>
There were some UI changes in Firefox 84 related to the Bookmarks Toolbar, as you noted.
For example, you can choose whether to only show it on new tabs, and you can turn it on and off using Ctrl+Shift+B (Mac: Command+Shift+B). Now Windows and Mac users need to learn the Linux shortcut Ctrl+Shift+O/Command+Shift+O to open the Library window. But that's many other threads...
The "empty toolbar placeholder" that you mentioned -- "For quick access, place your bookmarks here on the boomarks toolbar. Manage bookmarks..." -- can appear if either:
(1) You removed all bookmarks from the Bookmarks Toolbar
(2) You removed the "Bookmarks Toolbar Items" control from the Bookmarks Toolbar in Customize (<a href="/en-US/kb/customize-firefox-controls-buttons-and-toolbars" rel="nofollow">Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars</a>)
I'm not aware of any changes for backup and restore related to the UI changes.&nbsp;??
</blockquote>
<p>It doesn't seem to be just UI changes, as not only are there these weird hanging problems with "restore", but it opens with some very old bookmarks, and if I try to delete them, it hangs also. There's something weird that Mozilla changed in v84.
</p>(Not sure why that reply is in moderation)
There were some UI changes in Firefox 84 related to the B2021-01-12T04:19:46-08:00jscher2000https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383392<p><em>(Not sure why that reply is in moderation)</em>
</p><p>There were some UI changes in Firefox 84 related to the Bookmarks Toolbar, as you noted.
</p><p>For example, you can choose whether to only show it on new tabs, and you can turn it on and off using Ctrl+Shift+B (Mac: Command+Shift+B). Now Windows and Mac users need to learn the Linux shortcut Ctrl+Shift+O/Command+Shift+O to open the Library window. But that's many other threads...
</p><p>The "empty toolbar placeholder" that you mentioned -- "For quick access, place your bookmarks here on the boomarks toolbar. Manage bookmarks..." -- can appear if either:
</p><p>(1) You removed all bookmarks from the Bookmarks Toolbar
(2) You removed the "Bookmarks Toolbar Items" control from the Bookmarks Toolbar in Customize (<a href="/en-US/kb/customize-firefox-controls-buttons-and-toolbars" rel="nofollow">Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars</a>)
</p><p>I'm not aware of any changes for backup and restore related to the UI changes.&nbsp;??
</p>jscher2000 said
(Moderation again, sorry.)
I think there are three scenarios you might notice:
(1)2021-01-12T04:01:59-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383380<em><p>jscher2000 <a href="#answer-1383378" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote>(Moderation again, sorry.)
I think there are three scenarios you might notice:
(1) Firefox chugging through the file and will take a long time
(2) Firefox is spinning its wheels, using CPU, and will never finish due to (unknown reasons at this point)
(3) Firefox has hung, which could lead to very low CPU activity
(I don't know the Linux equivalent of the Windows Task Manager.)
</blockquote>
<p>Yeah, it has to be one of those three. It doesn't seem to weigh down the entire computer (scenario #3), and it doesn't give an error, but while it hangs, you can't really use the browser, as it's mostly unresponsive.
</p><p>Maybe if it sits overnight it will eventually load. Clearly something changed with Firefox 84, which seems especially like given that when I open Firefox, it has message where the bookmarks toolbar is:
</p><p>"For quick access, place your bookmarks here on the boomarks toolbar. Manage bookmarks..."
</p><p>Where "Manage bookmarks..." is a link to the Bookmarks toolbar.
</p><p>That wasn't there before v84.
</p><p>(Also, in Linux the Task Manager is called Task Manager.)
</p>(Moderation again, sorry.)
I think there are three scenarios you might notice:
(1) Firefox chugging 2021-01-12T03:57:44-08:00jscher2000https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383378<p>(Moderation again, sorry.)
</p><p>I think there are three scenarios you might notice:
</p><p>(1) Firefox chugging through the file and will take a long time
(2) Firefox is spinning its wheels, using CPU, and will never finish due to (unknown reasons at this point)
(3) Firefox has hung, which could lead to very low CPU activity
</p><p>(I don't know the Linux equivalent of the Windows Task Manager.)
</p>jscher2000 said
james_1 said
Hmm, it still hangs, same issue and behavior.
I then had to restart, s2021-01-12T03:53:57-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383376<em><p>jscher2000 <a href="#answer-1383362" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote><em><p>james_1 <a href="#answer-1383340" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote>Hmm, it still hangs, same issue and behavior.
I then had to restart, so went back to Safe Mode and attaching image from the browser error console...
</blockquote>
<p>That was before or after trying the Restore? It doesn't seem to be an error specific to the Restore.
</p><p><em>The other post is hidden temporarily because it had a link to a non-Mozilla site (Reddit). It should become visible eventually after passing spam moderation.</em>
</p><p>I don't think my converter tool can handle an 83MB file, but it might handle the smaller file:
</p><p><a href="https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/bookbackreader.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/bookbackreader.html</a>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was after restore. The other post at Reddit the person says the same kind of thing.
</p><p>The JSON file is about 37MB, I guess I can check that out.
</p><p>The other machine finally worked with loading the 154 bookmarks, and the weird thing was, it worked right away with no load time. This one is still slow. One option is to let it sit overnight and see if it loads after, say, 10 hours. The machine with the bigger file has fast processor and RAM...
</p>james_1 said
Hmm, it still hangs, same issue and behavior.
I then had to restart, so went back to S2021-01-12T03:42:39-08:00jscher2000https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383362<em><p>james_1 <a href="#answer-1383340" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote>Hmm, it still hangs, same issue and behavior.
I then had to restart, so went back to Safe Mode and attaching image from the browser error console...
</blockquote>
<p>That was before or after trying the Restore? It doesn't seem to be an error specific to the Restore.
</p><p><em>The other post is hidden temporarily because it had a link to a non-Mozilla site (Reddit). It should become visible eventually after passing spam moderation.</em>
</p><p>I don't think my converter tool can handle an 83MB file, but it might handle the smaller file:
</p><p><a href="https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/bookbackreader.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/bookbackreader.html</a>
</p>jscher2000 said
By the way, for the large file, I would just let it run and check every so often for2021-01-12T02:59:22-08:00james_1https://support.mozilla.org/ga-IE/questions/1321487#answer-1383342<em><p>jscher2000 <a href="#answer-1383339" rel="nofollow">said</a></p></em>
<blockquote>By the way, for the large file, I would just let it run and check every so often for one of those popup dialogs saying that a script is making Firefox run slowly and allowing it to continue.
</blockquote>
<p>Yeah, I could let it run, say, overnight, to see if the bookmarks would eventually populate. The weird thing is the other machine hangs on 154 bookmarks.
</p><p>I found another user experiencing this days ago at Reddit, thinking it's the large file (but it seems file size is not completely the issue -- 154 bookmarks should not leave Firefox hanging, and neither myself nor the other person complaining has ever had this problem after years of using FF):
</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/kqst5w/restoring_a_38mb_bookmarksjson_file_crashes/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/kqst5w/restoring_a_38mb_bookmarksjson_file_crashes/</a>
</p>