Upgrading OS10.4 / Need to archive bookmarks tonight / having no luck finding info
I've been searching all evening and trying various options, but don't think I have this figured out, and wonder if anyone could help. I have an AM appt. to bring my computer in for an upgrade and would like to have my bookmarks archived first. (Mac OS10.4 / Firefox 3.6.25)
I found this info in another thread, and was able to follow it almost all the way through, save for the last part:
"Start at the USERS FOLDER (the one with your name on it) then LIBRARY then APPLICATION SUPPORT then FIREFOX then PROFILES then the folder .DEFAULT you should see files labelled BOOKMARKS and a folder labelled BOOKMARKBACKUPS you will see .html and .json files within this. Select an .html file and an appropriate date, open it in Firefox to check. Now go back to Firefox and click through bookmarks-organise bookmarks-restore-choose file and search for and select the file you just found."
When I click on the BOOKMARKBACKUPS folder, there are only .json files inside - no html. There was one bookmark.html file on the same level as the BOOKMARKBACKUPS folder, and when I opened it, it looked like an info page.
I did highlight, in turn, each of the .json files and under FILE, chose ARCHIVE and moved them to my external harddrive, but I'm not sure if I truly backed up the bookmarks. Appreciate any help.
Cheers, Debra
כל התגובות (13)
As an extra precaution, you can also do the following:
- Export your bookmarks to HTML format. See: Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks. This is not as full featured as the JSON format (for example, the HTML format doesn't have tags you've applied to bookmarks) but provides a safety.
- Make a copy of your entire currently active profile folder. This would include the places.sqlite database, which is the file which contains your bookmarks while you're using them in Firefox. It also contains saved passwords and various other data you might later want. See: Recovering important data from an old profile.
Thanks for the reply jscher -
I had checked out the Export to HTML link previously, but must be my old version of Firefox doesn't have what's required in step 1:
"1) On the menu bar, click Bookmarks and select Show All Bookmarks to open the Library window."
There is no "show all bookmarks" under BOOKMARKS menu, so don't know how to open the 'Library window'.
I located the places.sqlite file and made a copy to archive to my ext. HD - is this all I need to do?
On Firefox 3.6, can you find something like Organize Bookmarks? Honestly, it's very hard to remember at this point.
I took a couple screen shots...maybe found what I need. From the Bookmarks menu, I opened "Organize Bookmarks" (pic) and clicked on the star button with the circular arrows, it shows a "backup, restore, import, export" option. (pic)
With the 'All Bookmarks' in the left column highlighted, I chose 'Backup' and a window popped up to save a JSON file. I saved that to my ext. HD. Not sure if what I did was correct though.
JSON is the most complete, but I suggest also doing an export to HTML as a safety in case the JSON file gets corrupted.
Use Export HTML... as in the 2nd screenshot, to get the HTML version of your bookmarks.
OK - did the "export HTML" to my ext. HD.
I saved the exported files from the bookmarks list itself, as well as finding files under: Library/App.Support/Firefox/Profiles/xxx.default/bookmarkbackups. and a couple others. (screenshot ) Hopefully I'm covered - hate to think of losing 7 years of bookmarks. Thanks!
I have a 10:45 AM appt. with Apple, and will need my beauty sleep. ;) Before I log off....is there anything else you recommend I should archive? I b/u iCal, Safrai & Firefox Bookmarks, and keychain.
Many thanks for all your assistance - you guys rock! :)
Make sure that the HTML backup that you created has a .html file extension or you might get problems with using this file to restore the bookmarks.
You may want to consider to backup saved passwords (signons.sqlite and key3.db) and saved form data (formhistory.sqlite) and other sqlite database files that you consider important.
See:
I rescheduled the appt. to Sunday (today) as I realized I had more to do than I realized last night. Thanks, cor-el for the reply. Hmmm. Now I'm confused, re: the HTML info. All the backups created for the bookmarks have a JSON file ext. One saved with an HTML ext. (see screen shot in above post marked 3:21 AM)
Everything else on the HD was copied and moved to the external HD.
I'll have to ask the Apple guys about it when I go tomorrow. I have a design to whip out tonight for a Tuesday class in case I don't have this up & running by then.
Thanks again
If the backup has a .json file extension then it is probably not an HTML, but a JSON backup.
A JSON backup starts with: {"title":"","id":1,"dateAdded":
An HTML backup starts with: <!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
Rescheduled appt. @ Apple again as I'm concerned there is more I need to do and haven't done.... feeling a bit over my head. I don't understand a lot of what I'm reading and some of it doesn't seem to pertain to this old system (or it may be because I don't understand it)
Hi digdzine, I think if you have created a backup (JSON format) and an export (HTML) format, and you also have a copy of places.sqlite just in case, then you have what you need. You would only need to open up the files in a text editor and look at the contents if you have a problem restoring the backup or importing the exported HTML file. Hopefully you won't have any problems with those steps.