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Firefox will not save bookmark or json file. Refresh didn't help.

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  • 4 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Technofile

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I am unable to get Firefox (43.0.4) to export my bookmark or json file. The files are NOT created.

I've tried refreshing my profile, but that didn't help. While I realize that there is a places maintenance extension, I'd like to know what is causing this issue and to find a permanent solution as I backup my data files quite regularly. I can see the places.sqlite file, so I know it's there.

I've not seen this issue before and would appreciate any advice or suggestions on why this happened (corruption?) and how to fix it !

Many thanks.

I am unable to get Firefox (43.0.4) to export my bookmark or json file. The files are NOT created. I've tried refreshing my profile, but that didn't help. While I realize that there is a places maintenance extension, I'd like to know what is causing this issue and to find a permanent solution as I backup my data files quite regularly. I can see the places.sqlite file, so I know it's there. I've not seen this issue before and would appreciate any advice or suggestions on why this happened (corruption?) and how to fix it ! Many thanks.

All Replies (5)

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You can select what you want to backup from the Febe options page. What To Backup > Backup Type.

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That is what I've done. I created a history.json file from my corrupted profile.

Perhaps my choice of FEBE wording could have been clearer. Let me try again.

How does FEBE then allow me to SELECTIVELY RESTORE just one file, such as history? All the documentation seems to be about creating an ENTIRE replacement profile.

FEBE will not let me restore to an active profile, which is in use. While it will restore the history file, as soon as I restart FF, it reverts back to today's history only.

I can open FEBE in another profile, select the history.json but it won’t let me then RESTORE this into another profile, e.g. my primary profile. (the way windows allow one to work with user accounts)

I see no way to delay FEBE from RESTORING this file until FF is shut down.

So isn’t there some way to integrate the new history file into the places.sqlite file without having to go through the process of creating an entire new profile just to recover (RESTORE) this one file?

Modified by Technofile

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Press the arrow next to the Febe icon. Select Restore, then look for what you want to restore. Note: whatever you restore will overwrite the current.

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You can open the FEBE sub menu in Tools and look in the Restore menu (Tools > FEBE > Restore).

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FredMcD said

Press the arrow next to the Febe icon. Select Restore, then look for what you want to restore. Note: whatever you restore will overwrite the current.

cor-el said

You can open the FEBE sub menu in Tools and look in the Restore menu (Tools > FEBE > Restore).

Yes, I did that now several times. I RESTORED the previous history file from a corrupt profile. I saw the new history menu appear in FF. And each time I shut down FF and re-opened it, here is what I noticed:

- - It took a good five minutes for my profile to open the next time. (Literally, five minutes.) In Task Manager, FF was indicated, but taking up much less memory and CPU usage than usual. It increases slowly until it finally opened a good five minutes later.

- - A few times, FF crashed on re-opening.

- - As soon as FF re-opens, ALL these history file changes were GONE. All that remained was a single history listing of today with just this session’s activity in it. I had to try it several times before I could finally get the history changes to stick.

So initially this led me to believe that FEBE is unable to write to an open session. (Just like one can’t modify a User Profile from within that same User Profile.) I then tried to open FEBE in ANOTHER profile and RESTORE this history file to my main user profile. (As one does with User Profiles.) It can’t do that. I also could not delay the writing of these changes until AFTER FF shut down.

All the FEBE documentation is about restoring an ENTIRE profile, not about RESTORING a single item. And it explains that one needs to recover to a new profile. So again, that misled me to think it could not recover a single file to a profile that is open.

I’m still surprised that there is no way to combine or consolidate history file info. So if I can recover the previous history that I’ve lost, I can’t add it to the current history file. So unless one discovers corruption right away, there is always going to be lost data.

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