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lost bookmarks and tabs

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

philipgperry
philipgperry
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I clicked to accept the latest Firefox add on which stated "all my bookmarks and tabs will be saved". They have all disappeared. If i click on the "old firebox data" on my desktop surely that should produce all the bookmarks and tabs. But no. Instead it brings up 2 file names with indecipherable titles. eg one begins "tula7e15.". And if you click on that you get just another set of technical titles like "saved telemetry-pings" or "features". And if you click on these it then says "file empty".

The same thing happens if I click on "Restore" or "Profile" ie it just leads me to a set of nonesense categories with nothing there. So surely there must be a simple way of restoring my bookmark titles ( I had about 40 bookmarks) given that it only took one click to remove them when I took up the firefox add on ?

Thankyou. P.s. please suggest something simple as I am not great with computer technology. Philip

I clicked to accept the latest Firefox add on which stated "all my bookmarks and tabs will be saved". They have all disappeared. If i click on the "old firebox data" on my desktop surely that should produce all the bookmarks and tabs. But no. Instead it brings up 2 file names with indecipherable titles. eg one begins "tula7e15.". And if you click on that you get just another set of technical titles like "saved telemetry-pings" or "features". And if you click on these it then says "file empty". The same thing happens if I click on "Restore" or "Profile" ie it just leads me to a set of nonesense categories with nothing there. So surely there must be a simple way of restoring my bookmark titles ( I had about 40 bookmarks) given that it only took one click to remove them when I took up the firefox add on ? Thankyou. P.s. please suggest something simple as I am not great with computer technology. Philip

All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
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Which of the two profiles in the "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop is the most recently used profiles if you check the file dates ?

You can copy certain files with Firefox closed to the current profile folder to transfer or recover personal data. Note that best is to avoid copying a full profile folder.

  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • favicons: favicons.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (encrypted logins;32+) and key4.db (decryption key;58+) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
    key3.db support ended in 73+; to use key3.db in 58-72, make sure to remove key4.db
  • cert9.db (58+) for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • persdict.dat for words added to the spell checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

philipgperry
philipgperry Question owner
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Thankyou for getting back to me. Could you clarify : the second of the folders says 18th October 2020 (which is the date I clicked the firefox update button). It is titled "tuta default". When I click on properties it says its size 300mb. So can I not click on something which opens up the whole content (which I assume holds all my 50 bookmarks and personal tabs) and then transfer it back to my firefox page.?

Surely I dont have to transfer each mark individually ? Or is there not something I can press to get back to the original firefox page I had on Oct 18th before all this stuff was removed.

I tried system restore to an earlier date but that didnt work.

Im not very tech savy so the simpler the better to get back my material.. . . even if its just to open up the folder ?

Thanks Philip

cor-el
cor-el
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You can restore the bookmarks from a compressed .jsonlz4 backup in the bookmarkbackups folder in that second profile within the "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop.

To restore the tabs, you need to copy sessionstore.jsonlz4 from that same profile to the current profile folder with Firefox closed. For more data you can restore, see my above reply about what files you need to copy to the current profile folder.

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.