Are you using Sync to sync the bookmarks with other devices?

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database file in the Firefox profile folder.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file

I am using sync.

Can you be more specific about what problems I should be looking for exactly in those files and what I should do should I find a problem? Neither of your links described my problem. I've already backed up, wiped, and tried to restore my bookmarks only to restore the duplicates.

If you are using Sync then that could be the cause of the problems.

In that case it would be best to disable Sync temporarily (i.e. unlink your computer) and delete the places.sqlite to force Firefox to create a new file or see if you otherwise can repair the bookmarks.

If not all bookmarks are restored properly then try to restore them manually from an older JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

• Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Restore > Choose File

After you have verified that the bookmarks are working (and keep working) properly then you can reconnect again to the Sync account to see if it keeps working.

I was afraid you'd say that.

Only, you can't tell from the screenshot I've got MANY many bookmarks and to restore them manually will really take time. This problem has been persisting for months, so an older backup (if I still have one) before the duplicates will be woefully out of date.

(

Any idea what caused it? I synced it to a work computer, my kindle, and an adroid phone. I was hoping that you know...it would work fine without glitches. :(

You can see the number of bookmarks in a JSON backup file as part of the file name (xxxx in bookmarks-####-##-##_xxxx.json), so take the one with the largest number if there are differences.

• Bug 812348 - Firefox Sync duplicating and scrambling bookmarks & folders

Please do not comment in bug reports
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html

Sorry this will not be good news.

Any idea what caused it? I synced it to a work computer, my kindle, and an adroid phone. I was hoping that you know...it would work fine without glitches. :( 

Sync has proved to be far from perfect.

Backup your profile. That way you preserve any bookmarks and automated backups that still exist. These are likely to change with time and any restore attempts. Doing that now may just help IF you still have an uncorrupted, duplicate free file on the System

• Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles

In future consider making regular manual backups of the profile or at least the bookmarks

• Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer_manual-backup

If the problem of duplicated bookmarks has only just occurred in the last couple of days or so you may have a usable backup without duplicated bookmarks.

The manual restore method mentioned by cor-el is automated and quick. It does not require you to enter bookmarks individually. Did you follow cor-el's link to #Rebuild_Places_database

Note that then suggests use of an addon https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/places-maintenance/ not only does that attempt to fix the database, it is also able to produce a short text report log on the state of the database. Having mentioned that I should unfortunately also add it probably will not help, as I do not believe it attempts to remove duplicated bookmarks, added by sync.

I certainly have noticed a quite few unexplained problems being reported on the forum by users of sync, including numerous reports of duplicated bookmarks. (e.g.) There may well be a few mainly unconfirmed bugs open trackerMaybe things will improve with the Firefox Accounts in Fx29 in a few days time.

• Sync your Firefox bookmarks, history, passwords and more

Given the problems with Sync it is probably worth also making your own manual backups of bookmarks so that you are not over reliant on a system that may not have proved to be totally problem free.

Sorry I just noticed you said the problem has been going on for months.

Long slog but you may find you can delete the duplicates if you delete them using the Bookmarks library rather than just using the bookmarks star.

A potentially easier method try this addon

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/bookmark-deduplicator/

Thank you guys for helping me understand the problem, if not truly fix it (easily). :)

Did you try the addon ? If it works it may be worth recommending for others to try.

No, the bookmark duplicator add-on did not work. It did not recognize any of my bookmarks as duplicates. (Also, when I tried it I realized I had already tried this add-on a few weeks ago and forgot.)

If the problem is with the places.sqlite file being corrupted then the bookmarks aren't duplicates (you wrote that removing one did remove both) then the only thing that will help is to repair the places.sqlite database file or delete the file and let Firefox create a new file.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox

Hi all. I had duplicates of the "Bookmarks Menu" and "Bookmarks Toolbar" folders, with all booksmarks duplicated underneath these. Here's what worked for me. (This is mostly a rehash of information from above, simplified.) 1.) Disable sync on desktop computer and phone 2.) Backup my bookmarks (Show All Bookmarks>Import and Backup>Export Bookmarks to HTML) 3.) Delete all the bookmarks under these folders. Now you'll be left with the duplicate folders I mention above, with no bookmarks in them. 4.) Shut down Firefox 5.) Go into profile directory and delete everything beginning with "places.sqlite." 6.) Restart Firefox 7.) Now I have no duplicate directories. Success! 8.) Import bookmarks saved above with Show All Bookmarks>Import and Backup>Import Bookmarks from HTML).

Thanks for everyone's help with this!