Restore Bookmark Backups

Firefox automatically makes backups of the bookmarks. These are stored in the bookmarkbackups folder.

Open the Bookmarks Manager; Press the Alt or F10 key to bring up the toolbar, and select Bookmarks. Hot key is <Control> (Mac=<Command>) <Shift> B. Firefox 84+ <Control> (Mac=<Command>) <Shift> O.

Once the window is open, at the top of the page, press the button labeled Import and Backup. Select Restore. From the list, pick the file you want and click it.

The backups are stored in a jsonlz4 file named something like this; bookmarks-2016-06-29_1424_enD1GTH ya0JmicnYWg4V4g==.jsonlz4

In this example; 2016-06-29 = date created 1424 = number of entries.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-lost-or-missing-bookmarks

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/forum-response-recover-bookmarks-after-update

Thankyou for the advice you posted to me. Unfortunately this hasn't solved the problem.

It was back in August 2021 that I clicked an option to update Firefox settings. It said that my bookmarks would remain. However after the update these bookmarks had disappeared from view but I did see an icon on my desktop saying "Old Firefox data". (I'll come back to that method later.)

Meanwhile following your directions - when I clicked on "Restore" in the bookmarks toolbar that you mentioned - the earliest date listed that I could click on was 28th December 2021 (saying 119 items) but I was mindfull that this was some 4 months after the old forefox data was lost last back in August.

I did try clicking the 28th December option but a warning appeared saying "This will replace all of your current bookmarks with the back up. Are you sure ?"

Was I right to refrain from clicking on to this as it specified "current"bookmarks - whereas I want the older bookmarks returned. Scrolling further down just below the "28th December" option there was an option marked "choose a file". When I clicked on that a new page appeared headed "Select bookmarks backup." Various options were on this page including for example "bookmarks-2019-02-21 json".

But when I clicked on that the message appears "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. PLease install a program - - - or create an association in the default program control panel".

Meanwhile if I click on the desktop icon which says "Old firefox data" then 2 lines appear. The 1st line says "K2 7fvr49.default." The 2nd line below says "tuta7e15.default-1484233788037".

If I click on either of these then a list of some 20 lines appear . The top line says : "bookmarks-2016-12-02-48ctpf3wn11th (jsonL24) File 7kb.

The other 19 lines have a similar wordage.

If I left click on thatfirst line then "Media Classic" appears but saying "cannot render the file". If I right click & try opening it with a different system then that same message as before comes up ie "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. PLease install a program - - - or create an association in the default program control panel".

That last message seems to come up all the time. Is there a program i need to install ? I've tried everything from VCR to win rar to WMA butthat same message comes up with each one.

Given that it took just 1 click to update Firefox back in August (& remove my bookmarks unwittingly) surely there must be a simple method to restore them.

Thankyou Philip

The jsonlz4 file is a data file that can only be opened by Firefox, or whatever program created it.

"This will replace all of your current bookmarks with the backup.

Unless you have something in the Bookmarks Manager that you added after the backup, it would be okay to replace the file.

Note: Every now and then, you should create a bookmarks backup in an HTML file This file can be opened in a Word-type program as well as most browsers.

You can use this tool to inspect a compressed jsonlz4 bookmarks backup file.

• https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/bookbackreader.html

The name of an automatically created JSON bookmarks backup in the bookmarkbackups folder includes a total item count (folders and separators included) and an hash value to prevent saving the same backup more than once. You also see this count in the Restore menu drop-down list.

• bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item count>_<hash>.jsonlz4.

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.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

• 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)