Hi Jonnyride, Thank you for your question, I am sorry to hear that all of the history disappeared after Firefox updated. It is possible to check to see if the profile that you had before still has entries in the places.sqlite file, however if they are not showing up, they may no longer be there.

To prevent this in the future Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles

Bookmark / History Backups

Type about:support<Enter> in the address bar.

Under the page logo on the left side you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To it’s right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile. Now Close Firefox.

Enter the bookmarkbackups folder. This is where Firefox makes backups of your bookmarks. Look for the jsonlz4 file you want to restore (check the time / date / size). Right click on that file and select Copy. Now go back to the profile folder where you started. Rename the file places.sqlite by adding .old to it. Now right click in the folder and select Paste. The file you just pasted here, rename it to places.sqlite. After you are done, restart Firefox.

These can't get your data back, but will help in the future.

These add-ons can be a great help by backing up and restoring Firefox

FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) {web link} FEBE allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions, history, passwords, and more. In fact, it goes beyond just backing up -- It will actually rebuild your saved files individually into installable .xpi files. It will also make backup of files that you choose.

OPIE {web link} Import/Export extension preferences

Thank you Fred McD, I just followed your instructions. Seemed to have recovered bookmarks. I noticed the file I used for backup (****.jsonlz4) was 131K before renaming and replacing the places.sqlite file (which was 10.5Mb originally). After pasting it in and renaming it, opening firefox, seeing still no history, and then closing, the new places.sqlite was also 10.5MB. I opened the .old version with text edit, and it appears to me to have the history. Lots and lots of text, so it's a little hard to be sure, but it sure looks like it to me. I can see the bookmarks in there too. If the history data is in there, but FF doesn't load it, any ideas why not??

I have a places.sqlite.corrupt at about 1.8MB in the library too; not sure if that means anything.

Thanks, Jon

Check your settings. You may have told Firefox to delete your history.

Type about:preferences#privacy <Enter> in the address bar.

The button next to History, select Use Custom Settings.

Turn on; Remember my browsing and download history

At the bottom of the page, turn on Clear History When Firefox Closes. At the far right, press the Settings button. Turn on ONLY Cache and Form And Search History leaving the others off.

Check your add-ons for anything that removes history.

Some added toolbar and anti-virus add-ons are known to cause Firefox issues. Disable All of them.

Check the programs on your computer. Anti-virus and disk cleaners are among those programs that will remove browser history.

If you use the Time Machine then try to restore the places.sqlite file from that backup.

• http://www.apple.com/support/timemachine/

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile

Thanks again, I checked my settings and they were as you indicated except Browsing and Download History and Cookies were also checked. This wasn't the case before the upgrade, so I can't figure out how they got switched on.

Unchecked, restarted, but still no history. If the data is in there, how can I get firefox to load it?

I tried the 'reset Firefox', but that seems a mistake. Now I have a new profile, still no history, and had to go back and change all my preferences.

Tried installing an older version (31) also; same result. Any ideas?

I don't use Time Machine. I do have a couple months old backup available, but the problem doesn't seem to be the available file, it's Firefox doesn't load the data. I'm sure there's something simple missing, but can't figure out what.

Thanks, Jon

Bookmark / History Backups

Note: you need to find the file in the Old Firefox folder on your desktop, and copy it to your new profile.

Type about:support<Enter> in the address bar.

Under the page logo on the left side you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To it’s right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile. Now Close Firefox.

Enter the bookmarkbackups folder. This is where Firefox makes backups of your bookmarks. Look for the jsonlz4 file you want to restore (check the time / date / size). Right click on that file and select Copy. Now go back to the profile folder where you started. Rename the file places.sqlite by adding .old to it. Now right click in the folder and select Paste. The file you just pasted here, rename it to places.sqlite. After you are done, restart Firefox.

Firefox does automatically backup your bookmarks, for the last 15 days that you used Firefox, but it doesn't backup browsing history. Without having had the Time Machine enabled, your browsing history is gone.

"I have a places.sqlite.corrupt at about 1.8MB in the library too; not sure if that means anything."

What's the date / time stamp on that file? Does the date / time coincide with the date / time the latest update was installed?