Hi Jim, it looks like something pretty drastic happened around Halloween. Coincidence?

I assume you have done at least one shutdown/restart of your Mac since this problem began, just to make sure there are no accumulated file locks on Firefox data files.

Could you let us know what you get when you run the "Verify Integrity" function. That's here:

Open Firefox's Troubleshooting Information page using any of these methods:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > More Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > More Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter/Return

Near the bottom, there is a section titled Places Database -- that's the file which stores history and bookmarks. Click the button labeled Verify Integrity. There may be a 10-15 second delay before results appear.

If all is well, the report that appears below the button should start with:

> Task: checkIntegrity
+ The places.sqlite database is sane
+ The favicons.sqlite database is sane

Does yours say that, or something else? You can select and copy the report, and then paste it into a reply for review and comment.

If errors are reported with "Verify Integrity", close and restart Firefox or reboot and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

• keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created

You lose the history when a new places.sqlite is created.

See also:

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-bookmarks-and-history-will-not-be-functional

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.

• Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
  Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

Thank you jscher2000 for your quick reply. I followed your instructions for the 'verify integrity' and I did not get the response you noted. I have attached the report for your observation. Thanks again, JimC

Hi Jim, it's weird that there is nothing more on the second line. For example, the report sometimes mentions a corrupted disk image or other specific issue.

Do you currently have your bookmarks on the menu even though you cannot add to them, or are they missing at this point?

All my bookmarks are missing. I went to restore them to an earlier date and that did not work...I ended up losing all of them, and on my desktop is a folder 'old Firefox data'. As you noted before, this goes back to around Oct 2020. At that time, the only thing that changed on my computer was adding AdBlock to the browser (since got rid of it) and I don't know how long after that I could not add / edit bookmarks. In addition, my history will not change or clear.

I'm not the most computer savvy person but at this point would it make more sense to uninstall Firefox and then reinstall?

Once again, thanks for your time and help, it's much appreciated!

Jim

Hi Jim, you can start from scratch in a new profile, and bring over a little of your data. However, I'm not sure about the missing bookmarks considering how long it's been.

Creating a New Profile

Each Firefox profile is an independent settings folder.

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

Click the "Create a New Profile" button, then click Next. Assign a name like May2021, ignore the option to relocate the profile folder, and click the Finish button.

Scroll down to May2021 and click its Launch profile in new browser button. (This will be your default profile at the next startup.)

Firefox should open a new window that looks like a brand new, uncustomized installation. (Your existing Firefox window(s) should not be affected.) If you connect to your Firefox Account, you can at least Sync what is in the account now.

Cross-Restoring a bookmark backup

On the about:profiles page, under your older profile, on the Root Directory row, click the Show in Finder (or Open Folder) button. Double-click into the bookmarkbackups folder. Then find a file you want to restore in the new profile and copy/paste it to your MacOS desktop. This will make it easier to find when you use Restore from the May2021 profile. At the bottom of the menu click Choose File... to pop up Finder, and point it to the desktop.