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Bookmarks not Syncing to Firefox Android

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Bookmarks won't sync in Firefox for Android version 33.0

I can sync Firefox among computers (XP, Vista, Windows7) and a Samsung Galaxy S4 (Verizon SCH-I545) on Android 4.4.2 and a Verizon Droid 2 Global Android 2.3.4 using one Firefox account with 885 bookmarks.

When I sync either phone with another account with 6334 bookmarks neither phone gets any of the bookmarks. The app does not even show a folder icon for Desktop bookmarks, just a few Mozilla bookmarks. If I try syncing just bookmarks I get the same thing.

I can toggle between the two account and on both phones with consistent results. To ensure a clean sync, I removed the account from the phone, cleared cache and data from the app then signed in with the other account.

I followed the procedure to access the sync log and it looks like it indicates success. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1012768 is a related question and from which I found how to turn on the sync logs.

My Chrome bookmarks sync with Chrome for android just fine.

I had not used Firefox browser for a couple years and tried it again after good reviews and and an article about casting Firefox to my Roku streaming device with Firefox Beta and then Firefox for Android 33.0. Casting works fine on both .

Note that on the Windows 7 Firefox during installation the Chrome bookmarks are identified as Imported from Firefox not from Chrome. On the Windows Vista they are in the Imported from Google Chrome folder.

Bookmarks won't sync in Firefox for Android version 33.0 I can sync Firefox among computers (XP, Vista, Windows7) and a Samsung Galaxy S4 (Verizon SCH-I545) on Android 4.4.2 and a Verizon Droid 2 Global Android 2.3.4 using one Firefox account with 885 bookmarks. When I sync either phone with another account with 6334 bookmarks neither phone gets any of the bookmarks. The app does not even show a folder icon for Desktop bookmarks, just a few Mozilla bookmarks. If I try syncing just bookmarks I get the same thing. I can toggle between the two account and on both phones with consistent results. To ensure a clean sync, I removed the account from the phone, cleared cache and data from the app then signed in with the other account. I followed the procedure to access the sync log and it looks like it indicates success. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1012768 is a related question and from which I found how to turn on the sync logs. My Chrome bookmarks sync with Chrome for android just fine. I had not used Firefox browser for a couple years and tried it again after good reviews and and an article about casting Firefox to my Roku streaming device with Firefox Beta and then Firefox for Android 33.0. Casting works fine on both . Note that on the Windows 7 Firefox during installation the Chrome bookmarks are identified as Imported from Firefox not from Chrome. On the Windows Vista they are in the Imported from Google Chrome folder.

Chosen solution

We hard-limit bookmarks to 5000, because the risk of corruption is too high. I'm afraid you'll need a different approach: cut them down, use Pinboard.in, or something else.

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All Replies (9)

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First, welcome back and thank you for posting your question. I understand that you are asking about bookmarks not syncing to two of your Android devices on 2.3 and 4.4.2. The bookmarks, after imported can be seen in the Show all bookmarks menu on the desktop.

As for the bookmarks not syncing there are two places to check: From the Sync menu in the Firefox Settings, is there a warning that Auto sync must be turned on in order to sync? Second is to check under the list of accounts on the Android device if there is a Firefox Sync Deprecated or just Firefox Sync.

Last on the Desktop, does it say you are logged in if you visit accounts.firefox.com?

If all is set up and should be syncing, we may need to capture logs, but that won't be necessary if this jump start is successful.

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Thank You for your prompt reply. There is no warning that Auto sync must be turned on, and the FIrefox account is for the Galaxy S4 phone settings simply shows Firefox. Within the Firefox app settings, it shows my email address. I am shown as signed iin at accounts.firefox.com.

Note that I have tried two email address for Firefox Sync, on with rr.com and the other with hotmail.com for the Firefox account that syncs everything to my phone except the bookmarks.

My S4 and my wife's Droid2 Global can both sync everything with her Firefox account, but with my Firefox account, on both phones, everything BUT bookmarks syncs. We do not even get the folder icon under bookmarks on the android Firefox. The difference is the number of bookmarks.

When we imported Chrome bookmarks to Firefox, the Chrome Dashboard showed 885 and 6334 bookmarks for her account and mine. I then imported all the Chrome bookmarks to Internet Explorer and tallied the Favorites and got 4790. I don't know why their is a difference, nonethheless my firefox bookmarks total is several times that of hers.

I have the "success" log I get when the bookmarks DO NOT sync but it won't attach even though it is a .txt file that I can read easily.

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It's not clear from the above what exactly the original poster did that solved the problem. I Deleted and recreated my Firefox account and can sync between my Windows 7 PC and my old MacBook running OS X Snow Leopard, but no matter what I do, I never see any of my bookmarks on my Samsung Galaxy S4.

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I was having a similar problem - not getting my PC bookmarks on my Galaxy 4. ON the Galaxy, I went to Settings, Accounts, and selected Firefox. At the bottom of the screen was a bar that said "Sync all". I tapped it. When I returned to Firefox bookmark list, "Desktop Bookmarks" was listed. And it works.

I hate having to stumble around to get things to work. It seems that the "intuitive" thing to do would be to have specific instructions set up in the first place as to how to assure things work.

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I tried that and it didn't work for me. I have a valid Firefox account that syncs successfully between my Windows PC and my Macbook. All I see in my Bookmarks page is "Firefox Home", "Firefox:About your browser", "Firefox: Customize with Add-ons","Firefox Marketplace", and "Firefox: support".

How do I get under the covers and look at logs or something so I can diagnose this?

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If I haven't been cleared from my comments on this query which I started, my Galaxy S4 DOES sync PERFECTLY with my Firefox account, but only when there is a smaller number of books marks to sync. With the smaller number of bookmarks, the android Firefox displays a folder icon under Bookmarks with all the desktop bookmarks.

However, if on that same phone, I try to sync an account with a much larger number of bookmarks, the android app does NOT show the folder icon under bookmarks. I can reproduce the problem on a Motorola Droid2 Global.

It therefore seems it is not specific to the Galaxy S4, nor the Motorola Droid 2 Global, and BOTH have the same problem: Sync a desktop account with 6334 bookmarks and the android app shows no folder or bookmarks. Sync a desktop account with 885 bookmarks and the android app does indeed show a folder with all the bookmarks.

The only difference between syncing bookmarks or not is the number of bookmarks. With a lesser number, both phones do sync perfectly, It appears to be a capacity limit, I suspect buried in the code. Of course, that is only a suspicion, but I can reproduce it at will on either device or make it go away by syncing an account with a smaller set of bookmarks.

In answer to a previous response: As for the bookmarks not syncing there are two places to check: From the Sync menu in the Firefox Settings, is there a warning that Auto sync must be turned on in order to sync?

No, there is no warning.


Second is to check under the list of accounts on the Android device if there is a Firefox Sync Deprecated or just Firefox Sync.

Neither: Under Accounts, I see just Firefox. If I tap that I see the account and under Sync Options "Configure Sync" which takes me back to the app where I previously verified the sync account.

Last on the Desktop, does it say you are logged in if you visit accounts.firefox.com?

Yes, it shows that I am logged in with the account that is sync'd to on the Android device. If I use the Mozilla accounts to test the sync, I see the proper account shown here.

Thanks for your consideration.

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Suluhisho teule

We hard-limit bookmarks to 5000, because the risk of corruption is too high. I'm afraid you'll need a different approach: cut them down, use Pinboard.in, or something else.

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Of course, and thank you for the answers. I just got confirmation that the limit for bookmarks is a hard 5000. This would explain it, right on par!

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Thanks for your answer about the limit of 5000. I had both the standard Firefox and Beta, the latter on which I reduced the number of bookmarks below the limit of 5000, but did not see any of them on the android Beta. I uninstalled the Beta version.

However, the standard android Firefox version 34.0.1 somehow has ALL of my Chrome bookmarks, more than the limit. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I want to thank the volunteer developers for clearing the problem. I will be using Firefox on all my devices. Thank You.