Bookmark lost
Suddenly one day, I found that many of my bookmarks on the same website are lost. These bookmarks are in one (default name) folder under a folder. I guess it was caused by a firefox upgrade.
தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது
Well, there is one more place you could look for older bookmark backups.
Finding/Using Shadow Copies
You can use a utility program to search inside restore points to try to locate an old file that's usable. (Please do NOT try to use the built-in Windows System Restore for this because you would lose too much data.) Here are the steps:
(1) Set Windows to show hidden files and folders:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files
(2) Download and run one of these two programs:
- ShadowExplorer: http://www.shadowexplorer.com/
- System Restore Explorer: http://nicbedford.co.uk/software/systemrestoreexplorer/
Within the oldest restore point shown in the program, you can explore along this path to see whether you can find a shadow copy of your profile:
\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
(3) Check in the bookmarkbackups folder for older backups. You can export interesting files to a convenient location such as your currently live desktop. Then you can use my converter to view their contents.
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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.
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
Thank you very much for letting me know that bookmarks have backup capabilities. Unfortunately, I don't know if I have this feature when it is lost. It has now exceeded 15 times. But still thank you. Also, I hope mozilla can solve the problem of lost bookmarks.
Hi aeouxy, you think the bookmarks were lost more than 15 days ago? I suggest making a backup copy of one or two of your older files just in case. Here's how:
You can open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
- (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table on the page, click the "Open Folder" button.
That should pop up a File Explorer window showing a bunch of Firefox settings files and folders.
Double-click into the bookmarkbackups folder.
Right-click the oldest file and choose Copy
Click into another folder that Firefox doesn't touch, such as Documents, and paste the file there.
To view the file contents, you can use my converter page to generate an HTML version (web page) with clickable links for your bookmarks. Then you can see whether it has the missing items.
Converter page: https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/bookbackreader.html
aeouxy said
Also, I hope mozilla can solve the problem of lost bookmarks.
I don't think we have a good understanding of how they got deleted in the first place, so it's hard to know whether it is a fixable problem.
If you want to increase the number of bookmark backups that Firefox keeps in case it takes a long time to notice a problem, there is a setting for that:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste book and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the browser.bookmarks.max_backups preference to display a small dialog where you can change the default value of 15 to something higher, like 30, then click OK
Also, one thing that sometimes happens is that you are moving a bookmark into a folder and you accidentally move the whole folder into another one. Something else to look into.
hi~ jscher2000 sorry my english is poor We misunderstood, not lost more than 15 days ago. My real meaning is that my bookmark loss occurred a few months ago, but bookmarks only saves 15 times, So can't be retrieved. And thank you very much for telling me I can change how many times save . Should I click on "Solved the problem" now?
தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது
Well, there is one more place you could look for older bookmark backups.
Finding/Using Shadow Copies
You can use a utility program to search inside restore points to try to locate an old file that's usable. (Please do NOT try to use the built-in Windows System Restore for this because you would lose too much data.) Here are the steps:
(1) Set Windows to show hidden files and folders:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files
(2) Download and run one of these two programs:
- ShadowExplorer: http://www.shadowexplorer.com/
- System Restore Explorer: http://nicbedford.co.uk/software/systemrestoreexplorer/
Within the oldest restore point shown in the program, you can explore along this path to see whether you can find a shadow copy of your profile:
\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
(3) Check in the bookmarkbackups folder for older backups. You can export interesting files to a convenient location such as your currently live desktop. Then you can use my converter to view their contents.
Once all of your data is recovered,
Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.{web link} I use an add-on that makes backups of my user profile, Just In Case. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the current Firefox.
Every now and then, open the profile folder and create a copy of the current profile as is to another location on your hard drive. This way you will have a backup.
If you do this each day, you will not lose much data. This should be done with Firefox Closed.
Note: In case you need to restore from these backups, you may need to overwrite old or corrupted files.
jscher2000 said
Well, there is one more place you could look for older bookmark backups. Finding/Using Shadow Copies You can use a utility program to search inside restore points to try to locate an old file that's usable.
thanks very much!