Hi Lajoes,

Our team has been trying to reproduce this bug (see bug1963549). Would you maybe able to help us with this? Maybe by sharing a screencast of the issue?

Thanks!

See, no bookmark pane. Just a full screen with the "new" iddy, biddy, sidebar with icons.

Do you by chance, set Firefox to automatically delete history on exit?

As a test, could you switch back to the old sidebar style (the one that did not have a launcher column)? Here's how:

On the Settings page, slowly type side into the tiny search box to filter the listed settings. This should bring the "Browser Layout" section to the top.

Un-check (clear) the checkbox for "Show sidebar". That should remove the launcher.

Then press Ctrl+B to open the classic Bookmarks Sidebar.

Does that one stick around if you have it open in at least one window when you exit Firefox?

jscher2000 - I unchecked that box and did the ctl + B and the bookmarks pane opened.

Then I did the following before closing/opening that FF window: I opened a second window with FF and the bookmark pane was not there. It was the new version without it.

Then I closed both of those windows with FF and only opened one, and the bookmarks were not there.

........then I verified that that box in settings was still unchecked, then I rebooted.

Repeated the steps: verified that the settings was still unchecked, hit ctl + B and the bookmark pane opened. This time, I did not open a second window with FF. I just closed that one window then reopened FF. The bookmark pane was not there, just the new ribbon.

Hmm, I don't know why the settings change is not sticking. There is an old article on possible reasons, but if this is the only issue, I wouldn't do anything drastic: How to fix preferences that won't save.

For Kiki -- I have always had FF set to "use private browsing mode" with no other boxes checked. So, to answer your question, no, FF do not automatically delete history on exit.

Hi lajoes, our team hasn't been able to get to the bottom of this issue. Can you please try to click the new sidebar toolbar button, click the bookmarks button from the sidebar (the star icon), and let us know if you can see the bookmarks sidebar?

I've had the same problem - as lajoes said, since the latest update 1380.1 - and I have to clik on the 'underline star' every time I boot up. Never used to 'need to do that', it remained for 'Years'. I finally found how to REMOVE the 'bookmarks sidebar tool column', but the check-box DOES NOT say "tool column" - only says "show sidebar", which is Un-Informative as to the function of that button. I still want the "Automatic bookmark display" that I used to have. It's a PITA to do the C-B strokes OR clik the Underline star to get the bookmarks. The only good thing is they stay visible on every tab I open.

SOLVED FOR ME - Back again because after I've posted my own question and commenting here with the 'partial solution' for Removing that 'useless' (to me) Tool sidebar. I still had to clik on the Underline-star to get the Bookmark List. After doing all this, I closed and went grocering. A few hours later I re-started my laptop and 'All is WELL' - My Bookmarks all 'Auto-appear' when I started FF. I closed and opened FF a couple times to confirm it's Good. So we'll see if this lasts a few days before I 'relax'. Lajoes, maybe if you try the steps I followed yours will 'reappear'  ;-)

HA ! One more time . . . I shut down the pc and did stuff for 3-4 hours again. Logged in and now Bookmarks DO NOT show automatically, AGAIN. I can open and close FF and they will 're-appear' when I re-start FF, but it seems if I shut down the pc it doesn't work now ! At least if I clik Ctrl-B I can get them to show. Still Waiting and Hoping for a "Real Solution".

I can open and close FF and they will 're-appear' when I re-start FF, but it seems if I shut down the pc it doesn't work now !

Do you use any external programs that might "clean" browser data when you start the system? Maybe CCleaner or Advanced System Care?

Well, I see misery likes company. Problem still persist. I am running Win11 Pro, version 24H2.

I have been using CCleaner for decades, and prior versions of it have never bothered FF.

Kiki - see attached image for your question.

I saw a note that suggests removing one of Firefox's settings files. It's a file that stores window sizes and positions, and also has information about the last sidebar. Here are the steps:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "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

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows File Explorer. (On Mac and Linux, the button is labeled a bit differently.)

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

• "3-bar" menu button > Exit
• (menu bar or Alt+F) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then:

Right-click xulstore.json then Rename to something like xulstoreOLD.json

Start Firefox back up again.

That mini-reset may hide the bookmarks toolbar and/or menu bar. To restore those, see:

• Bookmarks Toolbar - Display your favorite websites at the top of the Firefox window
• Restore the Menu bar in Firefox

Response to jscher2000 - I tried removing that file, "xulstore.json" and two things happened when I restarted FF:

     1.  The file was recreated with a file size of 1kb instead of the original 4kb. 
     2. The sidebar still wasn't there.

Yes, the purpose of recreating that file is to get rid of a problem setting that HOPEFULLY will not be saved at the next shutdown.

Not sure of what you are saying jscher2000. After I renamed the original file and shut my laptop down and rebooted, that is what happened. FF had recreated that file, but it was only 1kb instead of the original 4kb file size.

Then I deleted that version (the 1kb) and inserted a copy from a back-up profile from Dec '23.

Same issue.

No sidebar.

Renaming the file sets the display back to the default. The idea is that you then set it the way you want (sidebar open) and Firefox hopefully goes back to working the way it did before Firefox 138 (correctly storing the last status of the sidebar between sessions).

I made sure the sidebar was showing when I shut down. That is how I noticed there was no change.

Okay, I missed that step. You tested this:

• Turn off Show sidebar on the Settings page
• Close Firefox and rename xulstore.json
• Start Firefox, open Bookmarks Sidebar using Ctrl+B
• Close Firefox, cross fingers, open Firefox

I'm not aware of any other workarounds at the moment.