Booksmarks in firefox on xp system vs windows 7 totally different?
I had been working on a XP windows system, using firefox and having no complaints until I was forced to change systems, and found myself with a windows 7 system (which I hate). I normally think of myself as pretty computer savvy, but this window 7 has me all turned around and confused, so pardon if the question is dumb.
I had , on my XP system in firefox, all my bookmarks, stored in handy folders that were always viewable at the top of the browser along with my menus. They were heavily used this way. I backed up my profile and book marks before the switch.
I went through the steps to copy my old bookmark file onto my new one. It looks like the history stuff came over, but I can't view the bookmarks. Is the functionality of the bookmarks different in xp vs windows 7? Do they work differently, How can I restore to see my various folders with bookmarks.
Thank you in advance.
Isisombululo esikhethiwe
Did you backup the bookmarks in Firefox or did you backup files in the Firefox profile folder?
If you export the bookmarks in Firefox to an HTML file then make sure that this file has a .html file extension.
Which files and folders did you copy (backup) from the old Windows XP computer setup?
XP:
- C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
The "Application Data" folder in XP/Win2K and the "AppData" folder in Vista/Windows 7 are hidden folders.
- Use %APPDATA% in the "File name" field or make sure that you see hidden folders
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders
You can use this button to go to the Firefox profile folder:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Open Directory)
See also:
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox
All Replies (6)
hello lostgirl, nothing has changed in firefox between these 2 operating systems. for details on what you want to achieve please refer to Bookmarks Toolbar - Display your favorite websites at the top of the Firefox window.
Thanks. I guess I didn't save or import the correct thin, because when I copy and pasted my bookmarks from the previous system, the history showed up, but when I display the bookmark menu to show all bookmarks, I still have the default ones (most visited" and "getting started".
Isisombululo Esikhethiwe
Did you backup the bookmarks in Firefox or did you backup files in the Firefox profile folder?
If you export the bookmarks in Firefox to an HTML file then make sure that this file has a .html file extension.
Which files and folders did you copy (backup) from the old Windows XP computer setup?
XP:
- C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
The "Application Data" folder in XP/Win2K and the "AppData" folder in Vista/Windows 7 are hidden folders.
- Use %APPDATA% in the "File name" field or make sure that you see hidden folders
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders
You can use this button to go to the Firefox profile folder:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Open Directory)
See also:
Thank you so much for all this information. I have been doing so many different things in switching over, it is hard to remember exactly how I backed up the file. I think I copied the profile file (with all the subdirectories, rather then use the export function in firefox itself. I am just noticing now that in the profile directory I copied from my XP system there is a folder that says "bookmarkbackups" and further down the listing there is an .html file that is called "bookmarks.html". I copied and pasted the folder "bookmarkbackups" not the Html file. That may be the problem? Actually, nevermind about the .html file, that is several years old.
Inside the folder marked "bookmarkbackups there is a series of .json files.
Reading on through one of the links your sent (which I had already read, but apparently not close enough), I see that the bookmarks are not kept in the "Bookmarkbackups" folder, but in a file called "places.sqlite", if I am reading this correctly. Silly me. Let me try that.
At the moment I can not go back to my old computer to retrieve any files.
I did copy the file to the hidden Application data file in windows 7, over the existing one.
Okulungisiwe ngu lostgirl
Places.sqlite did it. Next time I will read more carefully. Silly me to assume "bookmarksbackups" was the folder that contained the bookmarks. Thanks for your help. I really needed them for the work I needed to complete.
You can restore the bookmarks from a JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.
- Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Restore > Choose File
If you copy the JSON backups to the bookmarkbackups folder and remove existing JSON backup, so you only leave the ones from the other computer AND delete the places.sqlite file then Firefox will rebuild the places.sqlite database file automatically from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.