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I’ve not had much success with my online searches to learn the details about what takes place when Firefox syncs browser information across devices. To keep things simple, assume I interested only in syncing bookmarks and staying within the Firefox environment, i.e., no syncing to another browser. Please note that I am NOT asking for help in setting up Sync on different devices or in how to turn Sync on and off. Rather I am seeking help to understand what “sync” means, that is, the details of the sort of information transfers that take place between individual devices and the Firefox Sync server.

Here’s what I currently understand. After signing in to my Firefox account on Device 1, setting up syncing on that device, specifying that I want only bookmarks to be synced, and turning syncing on, the set of bookmarks on Device 1 is sent to be stored on a Firefox server. After that, whenever one is signed in to the Firefox account on Device 1 and syncing is turned on, any changes to the bookmarks on Device 1 will "automatically" (but I don't know how quickly) end up being reflected in the set of bookmarks stored on the server. Fine so far.

In addition to Device 1 I have another device, Device 2 which has not been set up for Firefox Sync. It has its own set of bookmarks. Some of them are also on Device 1, some are not. I sign into my Firefox account on Device 2 and set up syncing on it. I follow the steps for doing this in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-set-sync-my-computer, “Connect additional devices to Sync.” I then click Sync Now. OK, now what happens?

1A. Do the bookmarks in Device 2 get added to the bookmarks stored in the Firefox Sync server? 1B. Do the bookmarks NOT in Device 2 get deleted from the bookmarks stored in the Firefox Sync server?

OR

2A. Do the bookmarks stored in the Firefox Sync server get added to the bookmarks in Device 2? 2B. Do the bookmarks NOT stored in the Firefox Sync server get deleted from the bookmarks in Device 2?

After whatever transfers of bookmark between Device 2 and the Firefox Sync server take place, and assuming that I’m still signed in to my Firefox account on Device 1 and that syncing on that device is still turned on, what sort of transfers of bookmarks takes place between the new set of bookmarks stored in the Firefox Sync server and the set of bookmarks already on Device 1?

3A. Do the bookmarks then present in the Firefox Sync server get added to the bookmarks in Device 1? 3B. Do the bookmarks no longer in the Firefox Sync server get deleted from the bookmarks in Device 1?

Finally, what happens to the set of bookmarks in Device 1 and Device 2 if I’m simultaneously signed in to my Firefox account, syncing is turned on in both Devices 1 and 2, and a bookmark is a) added to either device OR b) deleted from either device?

I’m sorry this message is so long, but I’ve wanted to be clear about the things I don’t understand in regard to Firefox Sync. I’d really appreciate what anyone can say to help me clarify these points. Thanks so much.

Dear help team,

First of all, thank you for your efforts to help this community. I've been using Firefox for about a decade and this is my first question, I believe.

I recently got a new Macbook. I've installed Firefox to it (my primary browser) and want to sync Firefox to it. I have Firefox on my iMac and my iPhone. However, my password is from 2014 and I can't seem to remember it no matter how many times I try. If I choose a new password, it gives me a warning that I will lose my account information, including my bookmarks, add-ons, history, etc. I really don't want to lose that info! I have spent a long time personalizing my Firefox.

Pleeeease tell me there's some other way to sync Firefox to my new laptop (when I can't remember my super old password).

Thanks in advance for your help! Best, Jason

When using "send tab to device", the submenu previously showed all synced devices, in my case, more than 10 devices. Recently it only shows 4 devices and there is no way to access the other ones. Is this broken or is it a recent change? If so, can I revert the behavior with a preference?

Under "manage devices", I still see all of my synced devices, they just don't show up in the "send to device" submenu.

I have a question regarding syncing. Is there a way to remotely remove all synced information from Firefox on a particular PC without actually accessing it? For example, if I sync my home PC Firefox with my laptop or my work PC. Then, one day, for some reason I no longer have access to my work PC, and all of my sensitive information is there. Or if I lose my laptop, or if it is stolen... Is it possible to remove all sensitive information from a remote synced PC? Alternatively, is there a way to remove all synced information every time I close the browser? This way I can remove a particular PC in my Firefox account and once the browser is restarted at the remote location, the data will no longer be pulled and synced. Can this be done? Thanks in advance!

This all started when i wanted to use a user.js file for firefox.

I followed a youtube video to create a new profile to use the user script but I wanted to change the directory so I deleted it, made it anew and somehow the default profile file that i used was gone (I realised this only later). I think I had somehow overwritten it, but its weird because in my trashbin i did not find anything.

When asking me to login to sync I gave my password but it said it was wrong i realised I was using a vpn so i turned it off and then it worked, however then it asked me for a confirmation code from my email wich I also gave but it still refused saying it was wrong, which it wasn't!

After that I gave up and made a backup of my profiles and resetted my password still thinking I had my old profile file. My logins were gone and copying and pasting the login.json with the key4.db files from other profiles didnt give them back.

Luckily am still logged into my mobile app where i have my logins but there is now a warning sign to reconnect to resume syncronizing and Im afraid if i reconnect its going to delete my saved logins on the app instead of using them.

What do i do now? Is there a way to export all my data from the mobile app? Do I need to copy my logins one for one? Or can everything be resolved by reconnecting?

I just purchased a Kindle Fire HD Plus, and I was able to load the Firefox mobile app on the device, but I can't get it to sync with my account. Following the directions in the help articles, I tap the three dots in the upper right-hand corner. Then, I select "Settings" and "Sign in." At that point, the browser goes to the following page: about:accounts?action=signin&entrypoint=preferences, but the page never loads; it just keeps grinding away. I also tried using the QR code method, but that didn't work either. Please help.

According to this support page (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/sync-custom-preferences#), setting ``services.sync.prefs.dangerously_allow_arbitrary`` to True will sync all my preferences.

I have set it to true on the two devices I want to sync (2 desktops, Windows and Ubuntu). However, the preferences are not synced. For example, ``browser.compactmode.show`` keeps its default value "False" on my Ubuntu installation, despite it having the modified value "True" on my Windows installation.

I have tried pressing "Sync now", and restarting the browsers - to no avail.

Could anyone tell me what am I doing wrong?

The title pretty much sums it up. I even tried drastic measures such as logging out then completely uninstalling Firefox and removing any leftover data on both platforms. After reinstalling and connecting to the Firefox account they will sync with previous data but any new data I add on Windows won't show up on Android and vice versa. I also obviously tried forcing a sync manually... I really wish I didn't have to switch to another password manager any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

Hello:

I have 2 profiles in use. 1 for personal use with their respective bookmarks, passwords, and extensions, and I have no trouble syncing with this one. However; profile 2 that is for work use that has its respective bookmarks, passwords and extensions, has become a nightmare.

It happens that I have both profiles on the same computer and when trying to create an account in Firefox, the system asks me to enter the email registered in profile 1, with the warning that bookmarks, passwords and extensions will be mixed.

I mention that I have migrated from Google Chorme to Firefox for speed reasons and because I use windows 7 (I don't like later versions) Now well; in Google Chrome you could create as many sessions as were registered but in Firefox you can't.

Oh! I have been working fine with Firefox but suddenly an error occurs (it has happened to me 2 times in the last 2 months) in which the program closes and all the data of my profiles stored on the pc DISAPPEARS or is deleted (including cache), when I want to open them again:

firefox.exe -P

Then I have to give myself the task of synchronizing profile 1, but profile 2 I have to be importing from my previous Google account or importing a backup Bookmark.

The option to copy and paste the data from Firefox to replace it in the path (supposedly brings with it the data of everything):

C:\ProgramData\Mozilla-1de4eec8-1241-4177-a864-e594e8d1fb38\updates\308046B0AF4A39CB

with Firefox turned off it has not worked for me. Since when opening I see 2 profiles called Default "X" and Default "Z" without data.

This is a headache that if it happens to me, it happens to millions who have 2 or more profiles.

Why can't I sync a second profile? Why do you insist that there can only be one sync per device? Is there a solution for this?

Note: I have read all the tutorials out there and the situation remains the same. Synchronization with 2 or more profiles is never described.

Thank you very much to whoever asked this question!

I'm trying to sync my bookmarks from Firefox mobile (Android) to my laptop (Dell) for the first time but there's no "Sync and save data" option under the dot menu on my phone nor is there any equivalent that I can find. How do I proceed?

I know there's [[an article|https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/sync-custom-preferences#w_sync-custom-preferences]] on how to sync custom preferences. I wanted to sync my toolbar customizations and some other preferences like disabling disk caching. And I don't even have other firefox instances, instead I just want to sync only on one device, so that I can continue the same setup when I signin later on the same device.

I've tried to add services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.uiCustomization.state, "services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.cache.disk.enable" and set it to true. But it doesn't work. What am I missing? No one seems to address this. May I am missing something.

Following direction on Help Page - Trying to sync tabs, bookmarks etc from one laptop to another. In settings, devices are said to be logged in and sync set to sync pretty much everything. Clicking the menu top right - only shows my email @ the top, then New Tab etc - but nothing about "Sync Now" or "Sign In" What am I missing? TIA, Jean

I am using Firefox Developer Edition in a work environment that only saves directories between weekly restarts by explicitly managed rules. As a result of some missing folders from my weekly restarts, I need to sign in to my Firefox account and enable sync each week. Currently my machine retains the %APPDATA%/Mozilla and %LOCALAPPDATA%/Mozilla directories + children.

What other directories are needed by Firefox Developer Edition in Windows to retain the user profile/syncing, et. al.?

Thank you for your time!

'I Save HTML documents containing Bulleted items (lists) from Firefox. When the saved documents are opened with Firefox, the bulletsb are missing, but when opened with MsEdge they are there. Clearly the Saved File has the Bullet markers embedded (even if not identical to the original), so why can't Firefox show them? The particular files that I Save locally are "LibreOffice Release Notes" '

Hi, I create an account to sync Bookmarks, Passwords, Add-ons, History etc from one computer to an other. I successfully created the account, verify mails, checkbox all features to sync in settings, and click on "sync' multiple times. But nothing is synced on my new computer. On the log I saw (about:sync-log):ab

1. 1. On new computer side

1674839909897 FirefoxAccounts ERROR FxA rejecting with error UNVERIFIED_ACCOUNT, details: undefined 1674839909897 FirefoxAccounts ERROR Background refresh of initial profile failed: Error: UNVERIFIED_ACCOUNT(resource://gre/modules/FxAccounts.jsm:1561:18) JS Stack trace: _error@FxAccounts.jsm:1561:18

1675070999227 FirefoxAccounts ERROR Background refresh of profile failed: {"name":"FxAccountsProfileClientError","code":null,"errno":998,"error":"NETWORK_ERROR","message":"[Exception... \"NS_ERROR_ABORT\" nsresult: \"0x80004004 (NS_ERROR_ABORT)\" location: \"JS frame :: resource://services-common/rest.js :: onStopRequest :: line 491\" data: no]"}

1. 1. On previous computer side

Sync.ErrorHandler ERROR Sync encountered a login error Sync.Service DEBUG Not syncing:login returned false

Can you help me please ? Mrs RICHTER

I've gone down a rabbit hole of authentication in regards to Sync with Firefox. I'm wondering if I can regenerate a recovery key by removing the recovery key from my account and then choosing to re-enable a recovery key on my account? I do have the password for my primary email on my account, but I can't find the recovery key value for it.

I also have a secondary email on my account that I don't have a password for, and need to reset a password for it, but one problem at a time...

I checked community and tried every single suggestion like; I did disconnect all devices and reconnected desktop version first and then synced with my iOS one, didn't work for me.

This morning I had trouble updating my Firefox after the new update. Went to our IT people, who uninstalled Firefox, and installed a new one. The new one updated fine. However, I had forgotten my password, and had to reset it when logging in into the newly installed Firefox. Now I am logged in, but cannot see any of my bookmarks, etc. Essentially Firefox is treating my account as a new one and does not remember any of my settings. Is there anything I can do to recover my settings and bookmarks?

Thanks, Yuri

My husband was a long-time Firefox user and recently passed away. I am the sole beneficiary and executor of his estate and provide a copy of the will and death certificate if necessary. The issue here, is unlike me, I cannot find the Firefox account to sync his passwords to my machine. I do have access to his machine and could open each web site and copy the information to a spread sheet if necessary - but obviously not a great workaround. So is there any way to gain access to that password.

Now for the obvious question - it's just a matter of equipment: he used a trackball, I prefer my mouse and I am considerably more comfortable with the keyboard on my machine.

Any help you can offer would be very helpful!

Best regards! Loralie