Recovering seemingly lost firefox bookmarks
1 April 2008
On a Windows XP system, it should be easy to find your bookmarks file, then restore it.
1. In the My Computer directory/folder, choose the C: Drive.
2. Choose the Documents and Settings folder;
3. Then your user folder (what ever your user name is, there will be a folder for it)
4. Next, Application Data folder
5. Choose Firefox
6. Then choose the Profiles folder.
IMPORTANT: If you do not see the Application Data, your system is probably not set up to view hidden files/folders. In that case, while in My Computer (or any Windows Explorer window), choose Tools > Folder Options > View > select the radio button next to Show hidden files and folders. The Application Data folder should now be viewable.
For Windows Vista users, follow this path to find the Firefox profile folder:
In My Computer, choose the C: drive:
1. Then, Users
2. Then your user folder (what ever your user name is, there will be a folder for it)
3. Followed by AppData
4. Roaming
5. Mozilla
6. Firefox
7. Profiles
IMPORTANT: If you do not see the AppData folder, your system is probably not set up to view hidden files/folders. In that case, while in My Computer (or any Windows Explorer window), choose Organize > Folder and Search Options > Folder Options > View > select the radio button next to Show hidden files and folders. The AppData folder should now be viewable.
For Mac OS X Users,
1. Launch the Finder
2. The bookmarks.html file is found in your user Library
3. Choose Application Support
4. Then Firefox
5. Next Profiles
If you lost your first profile, it is possible Firefox created a new one, so there could be two (or more) profile folders, you will have to check both of them for the specific bookmarks file you want.
Look for bookmarks.html; double click to open it, and it should launch the file in Firefox. If not, right click on the file and choose Open with>Firefox.
Check over the contents, and if it looks like all your original bookmarks, that is the file you want to backup.
Copy and paste the bookmarks.html file into your My Documents folder for save keeping.
Note: It is possible that Firefox might automatically back up your bookmarks for you….in that profile, you might also see a folder named “bookmarkbackups.” Open that folder, and check to see if one of those backup .html files contains all your original bookmarks.
Import Bookmarks Back into Firefox
Okay, now that your bookmarks file is safely backed up to your My Documents, you can easily import it back into Firefox.
While Firefox is open, choose Bookmarks>Organize Bookmarks. This will launch the Bookmark Manager.
1. In the Manager window, choose File>Import
2. Choose “From File”
3. Navigate to the file you copied into My Documents, and choose that file.
4. Click Open
This will import all the bookmarks from that file into Firefox.
Lesson learned: back up your Firefox bookmarks on a regular basis, and even if Firefox crashes and loses your bookmarks, you can easily restore the backup file.
Backing Up Firefox Bookmarks
An easy way to back up your Firefox bookmarks, in the Bookmark Manager, (remember? choose Bookmarks>Organize Bookmarks)
Choose File>Export
This will create a copy of the bookmarks.html file - navigate to the location on your hard drive where you keep your backup files.
Suggestion: save it in My Documents in a sub-folder named “Firefox Bookmarks.” Include the date when you name the file (ie bookmarks-05-06-07.html) so you know at a glance how old your back up is. Keep several backup files in case one doesn’t work.
Hopefully it won’t happen again, but if Firefox loses your bookmarks in the future, follow the same import instructions listed above.
Export your bookmarks every week or month, and also remember to back up the files to a CD or an external hard drive in case your hard drive dies.
Moving Your Firefox Files to a New Computer
NEW TIP: If you are moving to a new computer or reinstalling your operating system, it is easy to save your Firefox bookmarks, cookies, passwords, preferences, extensions, themes, etc.
Find the whole Firefox folder (including the profile subfolder) and just drag it to a CD or USB Flash drive for safe keeping.
On your new system, after you install Firefox, delete the newly created Firefox folder, and drag over the saved folder from your backup. Launch Firefox and your browser should be as it was.
Mac OS X users, you might also need to copy/save your preference file. Found in Library>Preferences> copy the file named “org.mozilla.firefox.plist” and replace it on the new system.
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1. In the My Computer directory/folder, choose the C: Drive.
2. Choose the Documents and Settings folder;
3. Then your user folder (what ever your user name is, there will be a folder for it)
4. Next, Application Data folder
5. Choose Firefox
6. Then choose the Profiles folder.
IMPORTANT: If you do not see the Application Data, your system is probably not set up to view hidden files/folders. In that case, while in My Computer (or any Windows Explorer window), choose Tools > Folder Options > View > select the radio button next to Show hidden files and folders. The Application Data folder should now be viewable.
For Windows Vista users, follow this path to find the Firefox profile folder:
In My Computer, choose the C: drive:
1. Then, Users
2. Then your user folder (what ever your user name is, there will be a folder for it)
3. Followed by AppData
4. Roaming
5. Mozilla
6. Firefox
7. Profiles
IMPORTANT: If you do not see the AppData folder, your system is probably not set up to view hidden files/folders. In that case, while in My Computer (or any Windows Explorer window), choose Organize > Folder and Search Options > Folder Options > View > select the radio button next to Show hidden files and folders. The AppData folder should now be viewable.
For Mac OS X Users,
1. Launch the Finder
2. The bookmarks.html file is found in your user Library
3. Choose Application Support
4. Then Firefox
5. Next Profiles
If you lost your first profile, it is possible Firefox created a new one, so there could be two (or more) profile folders, you will have to check both of them for the specific bookmarks file you want.
Look for bookmarks.html; double click to open it, and it should launch the file in Firefox. If not, right click on the file and choose Open with>Firefox.
Check over the contents, and if it looks like all your original bookmarks, that is the file you want to backup.
Copy and paste the bookmarks.html file into your My Documents folder for save keeping.
Note: It is possible that Firefox might automatically back up your bookmarks for you….in that profile, you might also see a folder named “bookmarkbackups.” Open that folder, and check to see if one of those backup .html files contains all your original bookmarks.
Import Bookmarks Back into Firefox
Okay, now that your bookmarks file is safely backed up to your My Documents, you can easily import it back into Firefox.
While Firefox is open, choose Bookmarks>Organize Bookmarks. This will launch the Bookmark Manager.
1. In the Manager window, choose File>Import
2. Choose “From File”
3. Navigate to the file you copied into My Documents, and choose that file.
4. Click Open
This will import all the bookmarks from that file into Firefox.
Lesson learned: back up your Firefox bookmarks on a regular basis, and even if Firefox crashes and loses your bookmarks, you can easily restore the backup file.
Backing Up Firefox Bookmarks
An easy way to back up your Firefox bookmarks, in the Bookmark Manager, (remember? choose Bookmarks>Organize Bookmarks)
Choose File>Export
This will create a copy of the bookmarks.html file - navigate to the location on your hard drive where you keep your backup files.
Suggestion: save it in My Documents in a sub-folder named “Firefox Bookmarks.” Include the date when you name the file (ie bookmarks-05-06-07.html) so you know at a glance how old your back up is. Keep several backup files in case one doesn’t work.
Hopefully it won’t happen again, but if Firefox loses your bookmarks in the future, follow the same import instructions listed above.
Export your bookmarks every week or month, and also remember to back up the files to a CD or an external hard drive in case your hard drive dies.
Moving Your Firefox Files to a New Computer
NEW TIP: If you are moving to a new computer or reinstalling your operating system, it is easy to save your Firefox bookmarks, cookies, passwords, preferences, extensions, themes, etc.
Find the whole Firefox folder (including the profile subfolder) and just drag it to a CD or USB Flash drive for safe keeping.
On your new system, after you install Firefox, delete the newly created Firefox folder, and drag over the saved folder from your backup. Launch Firefox and your browser should be as it was.
Mac OS X users, you might also need to copy/save your preference file. Found in Library>Preferences> copy the file named “org.mozilla.firefox.plist” and replace it on the new system.
Labels: Internet Tips
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