We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

ابحث في الدعم

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

why do I have old data files when I have not done a reset?

misterroy
misterroy
more options

I have never done a reset of Firefox, but now have three "Old Firefox Data" folders on my desktop (labeled Old Firefox Data, Old Firefox Data 1 and Old Firefox Data 2). Looking at some of the files in these folders, I see that the Documents sub-folders contain the most recent Word documents I have saved, which seems to indicate these "old data" folders are actually being updated on a real time basis. This seems counter-intuitive, is confusing and concerning. I would prefer to delete these folders, but don't want to lose data. Please advise.

I have never done a reset of Firefox, but now have three "Old Firefox Data" folders on my desktop (labeled Old Firefox Data, Old Firefox Data 1 and Old Firefox Data 2). Looking at some of the files in these folders, I see that the Documents sub-folders contain the most recent Word documents I have saved, which seems to indicate these "old data" folders are actually being updated on a real time basis. This seems counter-intuitive, is confusing and concerning. I would prefer to delete these folders, but don't want to lose data. Please advise.

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Firefox might use the Reset feature automatically under some circumstances, but that should be very rare...

You can check your currently active Firefox profile folder location using this page:

Help > Troubleshooting Information > "Show Folder" button

Usually you will find the files under a path similar to the following, so not actively using any of the folders on the desktop:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\profile.folder

Assuming that is correct, it's still an excellent question why you have recent files in the Old Firefox Data folder, and perhaps more importantly, why on earth would your Documents folder be in there, since that is normally in a completely different location??