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How do I restore my bookmarks so they continue to look as thaey used to?

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I opened my browser today My bookmarks no longer appear in a list as they used to do. I have no idea why the format has been changed, I assume that someone thinks its better. better for who? not me that's for sure.

I do not want to waste my time learning a new system that can not be better than see all at a glance.

How do I restore the appearance of my bookmarks list please?

I opened my browser today My bookmarks no longer appear in a list as they used to do. I have no idea why the format has been changed, I assume that someone thinks its better. better for who? not me that's for sure. I do not want to waste my time learning a new system that can not be better than see all at a glance. How do I restore the appearance of my bookmarks list please?

All Replies (7)

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Could you describe what changed in more detail?

The Bookmarks Menu items can appear in multiple places:

  • Classic menu bar (if the bar is not displayed, right-click a blank are of the tab bar > Menu Bar)
  • Toolbar button (the one that looks a bit like a clipboard and is to the right of the star icon)
  • Sidebar (open and close with Ctrl+b, or you can customize the toolbar to add the Sidebars button)

Is one of those what you're looking for?

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Do you still see the bookmarks in the Bookmarks Manager (Library)?


You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database file in the Firefox profile folder if you have problems with bookmarks or history.

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when i click on book marks

i shows four of my bookmarks plus a folder i created that contains four more

If i then click on show all bookmarks it shows none

if i click on recently bookmarked it shows 10.

I have been using firefox for years and there should be over 150 bookmarks listed plus 4 folders with about 30 more and within hose there should be several folders containing more.

where does firefox keep my bookmarks? perhaps if I had the web address for that I could reload them.

But i still want all my bookmarks in one place.

They used to be all in one list and clicking on recently bookmarked only used to show the the more recent ones.

Currently I can see more bookmarks in my recently bookmarked than I have in my list of bookmarks.

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I can and have gt access to either the word Bookmarks on the top bar and have a odd little icon on the right hand side of my screen with the star etc.

I can not replace using the top bar with words on, by using the little icons because although it can be customised it does not have hel,p tool,s or view on it.

To be honest I have no idea what a sidebar might be.

All i want is my old bookmarks drop down menu.

all my bookmarks in chronological order (alphabetic might be more useful I admit) with hr folders i created and the tab for recently bookmarked.

Whatever someone has done to the bookmarks folder has as I have said, certainly has not improved it for me.

is there not a simple click on thing to show bookmarks in traditional style?

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Did you check for issues with the places.sqlite file?

What bookmarks count do the backups in the bookmarkbackups folder show (xxxx)?

  • bookmarks-####-##-##_xxxx_$$$$.json (or compressed .jsonlz4)

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
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Do you recall using Firefox's Reset feature? This feature is designed to shed settings and add-ons that cause performance or stability problems, but preserve your bookmarks. If this feature ran, you will notice a new folder on your desktop named Old Firefox Data. Do you have such a folder?

Either way, your bookmarks menu should be the same as it was before. If you lost your bookmarks, you could try to restore a backup -- Firefox creates snapshots when you update your bookmarks.

To find the restore feature, you can use the Library dialog (Ctrl+Shift+b or "Show All Bookmarks"). This article has more info on how it works: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer.

Please note that restoring bookmarks is like rolling back to an earlier time, and any new activity is removed. If you need to preserve something you have added recently, you can export your bookmarks first, and then import them back after the restore. These articles have the steps for that:

Any luck?

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By the way, when you click on Show All Bookmarks, you probably need to click one of the three "containers" in the left column to see the list in that container. These are:

  • Bookmarks Toolbar (horizontal bar you can display below the main toolbar)
  • Bookmarks Menu (drop-down list)
  • Unsorted Bookmarks (bookmarks added using the star button that haven't yet been placed in a particular folder)