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.

Search Support

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

My bookmarks disappeared after using "refresh" -I HAVE to get them back.

  • 2 cavab
  • 2 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

My computer was running slow. Firefox recommends "refresh" and promised that it wouldn't delete my bookmarks or passwords. now it's all gone. I tried following the suggestion in a prior thread to restore them from the old backups folder on my desktop. That folder contained no files at all. So I tried restoring from prior backups (yesterday and frequently in the days/weeks prior) those backups show in a backup list. When I try restoring that way, I get a message "unable to process the backup file." How do I get them back? I store all kinds of important information on my bookmarks and I really need to get them back.

My computer was running slow. Firefox recommends "refresh" and promised that it wouldn't delete my bookmarks or passwords. now it's all gone. I tried following the suggestion in a prior thread to restore them from the old backups folder on my desktop. That folder contained no files at all. So I tried restoring from prior backups (yesterday and frequently in the days/weeks prior) those backups show in a backup list. When I try restoring that way, I get a message "unable to process the backup file." How do I get them back? I store all kinds of important information on my bookmarks and I really need to get them back.

All Replies (2)

more options
more options

If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting.

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks and history) in the Firefox profile folder.

  • use "Verify Integrity" on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page

See also:

If "Verify Integrity" on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page cannot repair places.sqlite then remove all places.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.