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After upgrading to macOS Sierra and fresh installation of Firefox, when I sign in to sync, none of my sync data appears???

  • 2 replies
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  • Last reply by Jen395

Jen395
Jen395
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I just formatted my MacBook and did a clean install of macOS Sierra. I was signed into Firefox sync in mac OS El Capitan, so when I downloaded and installed Firefox, signed in to sync, I would of expected all my bookmarks and preferences to appear momentarily, as the Firefox pop-up suggested after I signed in.

I only use Firefox on one device, so there's no issues there.

I did come across a thread here somewhere that suggested deleting the Firefox app, re-downloading it and reinstalling it and signing into sync, which I just did and I still get the top right hand pop-up telling me that Firefox will begin syncing/downloading momentarily, then nothing.

When i backed up my data stored in my home folder, I'm assuming there is not a local bookmarks file for Firefox? I'm worried that my Firefox sync data isn't on the Firefox servers - is there a way to check this out at all?

What could be causing this? and more importantly, how do I fix this?

I just formatted my MacBook and did a clean install of macOS Sierra. I was signed into Firefox sync in mac OS El Capitan, so when I downloaded and installed Firefox, signed in to sync, I would of expected all my bookmarks and preferences to appear momentarily, as the Firefox pop-up suggested after I signed in. I only use Firefox on one device, so there's no issues there. I did come across a thread here somewhere that suggested deleting the Firefox app, re-downloading it and reinstalling it and signing into sync, which I just did and I still get the top right hand pop-up telling me that Firefox will begin syncing/downloading momentarily, then nothing. When i backed up my data stored in my home folder, I'm assuming there is not a local bookmarks file for Firefox? I'm worried that my Firefox sync data isn't on the Firefox servers - is there a way to check this out at all? What could be causing this? and more importantly, how do I fix this?

All Replies (2)

Paul
Paul
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Hi

Thank you for your question about the Firefox Sync service.

It appears from your question, that you are using Firefox Sync as a back up service. This is not what Sync is designed to do. The Firefox Sync service takes a copy of the data you wish to include and transfers it to a second device (typically a mobile device such as a tablet or a telephone) running a copy of Firefox. The storage in between all attached devices is both temporary and fragile and is not stable enough to be (and is not designed as) a reliable backup service.

If you have a copy of your Firefox profile for desktop Firefox, you may be able to recover your bookmarks and other data. Please have a read of this article.

If you have a copy of your data on a mobile version of Firefox, please follow these instructions to connect it to Firefox Sync to copy your data.

Jen395
Jen395 Question owner
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I only use Firefox on one device, as stated above. Before formatting my os disk and re-installing a newer os, I did the same thing on my partner's notebook and this worked fine. I have always used Firefox sync as a backup of my bookmarks and preferences and I have never saved them locally, as I had thought the intended use of Firefox Sync was for backup purposes. Perhaps it would be a good idea to add the option for users to provide a location for them to be able to save their FireFox sync data to their own cloud drive, say a google drive, one drive and icloud drive. Having also asked if there was a local backup of Firefox sync data, it would follow that I didn't back it up and so do not have a desktop profile saved.

Thank you for your response, but unfortunately it has been unhelpful as I already provided answers to your solutions in my original post.