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bookmarks dissapeared, how do i get them back ?, im running Firefox Quantum57.0 (64-BIT) on the beta update channel

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  • Last reply by BarcodeZero

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im running Firefox Quantum57.0 (64-BIT) on the beta update channel the beta firefox updated itself and after that, no bookmarks, none, nada zip

I go to [ALT] >file menu>bookmarks>show all bookmarks (1.png)

oh i see your picture uploading on this page does not work either... (eternally twirling) , lovely, guess were gonna have to go without screenshots then...

i go to import and backup > restore > saturday, november 11th, 2017 (54.4 kb - 261 items) it says "This will replace all of your current bookmarks with the backup. Are you sure?" i say OK it says "Unable to process the backup file."

ok alright fine then be that way i go into %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\PROFILENAME\bookmarkbackups and i copy the file "bookmarks-2017-11-11_261_9RM3jNLXK0ILvSeH5YpcSw==.jsonlz4" i put a copy in "firefoxboookmarks" folder on the desktop (the one i was going to put the screenshots in for this post) i go back to show all bookmarks>import and backup>restore>choose file> select "bookmarks-2017-11-11_261_9RM3jNLXK0ILvSeH5YpcSw==.jsonlz4"

it says "This will replace all of your current bookmarks with the backup. Are you sure?" i say OK it says "Unable to process the backup file."

ok so im getting noplace fast here, but that filename for the bookmark file looks wrong? but that could be a beta thing i dont know, i havent looked at the actual bookmark files in a while, but now im lost and dont know what to do im thinking possibly the file is corrupted somehow ?

what do you guys think?, how do i get my bookmarks back?

im running Firefox Quantum57.0 (64-BIT) on the beta update channel the beta firefox updated itself and after that, no bookmarks, none, nada zip I go to [ALT] >file menu>bookmarks>show all bookmarks (1.png) oh i see your picture uploading on this page does not work either... (eternally twirling) , lovely, guess were gonna have to go without screenshots then... i go to import and backup > restore > saturday, november 11th, 2017 (54.4 kb - 261 items) it says "This will replace all of your current bookmarks with the backup. Are you sure?" i say OK it says "Unable to process the backup file." ok alright fine then be that way i go into %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\PROFILENAME\bookmarkbackups and i copy the file "bookmarks-2017-11-11_261_9RM3jNLXK0ILvSeH5YpcSw==.jsonlz4" i put a copy in "firefoxboookmarks" folder on the desktop (the one i was going to put the screenshots in for this post) i go back to show all bookmarks>import and backup>restore>choose file> select "bookmarks-2017-11-11_261_9RM3jNLXK0ILvSeH5YpcSw==.jsonlz4" it says "This will replace all of your current bookmarks with the backup. Are you sure?" i say OK it says "Unable to process the backup file." ok so im getting noplace fast here, but that filename for the bookmark file looks wrong? but that could be a beta thing i dont know, i havent looked at the actual bookmark files in a while, but now im lost and dont know what to do im thinking possibly the file is corrupted somehow ? what do you guys think?, how do i get my bookmarks back?

Chosen solution

ok, i got this solved, so what i did was i exported as a json file alt>file menu>bookmarks>show all bookmarks>import and backup>backup save json file to desktop

for some reason firefox was not in my add remove programs list either so i had to go download revo uninstaller from here https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html (i used the portable one cuz i had problems with the other one for some unknown reason)

ran that, told it to uninstall firefox, the firefox uninstaller ran, then i had it clean up remnant registry keys on moderate (which is the default option)

went into %APPDATA%\Mozilla and deleted the entire firefox folder

used internet explorer to download firefox because thats all that internet explorer is good for, i did NOT opt for the beta this time, just regular release, installed it, then imported the json file i saved earlier using alt>file menu>bookmarks>show all bookmarks>import and backup>restore>choose file

and NOW finally my bookmarks are back, what a pita

NOTES AND LESSONS LEARNED just reinstalling firefox didnt help i reinstalled firefox first (i didnt uninstall it first tho) and that did not fix the problem, the problem was there was apparently something screwed up in either the %APPDATA%\Mozilla\firefox folder which holds the profile data, or a firefox registry key, i suspect the former

dont delete just the profile folder I did that, reinstalled firefox and firefox (the newly installed one) wasnt smart enough to generate a new profile folder and errored out that it couldnt find the profile folder and closed, so i had to put the old one back or it wouldnt even open and then do things in the proper order

"refreshing" firefox from alt >file menu>help>troubleshooting>refresh firefox didnt work it did however generate a new firefox profile folder but firefox still refused to import either json or bookmark file (well actually it did but afterward there was nothing there still)

big thanx to pkshadow whom got me on the idea that there actually are bookmarks there TO export even tough i couldnt see them before export or re-import them, i would have surely been stuck thinking "my bookmarks are missing theres nothing TO export" forever

also, mozilla if you make the mainstream release look like freakin horrid windows 10 like you did with the beta youd better make a way to make it look like it does now or else i wont use it, making anything look like windows 10 is a surefire way to make people angry

its been fun BarcodeZero

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oh also, your forum is broken 1. logging in with the right username and password did not work, had to request password reset to even get in 2. when on the main page these > show up as & g t ; but all together without spaces in the summary of my post 3. when i try to tell you that the > character shows up as & g t ; (but with no spaces), it turns back into a > when i post it here which is why i have to put in spaces to even show you, this is a big annoying inconsistent problem thats making itself difficult to even describe 4. the bold button does not work, it just puts quotations around what your trying to bold (and i dont care if it will be bold later, if i cant see it being bold now, right away, in realtime, its broken, were not in 1990 anymore) 5. for the same reasons as 3. above italic is broken, 123 is broken and bulleted list are broken 6. your forum does not respect that i deliberately hit enter thusly inserting line breaks in my question for clarity of reading, nope it just threw that all out the windows and made my post into one big nonbreaking wordwrapping jumble, that sucks 7. as previousely mentioned the initial image upload when first posting did not work, havent tried it in the edit view 8. avitars are broken, you have to log into a 3rd party site (wordpress) to change them, this is unacceptable

well this list is too long now im gonna move it to its own thread momentarily 9. it seems i cant move this to its own thread because there is no "product" that is this forum, i leave this one to the MODS to straighten out cant say i didnt try 10. typing ** apparently makes a bulleted list inside another one because sure why would anything make logical sense

/complaining about the forum

Modified by BarcodeZero

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No is not broken you are running a beta release 57 or a release candidate, issues are to be expected and risk as well. That is outlined before downloading.

From the Firefox Menu Bar/Firefox Toolbar above the tabs Click Bookmarks --> Show All Bookmarks --> Import Export --> Export as HTML

Note : Firefox 57 Quantum release date Nov 14th https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/quantum/ Note : Legacy Extensions will be disabled and or removed.

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

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Pkshadow thanks for your response but doing what you said only resulted in exporting an html file of my empty bookmarks

this has not resolved my missing bookmarks problem

also i understand that im running a beta, i understand and accept the risks, im telling you about the problem im having and trying to resolve it and maybee if it gets resolved someone else can come here and find this thread and solve their problem too, or maybee the devs can find out something they didnt know maybee its helpful for working some bug out, my benefit is mutual benefit, my resolution is mutual resolution

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I understand that I was a Norton Beta Tester for years and fully aware. Is there not a link off the beta release page to report bugs. To https://www.bugzilla.org/about/ or another page besides this ?

By exporting as HTML you proved very quickly that indeed the file is corrupted or has been replaced.

Support Volunteers can't make changes to Firefox and the developers do not directly monitor this site. To submit suggestions for new or changed features, may I suggest:

Feedback: https://qsurvey.mozilla.com/s3/FirefoxInput/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Firefox Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/firefox

You might have more than 1 profile : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

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Pkshadow

ive got my bookmarks back, .. kinda when you said to export the bookmarks, i did and i assumed the file was empty because, i had tried to then import the html file back into firefox and nothing happned,

but i was wrong, the file is not empty, my bookmarks are indeed in there when i just doubleclick it and open it which i should have done to begin with theres all my bookmarks

However, this still leaves me with the issue that for whatever reason, i cant get them INTO firefox, and they don't show as being in firefox though presumably they must be already in there otherwise where did they come from when i did an export?

also yeah this is probably not the right place to be asking about this beta build, but this is where i ended up so therefor there must be a problem with mozilla directing people appropriately, i did after all click help>firefox help to get here and doing some quick googling here.... yeah i dont see anything from mozilla about a forum for firefox quantum or beta testing. i havent tried to use bugzilla for years, it used to be completely counterintuitive and seemingly deliberately impossible to use though from what i remember, so hence i havent even considered using it in years

Modified by BarcodeZero

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Chosen Solution

ok, i got this solved, so what i did was i exported as a json file alt>file menu>bookmarks>show all bookmarks>import and backup>backup save json file to desktop

for some reason firefox was not in my add remove programs list either so i had to go download revo uninstaller from here https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html (i used the portable one cuz i had problems with the other one for some unknown reason)

ran that, told it to uninstall firefox, the firefox uninstaller ran, then i had it clean up remnant registry keys on moderate (which is the default option)

went into %APPDATA%\Mozilla and deleted the entire firefox folder

used internet explorer to download firefox because thats all that internet explorer is good for, i did NOT opt for the beta this time, just regular release, installed it, then imported the json file i saved earlier using alt>file menu>bookmarks>show all bookmarks>import and backup>restore>choose file

and NOW finally my bookmarks are back, what a pita

NOTES AND LESSONS LEARNED just reinstalling firefox didnt help i reinstalled firefox first (i didnt uninstall it first tho) and that did not fix the problem, the problem was there was apparently something screwed up in either the %APPDATA%\Mozilla\firefox folder which holds the profile data, or a firefox registry key, i suspect the former

dont delete just the profile folder I did that, reinstalled firefox and firefox (the newly installed one) wasnt smart enough to generate a new profile folder and errored out that it couldnt find the profile folder and closed, so i had to put the old one back or it wouldnt even open and then do things in the proper order

"refreshing" firefox from alt >file menu>help>troubleshooting>refresh firefox didnt work it did however generate a new firefox profile folder but firefox still refused to import either json or bookmark file (well actually it did but afterward there was nothing there still)

big thanx to pkshadow whom got me on the idea that there actually are bookmarks there TO export even tough i couldnt see them before export or re-import them, i would have surely been stuck thinking "my bookmarks are missing theres nothing TO export" forever

also, mozilla if you make the mainstream release look like freakin horrid windows 10 like you did with the beta youd better make a way to make it look like it does now or else i wont use it, making anything look like windows 10 is a surefire way to make people angry

its been fun BarcodeZero

Modified by BarcodeZero