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cannot delete bookmarks from firefox

  • 12 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 11 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

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Hi, I am running the latest Firefox (70.01). I am unable to delete any bookmarks from either the bookmark dropdown tab, the library window or the view history etc tab. Using Win 10 x64. None of the suggestions I have read seem to work in deleting any bookmarks. Any advice appreciated.

Hi, I am running the latest Firefox (70.01). I am unable to delete any bookmarks from either the bookmark dropdown tab, the library window or the view history etc tab. Using Win 10 x64. None of the suggestions I have read seem to work in deleting any bookmarks. Any advice appreciated.

All Replies (12)

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[v57+] Places Maintenance is built into Firefox.

Type about:support<enter> in the address bar.

You will find Places Database near the bottom. Press the Verify Integrity button.

When done, copy and post the results here.

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

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.

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

In case errors are reported with "Verify Integrity" close and restart Firefox and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.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.

  • keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created

See also:

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.

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Hi, run the verify as per above. I also do not run Sync Results below:

> Task: checkIntegrity - Unable to check favicons.sqlite integrity: Error: Error(s) encountered during statement execution: database disk image is malformed > Task: invalidateCaches - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: checkCoherence - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: expire - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: originFrecencyStats - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: vacuum - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: stats - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: _refreshUI - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task.

Modified by jazzman74

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The places.sqlite file contains your History and Bookmarks. And it looks like it is corrupted.

Type about:support<enter> in the address bar.

Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To its right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile. Now Close Firefox.

Locate the above file. Then rename or delete it. Restart Firefox.


The browser should then create a new place.sqlite and recover your bookmarks from the backup files. Note: Your history is not backed up and will be lost

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thanks for the replies :) I did as suggested above and renamed the places.sqlite file. When restarting firefox, it has created a new file. It hasn't imported any bookmarks.

Ive gone back, deleted the new places.sqlite file and renamed the .old file back, which brings up all my bookmarks/history again.

When I try to do a manual backup of bookmarks in Library, and save that into a different folder - it doesnt actually save a copy. Nor if I try to save as .html I really dont want to lose all my saved login passwords etc for sites

Any further suggestions? Cheers J

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http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_process_the_backup_file_-_Firefox

jscher2000 has a tool on his website to extract out your bookmarks and save them to an HTML-format bookmark export file. If you want to try it, here is the page:

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/bookbackreader.html

To open the bookmarkbackups folder in Finder, use the "Open in Finder" button in the first table on the Troubleshooting Information page, and double-click into bookmarkbackups where you should see several dated files. From there you can drag and drop onto the conversion tool.

To import the HTML file, see the steps in this article: Import Bookmarks from an HTML file.

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Aren't there any backups available in the bookmarkbackups folder? Firefox normally uses these backups to rebuild the bookmarks when places.sqlite is missing.

Do you only have one profile folder if you go up one level?

  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
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jazzman74 said

I really dont want to lose all my saved login passwords etc for sites

In the event that the passwords information is lost, you should record all information in a separate text file somewhere else on your hard drive, or written down. You can easily copy and paste if you need to do so. If you are concerned about someone else looking at that file, you can compress it using a password.


Password:Recovery:Restore:Export https://www.ghacks.net/2018/07/18/how-to-export-firefox-passwords-in-firefox-57/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/passwordfox.html (Win) PasswordFox v1.58 - Extract the usernames/passwords stored in Firefox Copyright (c) 2008 - 2017 Nir Sofer

Note: Some anti-virus show false positive. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Easily export your passwords from Firefox. https://github.com/kspearrin/ff-password-exporter

Export your passwords from Firefox in a portable CSV or JSON format. It works on Windows, macOS, and Linux. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3 Tools to Decrypt and Recover Passwords Saved in Firefox • Raymond CC https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-find-hidden-passwords-in-firefox/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ https://www.ghacks.net/2018/07/18/how-to-export-firefox-passwords-in-firefox-57/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ https://github.com/kspearrin/ff-password-exporter ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If you don't find a third party script or program you can trust, you can run a script in Firefox's Browser Console to spit out the list in CSV or JSON format. For example:

JSON file: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1258644

CSV: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1253828 (copy/paste from console)

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cor-el said

Aren't there any backups available in the bookmarkbackups folder? Firefox normally uses these backups to rebuild the bookmarks when places.sqlite is missing. Do you only have one profile folder if you go up one level?
  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

Hi, there are backups, but the last one was from almost 1 yr ago. I think thats about when I got a new laptop and transferred the profile across. It may have corrupted at the time and not done any backups since.

J

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I cannot edit my bookmarks on Firefox

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Hi liz.crotty

Is editing bookmarks also not possible in the Bookmarks Manager (Library)?

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FredMcD said

[v57+] Places Maintenance is built into Firefox.

Type about:support<enter> in the address bar.

You will find Places Database near the bottom. Press the Verify Integrity button.

When done, copy and post the results here.