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recovering my lost bookmarks

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

lpostell1
lpostell1
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Hi,

I need technical help on recovering my lost bookmarks. I have followed the suggested recovery methods and when I move today's backup "file ....json" (?) (as one suggested) to the bookmarks menu, clicked on it to open, it does nothing. If I click on the saved file on my desktop it's a bunch of mumbo jumbo...like writing code. I even tried importing it and I get nothing. I deleted Mozilla Firefox and reinstalled it and still nothing.

I'm so lost on this....

Cananyone help?

Tkx-

Linda

Hi, I need technical help on recovering my lost bookmarks. I have followed the suggested recovery methods and when I move today's backup "file ....json" (?) (as one suggested) to the bookmarks menu, clicked on it to open, it does nothing. If I click on the saved file on my desktop it's a bunch of mumbo jumbo...like writing code. I even tried importing it and I get nothing. I deleted Mozilla Firefox and reinstalled it and still nothing. I'm so lost on this.... Cananyone help? Tkx- Linda

All Replies (5)

FredMcD
FredMcD
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Firefox automatically makes backups of the bookmarks. These are stored in the bookmarkbackups folder.

Open the Bookmarks Manager; Press the Alt or F10 key to bring up the toolbar, and select Bookmarks. Hot key is <Control> (Mac=<Command>) <Shift> B.

Once the window is open, at the top of the page, press the button labeled Import and Backup. Select Restore. From the list, pick the file you want and click it.

The backups are stored in a jsonlz4 file named something like this; bookmarks-2016-06-29_1424_enD1GTH ya0JmicnYWg4V4g==.jsonlz4

In this example; 2016-06-29 = date created, 1424 = number of entries.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-lost-or-missing-bookmarks

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/forum-response-recover-bookmarks-after-update

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Note that the name of an automatically created JSON bookmarks backup in the bookmarkbackups folder includes a total item count (folders and separators included) and an hash value to prevent saving the same backup more than once. You also see this count in the Restore menu drop-down list.

  • bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item count>_<hash>.jsonlz4.
  • Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks -> Import & Backup -> Restore

You can check if you have an "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop in case the Refresh feature in Firefox has been used and a new profile has been created.

lpostell1
lpostell1 Question owner
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Thank you both for responding! I have imported a file that was saved on my Desktop and from the "Old Firefox" folder. Neither will open. They both have an emblem attached to them. Not a regular type document that would open.

Would it be possible to interact over the phone beginning with an email to exchange my phone number? Perhaps walking me through this and I telling you what I see would help me......?

Tks for all and any assistance,

Linda

FredMcD
FredMcD
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Look on your desktop. Do you see a folder called; Old Firefox? Look inside. Look for the folder with the latest creation date.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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There is no need to open a bookmarks backup, especially if this is a compressed backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

You can restore a JSON backup (file extension .jsonlz4 or .json) via the Bookmarks Manager (Library).

Note that restoring a JSON backup will replace all bookmarks, so you lose newer bookmarks that aren't in the backup and if necessary you can create an HTML backup.