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I want to delete some bookmarks and a folder or two.

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by BernadineAD

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I want to delete some bookmarks and a folder or two. I followed the instructions in the Help about How Do I Delete A Bookmark, but nothing happens, they just stay there. So, please don't tell me to go back to that page, I've done it MANY times now. There's getting to be so many obsolete bookmarks it's a mess.

I want to delete some bookmarks and a folder or two. I followed the instructions in the Help about How Do I Delete A Bookmark, but nothing happens, they just stay there. So, please don't tell me to go back to that page, I've done it MANY times now. There's getting to be so many obsolete bookmarks it's a mess.

All Replies (9)

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

This can be caused by a problem with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite databases in the Firefox profile folder.

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

If errors are reported with "Verify Integrity", close and restart Firefox or reboot and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed. 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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I don't know what Sync is. And it's downhill from there. The rest of it is a bunch of hieroglyphic gobledy gook. I'm a senior with very limited understanding of the computerese language and when I try to read all of that stuff, my eyes cross, I get dizzy, and I get a bad headache. It used to be that if I wanted to delete a bookmark, I would right click on it and it would disappear. There's too much to address each section of all of the links, it's just too much to deal with, way too confusing. I CAN: add and change bookmarks, move them around, restart FF and everything is as it was. I CAN'T: DELETE BOOKMARKS OR BOOKMARK FOLDERS. It has nothing to do with anything other than not deleting. It doesn't delete right away before I do anything else. And I DON'T WANT TO LOSE THE BOOKMARKS I HAVE NOW. PLEASE, in simple step by step plain old English

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cor-el is an expert; I'm just a long-term user who only rarely has problems with Firefox. I'll attempt to set out a step by step guide as you ask, based on what cor-el says. It appears that there is something wrong with your profile; continuing to do what you are doing isn't going to suddenly start working again. 1. Click on Troubleshooting Information in the Help menu. 2. Near the bottom of the page you will find a button labelled "Verify Integrity". Click on that. 3. "If errors are reported with "Verify Integrity", close and restart Firefox or reboot and retry." 4. If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair 'places.sqlite', close Firefox. 5. Find your profile folder using the instructions in the last link in cor-el's post. 6. Copy the file 'places.sqlite' to another folder on your computer. 7. "Rename/remove all 'places.sqlite' and 'favicons.sqlite' files in the Firefox profile folder." (I suggest renaming them.) 8. Restart Firefox. "Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder."

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I found and clicked on the Verify Integrity. The FF1 is the snapshot before and FF2 and FF3 are the snapshots of the after closing and restarting FF. I don't know what you mean about Verify Integrity cannot repair 'places.sqlite'. Thanks

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Hello. No snapshots are attached to your post.

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I thought I had, oh well.


Now they are.

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There is definitely something wrong with the places.sqlite database file.

Did you try to close and restart Firefox and did "Verify Integrity" another time to see if the error has been fixed ?

If that didn't help to repair the database then you will have top take further action and force Firefox to create a new file by removing the current places.sqlite files.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed. 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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I did the Verify Integrity several times. The screenshots I sent were the last of the several times. The rest of your email makes no sense to me at all. The words just run together in a stream of nonsense. How do I know about rebuilding and new places and creating new database. This is way over my head as far as computer knowledge and level of expertise is concerned. All I want to do is delete some websites, why is that so hard?

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I'm still having the same problem, only I've been able to move some of the unwanted bookmarks into a "to be deleted" file at the bottom of a not very often area. But not all will be moved. And the problem is still there.