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bookmarks gone after doing a factory reset on my Macbook despite signing into same Mozilla profile

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  • 0 have this problem
  • Last reply by cor-el

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Hiya good citizens of the internet 👋

Please help me recover my bookmarks 🥺

I've gone through every single support article on this topic and tried everything suggested and still no luck. This is my hail mary.

How I got here I needed to do a full wipe and reinstal of my macOS; this was conducted with the help of the Genuis bar. Upon reinstalling Firefox, I signed into my account and my bookmarks are all gone, records of them empty.

I should also note that nothing else ported over. No passwords, no browser extensions. Nada. The passowrds and extensions aren't a big deal. I use a 3rd-party password manager and can easily re-download the handful of extensions/widgets. But I heavily relied on bookmarks for both frequently visited sites and ones rarely-used which I knew were important for future reference. And I cannot remember 80% of them...

What else I've tried other than what's suggested in help article:

  • Because I did not check to confirm which Firefox profile I've been signed into for ages and ages before doing the reset, I thought maybe I had just signed into the wrong one. I proceeded to try every other email address I have, including two from my old workplace. None of the other 5 emails had profiles created. I know this because it prompted the sign up userflow; create a password, etc.
  • But I also know for a fact that the bookmarks were saved as part of a profile because I used the profile sync feature to auto-port all my bookmarks when I first got this Macbook a year and a bit ago.
  • The folders where bookmark backup info is stored locally are empty... Clearly, it wasn't stored in my icloud documents (that's on me for not double-checking)
  • I checked my other device (mobile phone) to see if I had firefox downloaded and was signed into the same account as the original, with the bookmarks still visible. Of course I didn't. I only use Safari on my phone 😭

""Grasping at straws: the only other things I can think of""

  • Is there some way of linking my MAC address with my IP address and using those to triangulate the correct profile?
  • Because my computer got wiped and nothing is saved locally, my only hope is that my bookmarks are floating around the ether. If so, I just need to figure out how to find them.

Any and all help/suggestions are massively appreciated!!

Thanks in advance,

Lauren

Hiya good citizens of the internet 👋 Please help me recover my bookmarks 🥺 I've gone through every single support article on this topic and tried everything suggested and still no luck. This is my hail mary. '''How I got here''' I needed to do a full wipe and reinstal of my macOS; this was conducted with the help of the Genuis bar. Upon reinstalling Firefox, I signed into my account and my bookmarks are all gone, records of them empty. I should also note that nothing else ported over. No passwords, no browser extensions. Nada. The passowrds and extensions aren't a big deal. I use a 3rd-party password manager and can easily re-download the handful of extensions/widgets. But I ''heavily'' relied on bookmarks for both frequently visited sites and ones rarely-used which I knew were important for future reference. And I cannot remember 80% of them... '''What else I've tried other than what's suggested in help article: ''' * Because I did not check to confirm ''which'' Firefox profile I've been signed into for ages and ages before doing the reset, I thought maybe I had just signed into the wrong one. I proceeded to try every other email address I have, including two from my old workplace. None of the other 5 emails had profiles created. I know this because it prompted the sign up userflow; create a password, etc. * But I also know for a fact that the bookmarks were saved as part of a profile because I used the profile sync feature to auto-port all my bookmarks when I first got this Macbook a year and a bit ago. * The folders where bookmark backup info is stored locally are empty... Clearly, it wasn't stored in my icloud documents (that's on me for not double-checking) * I checked my other device (mobile phone) to see if I had firefox downloaded and was signed into the same account as the original, with the bookmarks still visible. Of course I didn't. I only use Safari on my phone 😭 ""Grasping at straws: the only other things I can think of"" * Is there some way of linking my MAC address with my IP address and using those to triangulate the correct profile? * Because my computer got wiped and nothing is saved locally, my only hope is that my bookmarks are floating around the ether. If so, I just need to figure out how to find them. Any and all help/suggestions are massively appreciated!! Thanks in advance, Lauren

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Hey Jon,

Thanks for replying!

Not the outcome I hoped for but lesson learned 🙏

Many thanks,

Lauren

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