Can you see those bookmarks in the Bookmarks Toolbar folder in the bookmarks sidebar (Ctrl+B) and in the Bookmarks Manager (Library; Ctrl+Shift+O) ?

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/bookmarks-firefox

Make sure toolbars like the "Bookmarks Toolbar" are visible. Open the Customize page and set what toolbars (Show/Hide Toolbars) and toolbar items to display.

• Right-click empty toolbar area -> Customize
• "3-bar" menu button -> Customize
• View -> Toolbars
  *you can tap the Alt key or press the F10 key to show the hidden Menu Bar temporarily

• check that "Bookmarks Toolbar Items" is on the Bookmarks Toolbar
• if "Bookmarks Toolbar Items" is not on the Bookmarks Toolbar then drag it back from the Customize palette to the Customize page to the Bookmarks Toolbar

• if missing items are in the Customize palette then drag them back from the Customize page to the toolbar
• if you do not see an item on a toolbar and in the Customize palette then click Restore Defaults in the Customize palette window to restore the default toolbar set.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customize-firefox-controls-buttons-and-toolbars

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

This could be a problem with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.

• use the "Places Database" -> "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> More 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 the most 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
• you lose the history when a new places.sqlite is created

You may have to restore an older bookmarks backup in the bookmarkbackups folder via the Bookmarks Manager (Library).

• Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks -> Import & Backup -> Restore
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

See also:

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-bookmarks-and-history-will-not-be-functional
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cant-add-change-or-save-bookmarks

You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).

• Help -> More Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
  Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

Can you see those bookmarks in the Bookmarks Toolbar folder in the bookmarks sidebar (Ctrl+B) and in the Bookmarks Manager (Library; Ctrl+Shift+O) ?

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/bookmarks-firefox

---

Make sure toolbars like the "Bookmarks Toolbar" are visible. Open the Customize page and set what toolbars (Show/Hide Toolbars) and toolbar items to display.

• Right-click empty toolbar area -> Customize
• "3-bar" menu button -> Customize
• View -> Toolbars
  *you can tap the Alt key or press the F10 key to show the hidden Menu Bar temporarily

• check that "Bookmarks Toolbar Items" is on the Bookmarks Toolbar
• if "Bookmarks Toolbar Items" is not on the Bookmarks Toolbar then drag it back from the Customize palette to the Customize page to the Bookmarks Toolbar

• if missing items are in the Customize palette then drag them back from the Customize page to the toolbar
• if you do not see an item on a toolbar and in the Customize palette then click Restore Defaults in the Customize palette window to restore the default toolbar set.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customize-firefox-controls-buttons-and-toolbars

---

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

This could be a problem with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.

• use the "Places Database" -> "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> More 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 the most 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
• you lose the history when a new places.sqlite is created

You may have to restore an older bookmarks backup in the bookmarkbackups folder via the Bookmarks Manager (Library).

• Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks -> Import & Backup -> Restore
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

See also:

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-bookmarks-and-history-will-not-be-functional
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cant-add-change-or-save-bookmarks

You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).

• Help -> More Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
  Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

I had already tried all of that, and my bookmarks were showing under the heading of 'Bookmarks Toolbar'.

None of these were the solution. What was the solution? Nothing at all. I literally changed no settings, adjusted no preferences, and suddenly they all returned. This is not an exaggeration. It appears there is some bug somewhere in the bookmarks toolbar environment in the newest version of Firefox, but I'm sure everyone in the world will discount this possibility.

Thanks for trying to help, but these troubleshooting tips you provided were such that I had already independently found and tried before asking my own question.

I suppose I'll mark your reply as having solved the problem nonetheless, as I'm not sure what else I can do besides accept that software is imperfect and this issue will be (inevitably) written off as user error (somehow).

Thanks again

This forum has received intermittent reports during the past 6 months or so that despite bookmarks being in the Bookmarks Toolbar "container" as verified through the Library/Sidebar/Menu, and despite the "Bookmarks Toolbar Items" control being at the left of the Bookmarks Toolbar in Customize, for some reason, the bar doesn't show the bookmarks.

I suspect there is a database corruption issue, but that is hard to track down because... what are we looking for?

It's possible that using Verify Integrity fixed the corruption and allowed Firefox to start showing those bookmarks again but usually it doesn't work right away, which contributes to the bizarre nature of this problem.

I suppose if I were a developer tasked with solving it, I would try to figure out what is different between the code that shows the Bookmarks Toolbar sub-menu and the Bookmarks Toolbar Items. Maybe the code for the toolbar is tripping over something that the other code handles more gracefully? But as I am not a developer, I don't know whether that would be a sensible thing to look at.

If this happens again: could you save a backup copy of your places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite database files (after closing Firefox) for possible analysis? They are in your profile folder: Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data.

It is possible that the Bookmarks Toolbar is populated lazily in the background at a later time to speedup the startup and that this trigger fails for some reason not related to the bookmarks, but has another reason like an exception that is thrown elsewhere that causes an interruption in the startup sequence.