We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

how do i retrieve my lost bookmarks??

  • 3 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

Bulb99
Bulb99
more options

i had mozilla installed and so many important bookmarks saved. later i had the whole pc formatted and then the whole thing got erased. i want those bookmarks back and i dont no how !! pl help me.

fyi: i had signed into my firefox account in the previous. i dont whether it would have saved those bookmarks in that account stuff...so is there a way to retrieve it ?? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

thanks in advance.

i had mozilla installed and so many important bookmarks saved. later i had the whole pc formatted and then the whole thing got erased. i want those bookmarks back and i dont no how !! pl help me. fyi: i had signed into my firefox account in the previous. i dont whether it would have saved those bookmarks in that account stuff...so is there a way to retrieve it ?? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... thanks in advance.

All Replies (3)

Wesley Branton
Wesley Branton
more options

If you were using Firefox sync, you can try signing into sync on your new installation of Firefox and your bookmarks may be recovered. However, Firefox sync was never designed to be a backup system, so it may not be successful in recovering data 100% of the time.

Unfortunately, if your Firefox data was on the drive that was reformatted, this data can no longer be retrieved.

In the future, we recommend backing up your Firefox data periodically (especially before a reformat). For more information on how to backup your Firefox data, please refer to this Mozilla support article:

Sorry for any inconvenience caused by this issue.

Modified by Wesley Branton

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
more options

Sounds like you didn't back up your bookmarks before formatting your hard drive. Silly mistake.

If you were using Sync prior to that formatting episode, you might be able to recover your Firefox data as long as you know your Username (email address) and the Password that you were using. See Connect additional devices to Sync in this support article: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-set-sync-my-computer#w_connect-additional-devices-to-sync

If you Reset the Password for Sync / Firefox Accounts - your data is gone. That is a fatal mistake.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Keep in mind that Sync isn't designed to be used as a backup device, but merely to sync data between multiple devices. It is not guaranteed that you can restore data from the Sync server in case of problems with your OS or because you otherwise lost data. Requesting a new password because you forgot it or changing the password for the Firefox Sync account will wipe all data stored on the Sync server and you won't be able to retrieve data that was stored previously. Best is always to backup your personal data locally to be sure to be able to recover from issues.