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How do I stop bookmarks from duplicating dozens of times

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  • Last reply by cor-el

Eskimo27
Eskimo27
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I have 3 notebook computers that until recently have been synchronizing Firefox bookmarks nicely. This week, however, I realized that when I create a new bookmark or bookmark folder on any of the computers, they duplicate themselves dozens (or is a couple of cases several hundred) times. I have tried "disconnecting" the computers and then deleting the bookmarks, but they do not go away.

How do I stop the duplication? And how do I remove the duplicates that already exist?

I have 3 notebook computers that until recently have been synchronizing Firefox bookmarks nicely. This week, however, I realized that when I create a new bookmark or bookmark folder on any of the computers, they duplicate themselves dozens (or is a couple of cases several hundred) times. I have tried "disconnecting" the computers and then deleting the bookmarks, but they do not go away. How do I stop the duplication? And how do I remove the duplicates that already exist?

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cor-el
cor-el
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If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync while performing maintenance/repair efforts to files in the Firefox profile folder.

You would have to remove duplicates yourself. You can check if there is an acceptable backup available.

  • Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks -> Import & Backup -> Restore

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.

  • bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item count>_<hash>.jsonlz4.

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks and history) in the Firefox profile folder.

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

See also:

If you want to continue using Sync then best is to reconnect one device at the time and wait for the initial Sync to finish before connecting another device once you have fixed the bookmarks and have created a backup.