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Firefox stores your personal information and settings in a profile folder. Learn how to back up and restore this important data.

Firefox stores your personal data, such as bookmarks, passwords, and extensions, in a [[Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data|profile]] folder on your computer, in a location separate from the Firefox program. This article explains how to back up your profile, restore it, or move your profile to a new location or computer. {note}'''Note:''' [[Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings|The Refresh Firefox feature]] creates an '''Old Firefox Data''' folder on your desktop, which contains a backup of your old profile folder and its contents. If you recently refreshed Firefox and still have this folder, you already have a complete profile backup.{/note} __TOC__ = Locate your profile folder = [[T:OpenProfileFolder]] = Backing up your profile = To back up your profile, first close Firefox if it is open and then copy the profile folder to another location. # Locate your profile folder, as explained above. # Close Firefox (if open): [[T:closeFirefox]] # Go to one level above your profile's folder, i.e. to {filepath {for win}%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{/for}{for mac}~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/{/for}{for linux}~/.mozilla/firefox/{/for}} # {for win,linux}Right-click{/for}{for mac}Hold down the {key Ctrl} key while you click{/for} on your profile folder (e.g. {filepath xxxxxxxx.default}), and select {menu Copy}. # {for win,linux}Right-click{/for}{for mac}Hold down the {key Ctrl} key while you click{/for} the backup location (e.g. a USB-stick or a blank CD-RW disc), and select {menu Paste{for mac} item{/for}}. = Restoring a profile backup = # [[T:closeFirefox]] # If your existing profile folder and profile backup folder have the same name, simply replace the existing profile folder with the profile backup, then start Firefox. {note}'''Important:''' The profile folder names must match exactly for this to work, including the random string of 8 characters. If the names do not match or if you are restoring a backup to a different location, follow the steps below.{/note} == Restoring to a different location == If the profile folder names do not match or if you want to move or restore a profile to a different location, do the following: # Completely close Firefox: [[T:closeFirefox]] #[[Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles|Use the Firefox Profile Manager to create a new profile]] in your desired location, then exit the Profile Manager. {note}'''Note:''' If you just installed Firefox on a new computer, you can use the default profile that is automatically created when you first run Firefox, instead of creating a new profile.{/note} #Locate the backed-up profile folder on your hard drive or backup medium (e.g., your USB stick). #Open the profile folder backup (e.g., the {filepath xxxxxxxx.default} backup). #Copy the entire ''contents'' of the profile folder backup, such as the {filepath handlers.json} file, {filepath prefs.js} file, {filepath bookmarkbackups} folder, etc. #Locate and open the new profile folder as explained above and then close Firefox (if open). #Paste the contents of the backed up profile folder into the new profile folder, overwriting existing files of the same name. #Start Firefox. = Related articles = *To back up and transfer your data using Firefox Sync when you install Firefox on a new device, see [[Back up and transfer your Firefox data to a new device]]. *To restore or move selected information instead of the entire profile, see [[Recovering important data from an old profile]]. *To back up, restore or move just your bookmarks (not other data), see [[Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer]].