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How do I import a bookmarks.html file? Bookmarks > Organize bookmarks > Import and backups does not work.

  • 10 replies
  • 28 have this problem
  • 18 views
  • Last reply by silkphoenix

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After trying to import my saved bookmarks from an html file, using Bookmarks > Organize bookmarks > Import and Backup > Import html, nothing is updated from the saved files

After trying to import my saved bookmarks from an html file, using Bookmarks > Organize bookmarks > Import and Backup > Import html, nothing is updated from the saved files

Chosen solution

That's not "machine code", that is how a JSON backup file is formatted (except it normally shows no line breaks, it's one long line when viewed in most text programs or in Firefox). Renaming a JSON file to HTML doesn't work, the formats are totally different.

If you change the file extension of that file to json, you should be able to restore that data into Firefox. Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks -> Import & Backup - Restore - Choose file...

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All Replies (10)

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Could you be more specific? Was there an error message? Were you able to open the html file in Firefox?

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I did not get any error message. After I selected the html file using the Browse feature in Library, and clicked on Open, nothing happened.

I have been able to open the file by using File > Open, and by clicking on the icon. There are rows upon rows of machine language, intertwined with reference to some of the bookmarks I had saved (I didn't view the whole file).

Thanks for any assistance

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So you didn't save your bookmark in your hard drive? If you did, you should be able to just double click on the file and open in Firefox.

Please read this article to see if it helps:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Lost_bookmarks#Step-by-step_bookmark_recovery

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"There are rows upon rows of machine language, intertwined with reference to some of the bookmarks I had saved"

Using File > Open file... in Firefox should have displayed that like a simple webpage; white background with Bookmarks Menu at the top of the "page", Folder names, separators (if you use them) and hyperlinks for your bookmarks.

That doesn't sound like an HTML file, which is a text file - no "machine language". Where did you get that file from?

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See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Backing_up_and_restoring_bookmarks_-_Firefox

A JSON backup starts with: {"title":"","id":1,"dateAdded" A HTML backup starts with: <!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>

A JSON backup needs to have the .json file extension and an HTML backup a .html file extension, so check in the Properties to make sure that there is no other hidden file extension appended.

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I created the file using the backup feature through Firefox, on my old laptop. The filename is: bookmarks-2010-01-31.html. I can read it using Firefox, Notepad and can actually see some of the bookmarks I created over the years of using them.

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Chosen Solution

That's not "machine code", that is how a JSON backup file is formatted (except it normally shows no line breaks, it's one long line when viewed in most text programs or in Firefox). Renaming a JSON file to HTML doesn't work, the formats are totally different.

If you change the file extension of that file to json, you should be able to restore that data into Firefox. Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks -> Import & Backup - Restore - Choose file...

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Dear Ed-Meister:

Thanks a million. That did the trick.

George

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Dear Ed-Meister;

Thanks a million - that did the trick.

George

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You're welcome, I'll mark this thread as solved.