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Bookmarks lost upon restart. I restore but when I click Organize Bookmarks they are gone again so I can't export to html

  • 6 replies
  • 7 have this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by jackiez

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I have restored my bookmarks but they will not show up when I click on Organize Bookmarks. So I cannot back them up by exporting.

Main problem is every time I start Firefox the bookmarks are lost. I can restore but I need to fix this problem. Since I cannot back them up I don't know what to do.

I have restored my bookmarks but they will not show up when I click on Organize Bookmarks. So I cannot back them up by exporting. Main problem is every time I start Firefox the bookmarks are lost. I can restore but I need to fix this problem. Since I cannot back them up I don't know what to do.

All Replies (6)

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Sounds like a problem with the places.sqlite database file.

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locked_or_damaged_places.sqlite

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Problem is there is a disconnect between the bookmarks actually listed in my bookmarks menu and the bookmarks listed in bookmarks menu when I click on organize bookmarks. As in - there are none. This doesn't seem to be happening with bookmarks save to toolbar, just those saved to bookmarks menu.

All the suggestions I have found start out with Organize bookmarks>export to html. I can get there but when I do there are no bookmarks to actually export.

I am working with a mac 10.4.11

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I exported the bookmarks that were left when I click on Organize bookmarks (which are only the bookmarks saved in Toolbar, even though I see the others when I click on Bookmarks). They exported to a Json file on my desktop which I cannot open. I try to open the file (default, I guess, with Adobe Reader), and it says it is possible damaged.

I tried to import them from Safari but that didn't work either. Anyone else having this problem??

Anyway to at least copy them from the Bookmarks dropdown menu? Help!

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You can't open a JSON backup with Acrobat Reader. You need to use a (plain) text editor to inspect the file.

If you want Firefox to recognize the file then make sure that it has .json file extension. You can check that via the right-click context menu in the Properties of the file.


A JSON backup will show as one long text line without line breaks.
A JSON backup starts with: {"title":"","id":1,"dateAdded":

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Thanks for your help!

Unfortunately I am still at a loss. The file has a .json extension. I right click, then get info, and the popup box does have Adobe Reader as default. What plain text editor should I use?

If it does work, then I would try to restore using that? BUt will the bookmarks be there when I restart FF again? That hasn't been the case in the past.

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Ok, I figured the Textedit bit out but as I suspected there is nothing in the Json file.

Back to the original issue I guess.

I'll keep looking..