Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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.

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

bookmarks html file not working

  • 1 reply
  • 3 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

I recently had to backup my computer because it was being repaired. I exported all my favourites into a file to the desktop but now on my new computer it is just coming up as a file with the favourites surrounded by all code and jibberish and not set up as a list and I can re-import it. It is very important I get my bookmarks back, please help!

Working on a PC with Firefox

I recently had to backup my computer because it was being repaired. I exported all my favourites into a file to the desktop but now on my new computer it is just coming up as a file with the favourites surrounded by all code and jibberish and not set up as a list and I can re-import it. It is very important I get my bookmarks back, please help! Working on a PC with Firefox

All Replies (1)

more options

See:


Make sure that the backup file with the bookmarks has the correct file extension: .html for a HTML backup and .json for a JSON backup.
You can check that via the right-click context menu of that file and open the Properties.
If you are not sure about the file type then you can open the file in Firefox via "File > Open File"
A JSON backup will show as one long text line without line breaks and a HTML backup as a web page with clickable links.

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

JSON restore (will replace all current bookmarks):

  • Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Restore > Choose File

HTML import (merge the bookmarks with the ones that you have):

  • Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Import HTML : "From File"

Modified by cor-el