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Restoring bookmarks from backup actually deleted bookmarks. Help!

  • 4 replies
  • 2 have this problem
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  • Paskiausią atsakymą parašė jmine83

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1. In Firefox on Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 LTS, signed into Firefox Sync. 2. Deleted the default Firefox bookmarks present with new browser installation. 3. Turned on bookmark toolbar. 4. My bookmarks in Firefox Sync came through successfully. 5. Accidentally deleted a bookmark directory. 6. Went into "Show All Bookmarks >> Import and Backup >> Restore >> 07/30/2016 (1.9 KB - 19 items)". 7. The bookmark restore completely removed all of my saved bookmarks and reverted back to the default Firefox bookmarks. 8. As a precaution, I then unchecked the Bookmark box in my Firefox Sync setting.

How do I get my bookmarks back?

1. In Firefox on Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 LTS, signed into Firefox Sync. 2. Deleted the default Firefox bookmarks present with new browser installation. 3. Turned on bookmark toolbar. 4. My bookmarks in Firefox Sync came through successfully. 5. Accidentally deleted a bookmark directory. 6. Went into "Show All Bookmarks >> Import and Backup >> Restore >> 07/30/2016 (1.9 KB - 19 items)". 7. The bookmark restore completely removed all of my saved bookmarks and reverted back to the default Firefox bookmarks. 8. As a precaution, I then unchecked the Bookmark box in my Firefox Sync setting. How do I get my bookmarks back?

Chosen solution

Your office computer also should have a history of local backups that could be restored, unlike your new setup which apparently didn't have enough time to do a daily backup after the Sync.

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Do you have Firefox 47? To check whether your bookmarks are still available in Sync, you could try creating a new profile and connecting it to your Sync account.

Type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Return to load it.

Click the Create a New Profile button. Assign a name like TEMP, and skip the option to relocate the profile folder.

After creating the profile, scroll down to it and click the Set as default profile button below that profile, then scroll back up and click the Restart normally button.

Firefox should exit and then start up using the new profile folder, which will just look brand new.

If you connect the new profile to your Sync account, does it restore your bookmarks?

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Thank you for the input.

Unfortunately, however, following the steps you outlined did not restore my bookmarks. It was a reasonable process to attempt nonetheless and I appreciate it.

I do have one last idea though. The bookmarks in question are bookmarks I created at work in the office. I've presently been at home where I also have Firefox and have the sync profile that mirrors my Firefox interface and content from work. When I get back to the office, maybe I can get my bookmarks back there. To be safe, I'll be sure to temporarily disconnect my internet connection before I even power on the computer; thus preventing Firefox Sync from tampering with the bookmarks. If it works presuming the bookmarks were saved locally at work, I'll be sure to backup the bookmarks to a file.

I'll post an update here if it works.

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Chosen Solution

Your office computer also should have a history of local backups that could be restored, unlike your new setup which apparently didn't have enough time to do a daily backup after the Sync.

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Got my bookmarks back and I didn't even have to go to the office. I just ran Time Machine on my Mac, restored from an earlier version of my Ubuntu virtual machine file, exported the bookmarks I thought I lost to an HTML file, then imported the HTML file into the current version of my Ubuntu virtual machine file. Done.