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How to delete bookmarked sites from history/recently viewed pages?

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No history-clearing option will delete bookmarked sites from Recently Viewed Pages (clockface icon). Even if deleted one by one, they reappear. I can succeed in deleting them ONLY by deleting them from Bookmarks as well. The backlog of these sites is in the hundreds and I would like to clear Recently Visited Sites yet preserve the bookmarks. Many thanks for any suggestions

No history-clearing option will delete bookmarked sites from Recently Viewed Pages (clockface icon). Even if deleted one by one, they reappear. I can succeed in deleting them ONLY by deleting them from Bookmarks as well. The backlog of these sites is in the hundreds and I would like to clear Recently Visited Sites yet preserve the bookmarks. Many thanks for any suggestions

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hmm i cant find the recently viewed sites in my firefox, i wish i had this option. where is it exactly maybe i can help you.

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Using View/Toolbars/Customize, I added the clockface icon to my Navigation Toolbar. This shows recently viewed pages, but if those pages are also bookmarked, they cannot be deleted from this list -- or I can't manage to do it. Consequently, I have years of links piled up behind the clockface.

Thanks for your reply.

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  • "Most Visited" and "Recently Bookmarked" are examples of the so called Smart Bookmarks folders and are not real existing folders.
  • Such smart folders show a list created by a query of the places.sqlite database that stores the bookmarks and the history in Firefox.
  • Smart folder lists show a maximum of 10 entries by default.
  • Bookmarks that show up in a smart folder list are stored elsewhere in another folder and any changes made are applied to the real bookmark or history item.
  • If you remove an entry then the list is shifted up and a new entry that wasn't shown previously is added to show 10 entries.
  • If you add a new bookmark or visit a website then a new item is added at the top and the entry at the bottom disappears from that list.
  • Items that disappear from the list are not gone, but merely do not show up anymore in that list.
  • Actions like copy & paste or delete that you perform on bookmarks in such a list are done on the original bookmark.
  • If you do not want a specific list then remove that query (right-click: Delete), but do not delete the content that is displayed in such a list.

You can open a bookmark from such a list in a tab and click the star on the location bar or use the Bookmark menu item 'Bookmark This Page' to see the location (folder) and edit the properties of the bookmark (name, location, folder) and move it to another folder or remove the bookmark.