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How do I "DELETE" items in "Recently Bookmarked"? NOT HIDE THEM!

  • 4 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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First! Please do not reply telling me how to "Hide" the recently bookmarked items.

Second! Please do not post a reply unless you know of a way that you have tested on your own PC to "permanently delete" this history.

I just added a bookmark folder called "porn". It contains my "porn" bookmarks. I buried it in the "other bookmarks" so it's not easily stumbled upon because I don't want my kids accidentally opening one of my favorite "porn" sites!

If uninstalling Firefox and importing my bookmarks from a backup or html export would actually work, I'd be willing to do that.

I suspect there's some file I can just go delete and this "history" which should be able to be controlled by the end user in the first place, can be erased.

I do not like browsers keeping browsing history I don't want them too.

First! Please do not reply telling me how to "Hide" the recently bookmarked items. Second! Please do not post a reply unless you know of a way that you have tested on your own PC to "permanently delete" this history. I just added a bookmark folder called "porn". It contains my "porn" bookmarks. I buried it in the "other bookmarks" so it's not easily stumbled upon because I don't want my kids accidentally opening one of my favorite "porn" sites! If uninstalling Firefox and importing my bookmarks from a backup or html export would actually work, I'd be willing to do that. I suspect there's some file I can just go delete and this "history" which should be able to be controlled by the end user in the first place, can be erased. I do not like browsers keeping browsing history I don't want them too.

All Replies (4)

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"Recently Bookmarked" comes in two flavors:

(1) Section of the menu with the 5 most recent bookmarks: This can be hidden but not removed from Firefox.

(2) Blue "smart bookmark folder": This can be deleted. (It also can be regenerated, as described in this article: Restore the default Smart Bookmarks Folders)

Both of these features query your current bookmarks by date added. There is no separate copy to delete! If you delete something from the Recently Bookmarked smart folder, you'll delete the actual bookmark.

As a workaround, if you think someone might unhide the menu section, you could add five innocuous bookmarks before letting anyone else use your browser.

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Note that this is not possible. As long as you have any bookmarks then a database query will come up with results that will show in this smart bookmark list.


Some information about so called smart bookmarks folders:

  • "Most Visited" and "Recently Bookmarked" and "Recent Tags" are examples of so called Smart Bookmarks folders and are not real existing folders.
  • Smart folders show a list created by a query of the places.sqlite database that stores bookmarks and history in Firefox.
  • Smart folder lists show a maximum of 10 entries by default.
  • Bookmarks and history items 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 hide the "Recently Bookmarked" section added to some bookmarks menus in the current release by setting browser.bookmarks.showRecentlyBookmarked to false on the about:config page.
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Hi,

First go to "other bookmarks" and delete the one(s) you do not want and they will automacatilly deleted from "recently bookmarked".

Ciao Yeti

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Note that you can't hide a bookmark in the "Recently Bookmarked" section. Only when the bookmark is deleted or when you have created more than 10 bookmarks to push to bookmark put of view then you won't see it in the "Recently Bookmarked" list.


Query:

Name: Recently Bookmarked
Location: place:folder=BOOKMARKS_MENU&folder=UNFILED_BOOKMARKS&folder=TOOLBAR&queryType=1&sort=12&maxResults=10&excludeQueries=1