Hi j-p_FF, This question has been asked often and, as far as I know, there aren't too many ways to locate a bookmark in your library.

There are some alternative methods: Search for the bookmark and when it's found drag it to a location where you know it is, then, put it where you would like it to be.

Backup your bookmarks as an html. Open the file in Firefox and search (Ctrl+F) for your bookmark. You will see which folder it is in.

You can open this bookmark in a tab, possible in "Work Offline mode". If you click the highlighted star on the location bar then you can check via the Folder line where in the folder tree this bookmark is located (second down arrow and use the scroll bar).

cor-el said

You can open this bookmark in a tab, possible in "Work Offline mode". If you click the highlighted star on the location bar then you can check via the Folder line where in the folder tree this bookmark is located (second down arrow and use the scroll bar).

That's a much easier method!

same question here - chrome has a menu option of "show in folder" - firefox needs the same thing?

quartz said

same question here - chrome has a menu option of "show in folder" - firefox needs the same thing?

It is on the wish list somewhere in the bug tracking system. Until then, need to use a workaround.

Hi everyone. I have the same problem. I have a copious amount of bookmarks all organized into Parent / Child directories. While it doesn't happen often, there are times when I need to know a particular bookmark resides within the Bookmarks tree. In Firefox it's virtually impossible. Within almost every other browser, they offer a "Show in Folder" option that will route you directly to the bookmark's folder. It can be very frustrating when I need to locate the bookmark's directory.

Thanks!

Thanks a lot to all of you ! +++

Indeed the most convenient way to workaround the gap is cor-el's solution. It will be very useful for me. My_Cheese_Is_Slippin' 's solution is time consuming but elegant.

It is on the wish list jscher2000 said, but how to make FF developpers taking this shortcoming in account ? Because it is an annoying gap and it seems quite easy to correct (It doesn't request a lot of code nor modification).

j-p

j-p_FF said

It is on the wish list jscher2000 said, but how to make FF developpers taking this shortcoming in account ? Because it is an annoying gap and it seems quite easy to correct (It doesn't request a lot of code nor modification).

If you think it's so easy, how about stepping up and coming up with an add-on / extension for the rest of the world?

It's been this way since Firefox 3.0 (June 17, 2008) was released with the 'new' Places database system. Over the ensuing years, there have been a number of 3rd party extensions available for users to install (related to what's known as Parent Folder), but as of Quantum Firefox 57 the ability of what an extension can do is very limited vs. the older Legacy extension rules and API's. Displaying the "Parent Folder" doesn't seem to be available any longer, as no API exists. I guess or we would have that type of extension available now, 14 versions after the Quantum era began.

So, no that isn't easy to fix beyond what the developers are willing to do as far as adding it to Firefox or what type of API the developers are willing to add to Firefox so that extension developers can do as they did from Firefox 3.0 up thru Firefox 56.

One other thing that too many long term users don't think about is that one of the key new features with Places is the Tags feature. Which iirc was to allow users to categorize their bookmarks by using Tags, and lessen the need for a hierarchical order using nested folders for classifying bookmarks for easy retrieval. I never bothered with the Tags feature because extensions for Parent Folder existed very soon after Places came about; that is until those extensions didn't exist any longer. But hey,no biggie for me as I am using an old version of Firefox from 2015 for the most important things I do on the internet, other than banking and for YouTube.

See also:

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/bookmark-search-plus-2/

Thank you very much cor-el. j-p

Hi @Cor-el. Thank you for sharing. I remember this plugin from year ago! Unfortunately read the description listed on the plugin:

"This is a Web Extension add-on version of the old "Bookmark search plus" XUL extension published by Alice0775, not working anymore in Firefox 57+, which was very useful."

As @the-edmeister was referencing: I wonder why the FF developers chose not to include Parent Folder query within Quantum 57+....?

The name of the parent folder is easily available, but the problem is getting the path to this folder that requires to go backward until you are at one of the root folder. This backtracking is a costly procedure and can add quite extra time to finish the query with a lot of bookmarks that are deeply nested.

See:

• Bug 469421 - Add a folder column to search results for bookmarks in the library

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Hello. When a bookmark leads to a website that requires a login then cor-el's solution is failing; because the star on the location bar provides bookmarking and not editing.

So, in this case, (My_Cheese_Is_Slippin')=RobertJ's solution saved me. That's to say: Export bookmark as html and Find the characters chain in the html page.

In conclusion: Adding a folder column to search results for bookmarks in the library would really be an improvement. (Bug 469421)

j-p

Hi j-p_FF, Don't forget that you can bookmark the local html file for faster/easier access.

For example: Open your Bookmarks Library (I use Ctrl+Shift+B) In the Left Pane select the folder where you want to Add the bookmark Select Organize -> New Bookmark In the Location field enter the full path to the file Be sure to include the file extension - e.g. .html You can enter (as an example) C:\Users\Robert\Documents\FF Bookmarks\Jan2020Bookmarks.html When you select another field - like Name - the Location syntax will change to file:///C:/Users/Robert/Documents/FF Bookmarks/Jan2020Bookmarks.html Then Name your Bookmark and select Add.

Then click on the bookmark and use Quick Search ("/"). Enter the search term and you'll see the bookmark and be able to see which folder it's in.

Hi again j-p_FF, I just wanted to remind you that you can configure Firefox to backup your bookmarks to an HTML file Each time that you close Firefox. Only one file is created and it is re-written each time that you close the browser.

Type (or paste) about:config in the address bar and press Enter Select "Accept the Risk and Continue" Enter browser.bookmarks.autoExportHTML in the search bar at the top Toggle the value to True by clicking the Toggle button at the right.

Create a new config preference: Enter browser.bookmarks.file in the search bar at the top select String and click the Add (plus sign) button at the right Enter the full path where you want to save the file, e.g., C:\Users\<yourname>\Documents\BookmarksBkup\Bookmarks.html Be sure to include the file extension - .html then click the Save (check mark) button.

Close the about:config tab.

You need to restart Firefox for the changes to take effect. After that, your file will be saved.

(To turn the feature off, toggle browser.bookmarks.autoExportHTML to False)

Thank you very much Robert. j-p

I've realised another (painfully obvious?) solution to this.

export bookmarks to html file. open this html file in a tab.

ctrl-f that window for the text you want to find in your bookmarks

You may try my add-on for this task -> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/at-your-command/. See https://i.imgur.com/vmmxZnv.png (or attachment) for what to do. 1) find bookmark - prefix b means "search in bookmarks" 2) select it - e.g. by clicking favicon on left side 3) choose folder from Move drop-down list

Hi Jan, would it be difficult to show a full "path" for the bookmark folder, for example as a menu option or on hover? Sometimes users accidentally move a folder through drag and drop and need to know where it is now.

Hi jscher2000, feel free to try version 7.3. Hovering over folder cell in bookmarks mode shows full path. It is also possible to export paths of selected bookmarks using Copy Custom command. See http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=14748700#p14748700, chapter 6.2. Copy Custom. Should you need any assistance, please let me know.