We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Sync isn't working! Nothing syncs. How does Firefox Sync actually work?

Pratyush
Pratyush
more options

Old Sync:

To add a device to the older Firefox sync, I had to type in a code in the new device's Firefox which was shown in the old device's Firefox.

New Sync:

To add a new device to the new Firefox sync, I had to just log into my Firefox account on the new device and the FF installation would download all data from Mozilla's servers. All data is present on their servers and is encrypted. So its safe too.


My problem:

I had been using Chrome at first but then i switched to FFox for the last 3-4 years. All of my chrome and FFox bookmarks of the last 5 years are/were on Firefox. It was fully updated and with the new accounts-based Firefox Sync on Windows 10.

I switched to Ubuntu and i tried Chrome for the last 4 months and now I want to move back to Firefox.

I installed Firefox and I logged in to my Firefox account successfully without any password reset.

But the bookmarks won't sync at all.

Questions:

Why is this happening? Isn't everything that i chose to sync stored on Mozilla's servers?

Is there a way to check if any bookmarks(or any other data) are present on Mozilla's servers?


P.S.: My friend did the exact same thing (moved from Win to Linux and logged into Firefox account) and all of his FFox data was synced but its not working for me. Are the FFox data deleted from Mozilla's servers if there's no activity for 4-5 months?

Old Sync: To add a device to the older Firefox sync, I had to type in a code in the new device's Firefox which was shown in the old device's Firefox. New Sync: To add a new device to the new Firefox sync, I had to just log into my Firefox account on the new device and the FF installation would download all data from Mozilla's servers. All data is present on their servers and is encrypted. So its safe too. My problem: I had been using Chrome at first but then i switched to FFox for the last 3-4 years. All of my chrome and FFox bookmarks of the last 5 years are/were on Firefox. It was fully updated and with the new accounts-based Firefox Sync on Windows 10. I switched to Ubuntu and i tried Chrome for the last 4 months and now I want to move back to Firefox. I installed Firefox and I logged in to my Firefox account successfully without any password reset. But the bookmarks won't sync at all. Questions: Why is this happening? Isn't everything that i chose to sync stored on Mozilla's servers? Is there a way to check if any bookmarks(or any other data) are present on Mozilla's servers? P.S.: My friend did the exact same thing (moved from Win to Linux and logged into Firefox account) and all of his FFox data was synced but its not working for me. Are the FFox data deleted from Mozilla's servers if there's no activity for 4-5 months?

All Replies (2)

Paul
Paul
  • Top 25 Contributor
  • Moderator
more options

Hi

Thank you for your question about the Firefox Sync service.

It appears from your question, that you are using Firefox Sync as a back up service. This is not what Sync is designed to do. The Firefox Sync service takes a copy of the data you wish to include and transfers it to a second device (typically a mobile device such as a tablet or a telephone) running a copy of Firefox. The storage in between all attached devices is both temporary and fragile and is not stable enough to be (and is not designed as) a reliable backup service.

If you have a copy of your Firefox profile for desktop Firefox, you may be able to recover your bookmarks and other data. Please have a read of this article.

If you have a copy of your data on a mobile version of Firefox, please follow these instructions to connect it to Firefox Sync to copy your data.

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
more options

In the "Library" window in Firefox -> Import & Backup > Import Data from another Browser. See this >> Import bookmarks from Google Chrome