Import of bookmarks fails with no error message
I have a new laptop. I have Firefox Quantum 57.0.3 (64 bit) installed on both laptops. I have exported all bookmarks to the bookmarks.html file and copied it to the new laptop. When I try and import the bookmarks, I use the option to import from html file and select the file I have copied across, there is no error message just in the grey section at the bottom of the display it indicates "No items." The file is 334k and the first few lines are as follows ...
<!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
<!-- This is an automatically generated file.
It will be read and overwritten.
DO NOT EDIT! -->
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<TITLE>Bookmarks</TITLE>
<H1>Bookmarks Menu</H1>
<DL><p>
<DT><A HREF="place:type=6&sort=14&maxResults=10" ADD_DATE="1503103905" LAST_MODIFIED="1503103905">Recent Tags</A>
<DT><A HREF="place:folder=BOOKMARKS_MENU&folder=UNFILED_BOOKMARKS&folder=TOOLBAR&queryType=1&sort=12&maxResults=10&excludeQueries=1" ADD_DATE="1417665112" LAST_MODIFIED="1470950795">Recently Bookmarked</A>
<HR> <HR> <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1119507527">Quick Searches</H3>
<DD>Handy searches that can be performed in the addressbar
<DL><p>
<DT><A HREF="http://www.google.com/search?q=%s" ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" ICON_URI="http://www.mozilla.org/2005/made-up-favicon/46-1215472924274121" ICON="data:image/png;base64,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" SHORTCUTURL="google" LAST_CHARSET="UTF-8">Google Quicksearch</A>
<DD>Type "google <search terms>" in the location bar to perform a Google search
<DT><A HREF="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=%s" ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" SHORTCUTURL="dict">Dictionary.com Quicksearch</A>
<DD>Type "dict <word>" in the location bar to perform a dictionary look-up
<DT><A HREF="http://www.google.com/search?q=stocks:%s" ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" ICON_URI="http://www.mozilla.org/2005/made-up-favicon/47-1215472924289746" ICON="data:image/png;base64,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" SHORTCUTURL="quote" LAST_CHARSET="UTF-8">Stock Symbol Quicksearch</A>
<DD>Type "quote <symbol>" in the location bar to perform a stock symbol look-up
<DT><A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s" ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" SHORTCUTURL="wp">Wikipedia Quicksearch</A>
<DD>Type "wp <something>" in the location bar to look up something in Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia.
<DT><A HREF="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%s" ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" SHORTCUTURL="slang">Urban Dictionary</A>
<DD>Type "slang <word>" in the location bar to look up something in the people's slang dictionary
<DT><A HREF="http://search400.techtarget.com/featuredTopic/0,290042,sid3_gci1098553,00.html?track=NL-177&ad=520481" ADD_DATE="1119507527" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" ICON_URI="http://www.mozilla.org/2005/made-up-favicon/48-1215472924289746" ICON="data:image/png;base64,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" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1">Getting up to speed on ILE</A>
</DL><p>
<DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1119507527">Firefox and Mozilla Links</H3>
I have a lot of bookmarks and really need to be able to get them to import.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks
I have a new laptop.
I have Firefox Quantum 57.0.3 (64 bit) installed on both laptops.
I have exported all bookmarks to the bookmarks.html file and copied it to the new laptop.
When I try and import the bookmarks, I use the option to import from html file and select the file I have copied across, there is no error message just in the grey section at the bottom of the display it indicates "No items."
The file is 334k and the first few lines are as follows ...
<pre><nowiki><!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
<!-- This is an automatically generated file.
It will be read and overwritten.
DO NOT EDIT! -->
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<TITLE>Bookmarks</TITLE>
<H1>Bookmarks Menu</H1>
<DL><p>
<DT><A HREF="place:type=6&sort=14&maxResults=10" ADD_DATE="1503103905" LAST_MODIFIED="1503103905">Recent Tags</A>
<DT><A HREF="place:folder=BOOKMARKS_MENU&folder=UNFILED_BOOKMARKS&folder=TOOLBAR&queryType=1&sort=12&maxResults=10&excludeQueries=1" ADD_DATE="1417665112" LAST_MODIFIED="1470950795">Recently Bookmarked</A>
<HR> <HR> <DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1119507527">Quick Searches</H3>
<DD>Handy searches that can be performed in the addressbar
<DL><p>
<DT><A HREF="http://www.google.com/search?q=%s" ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" ICON_URI="http://www.mozilla.org/2005/made-up-favicon/46-1215472924274121" ICON="data:image/png;base64,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" SHORTCUTURL="google" LAST_CHARSET="UTF-8">Google Quicksearch</A>
<DD>Type "google <search terms>" in the location bar to perform a Google search
<DT><A HREF="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=%s" ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" SHORTCUTURL="dict">Dictionary.com Quicksearch</A>
<DD>Type "dict <word>" in the location bar to perform a dictionary look-up
<DT><A HREF="http://www.google.com/search?q=stocks:%s" ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" ICON_URI="http://www.mozilla.org/2005/made-up-favicon/47-1215472924289746" ICON="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAYAAAAf8/9hAAACxElEQVQ4jZ3TX2iVBRzG8fci8CLScJvlmsymM5PSTErNRWX2TxpJoYWTsiQQAr3Iq4goqCAKdhEEdlFB3iiFDd3SMCTJpJmmM6Zjmo6jbse1v+ec933Pe877fro4dR30wPf2eX78fr8nmLFtxKae9Z7uWe25bzdqP/CExw9tsPHAau1dj2nvfl5b9zobDj3sqcPrPXtwjXu/f1Rb9zpt3esEyzouCJNRUClFMjmjMhVcDRm6/JdpTE7GyilCJDFTZb8tbRE0bAnFiDGO89O880Xe5u37LXyoS+P9v7jpwS7Ltx6y85sJR/+cVFQgvu70okDQsO13mdiY0E8lntzVq27FDy6NkkcVI/j1PE2rPnH3fbuMj6PA2VtnCOZv6ZXJifH6BxcseGC3G2UyOUk2QTUVpzWnUxcLevv+EClQLuhbPEswb/uwUoX3dl9225pPnRsoixC7blIkNiQyRUQlqRmVTEnlnVoSCO58aUSEnZ/nNa3qpoRqIlMkyUxiCopFFWSKImMkVSfrZwrueqHfuFTLjsOaNndJ5UljEkT/LKGKUiJLqQoV3aBccen22YL6V4eMYVHHSU3PfEecMBnKFE1XUyIyMWmiIiNVC4kH9M9fJrjj5bMKWLtjUNDymbhSJE1FU0ARI0I/D+b03ijrG6b33LRU3okFgaBl64CSUW/t6Re0/ujtzhPGhcpQIRM6djqzfGWXhiX7tK7o8WHnGdU00rdwrqB5UwSGY+YvPW7W7C8dOU9UG5jiGFXKFc5co6H5XV/vPSWTc7p+rmDuK4MyRRVXXLletXjRx26es8dHnQOGy1QVTCgYw/6+RFC3yb6eYzI5/c23CBre6DOBMK1xLUy9+OYRja2d6u75St3y4+Y8ctTMJSfNW3vQa+/vdTUMwdnmeYKVHf1M1z7vvxQmae2kMcLQYGuj4N9a/h8uNgb+BszYMVpSsWAWAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" SHORTCUTURL="quote" LAST_CHARSET="UTF-8">Stock Symbol Quicksearch</A>
<DD>Type "quote <symbol>" in the location bar to perform a stock symbol look-up
<DT><A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s" ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" SHORTCUTURL="wp">Wikipedia Quicksearch</A>
<DD>Type "wp <something>" in the location bar to look up something in Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia.
<DT><A HREF="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%s" ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" SHORTCUTURL="slang">Urban Dictionary</A>
<DD>Type "slang <word>" in the location bar to look up something in the people's slang dictionary
<DT><A HREF="http://search400.techtarget.com/featuredTopic/0,290042,sid3_gci1098553,00.html?track=NL-177&ad=520481" ADD_DATE="1119507527" LAST_MODIFIED="1215472924" ICON_URI="http://www.mozilla.org/2005/made-up-favicon/48-1215472924289746" ICON="data:image/png;base64,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" LAST_CHARSET="ISO-8859-1">Getting up to speed on ILE</A>
</DL><p>
<DT><H3 ADD_DATE="1215472924" LAST_MODIFIED="1119507527">Firefox and Mozilla Links</H3>
</nowiki></pre>
I have a lot of bookmarks and really need to be able to get them to import.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks
Modified by cor-el
Chosen solution
Logins are stored in a separate file called logins.json and there is an companion file named key3.db which contains a critical key needed to decode the passwords in that file. You could manually copy/paste these files from the old laptop in place of the ones on the new laptop.
More info: Recovering important data from an old profile
P.S. Please make sure Firefox has shut down fully before deleting/replacing any of the files in the profile folder.
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (5)
Could you check whether there is an error message in the Browser Console? You can open that using Ctrl+Shift+j. Click the "trash can" icon at the upper left to clear the existing messages, then switch back to the Library window and try the import again. When you check back in the console, anything?
As a "Plan B", you could use the JSON format. Instead of Export/Import, that's Backup/Restore. See: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer.
As a "Plan C", what do you think about:
- Import the HTML file to Internet Explorer 11 -- to be converted to Windows Favorites
- Then have Firefox import from IE (see: Import Bookmarks and other data from Microsoft Edge)
This line
<!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
should precede this
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <TITLE>Bookmarks</TITLE>
at the top of the bookmarks.html file that Firefox generates when you use Export Bookmarks to HTML ...
If that isn't at the top of that file, add it and then try to import it again.
Thanks for the suggestions.
There were no errors shown in the console.
I tried Plan B and while this successfully got the bookmarks created it did not include the saved logins.
Any suggestion on how I could get the saved logins to import ?
I am not sure if Plan C would work for the saved logins ?
Thanks
Chosen Solution
Logins are stored in a separate file called logins.json and there is an companion file named key3.db which contains a critical key needed to decode the passwords in that file. You could manually copy/paste these files from the old laptop in place of the ones on the new laptop.
More info: Recovering important data from an old profile
P.S. Please make sure Firefox has shut down fully before deleting/replacing any of the files in the profile folder.
Thanks - that worked. Also had to tick the box for "Remember logins and passwords for Websites" Appreciate your assistance Cheers