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I cannot restore my bookmarks from a backup, why?

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

BikeMike31
BikeMike31
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Only some of my bookmarks were showing in the Bookmarks drop down list, but when I opened Show All Bookmarks all the book marks appeared in the list. I then backed up my bookmarks, then tried to re-import them as the help file suggested. I got an error saying "Unable to process the back up file." I tried restoring from all the bookmark back up files going back 2 weeks, and got the exact same message. I tried reinstalling Firefox, with the same results. I have not installed any new add-ons, and I have not had updates for any add-ons in the last several days.

Only some of my bookmarks were showing in the Bookmarks drop down list, but when I opened Show All Bookmarks all the book marks appeared in the list. I then backed up my bookmarks, then tried to re-import them as the help file suggested. I got an error saying "Unable to process the back up file." I tried restoring from all the bookmark back up files going back 2 weeks, and got the exact same message. I tried reinstalling Firefox, with the same results. I have not installed any new add-ons, and I have not had updates for any add-ons in the last several days.

All Replies (4)

TonyE
TonyE
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This link should help - http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_process_the_backup_file_-_Firefox

cor-el
cor-el
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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Make sure that the backup file with the bookmarks has the correct file extension: .html for a HTML backup and .json for a JSON backup.
You can check that via the right-click context menu of that file and open the Properties.
If you are not sure about the file type then you can open the file in Firefox via "File > Open File"
A JSON backup will show as one long text line without line breaks and a HTML backup as a web page with clickable links.

A  JSON backup starts with: {"title":"","id":1,"dateAdded":
An HTML backup starts with: <!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>

Add quotes ("") around the name to rename the file to the correct file extension if the current file extension is hidden or if it is otherwise not working.

BikeMike31
BikeMike31 Question owner
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I was finally able to restore my bookmarks by importing from the the bookmarks.html file. The JSON files do not work at all, even now that I have restored my bookmarks. If I back up or export my bookmarks as a JSON file, and then try to restore or import them, I still get the "Unable to process back up file" error message. It's a moot point now, but it is strange.

cor-el
cor-el
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You may have a corrupted file places.sqlite if you get that error.