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.

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

The Google Toolbar doesn't work with Firefox 5 and all my bookmarks are saved in the toolbar. How do I go back to version 4?

  • 5 replies
  • 127 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Chimel

more options

Unfortunately any enhancements that you've made with FF5 don't outweigh the loss of my bookmarks in the Google Toolbar. How do I go back to FF4?

Unfortunately any enhancements that you've made with FF5 don't outweigh the loss of my bookmarks in the Google Toolbar. How do I go back to FF4?

All Replies (5)

more options

Install the following Add-on until Google releases a new version of their toolbar that is compatible with Firefox 5. Most Add-ons that worked with Firefox 4 should still work with Firefox 5, but the developers need to update a line in their Add-on's code to indicate with which versions of Firefox the Add-on is compatible. The following Add-on adds a "Compatibility" button in your Add-ons > Extensions that you may need to click after installing it and restarting Firefox.




You need to update the following. The Plugin version(s) shown below was/were submitted with your question and is/are out of date. You should update to avoid known security issues with the version(s) you have installed. Click on "More system info..." to the right of your question to see what was included with your question.

  • Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape
  1. Check your plugin versions on either of the following links':
  2. Update Adobe Reader (PDF plugin):
    • From within your existing Adobe Reader (if you have it already installed):
      • Open the Adobe Reader program from your Programs list
      • Click Help > Check for Updates
      • Follow the prompts for updating
      • If this method works for you, skip the "Download complete installer" section below and proceed to "After the installation" below
    • Download complete installer (if you do NOT have Adobe Reader installed):
    • After the installation, start Firefox and check your version again.
more options

Thanks! If you post this reply in "known issues" it will help the many people like myself that didn't find this forum until they posted the umpteenth version of the same question! That, and you could make sure Google Toolbar will work with new versions before releasing them. Interestingly, I don't use Chrome because it doesn't support Google Toolbars and doesn't provide an automated way to transfer your bookmarks -- at least it didn't last time I checked, and IMO it was such a bad oversight on Google's part that it's not been worth it to me to go back to check again.

more options

You are welcome.

So that other users can find solutions to previously asked Firefox support questions, please take a couple of minutes to return to the forum, sign in and click "Solved" next to my FIRST answer. Thanks.

It is the responsibility of developers of Add-ons for Firefox, including Google and their toolbar(s), to be sure that their Add-ons are compatible with new Firefox releases. Firefox 5 has been extensively tested including 7 beta versions over a 4-week period in which Google could have verified that their toolbar works with Firefox 5 and prepare a new release. The release schedule is not secret and developers know where to find that schedule. They failed, once again, to use that testing time to keep the users of their products happy.

Modified by Helper7677

more options

Thanks. That was really helpful.

more options

Come one, Helper7677, most add-ons are perfectly compatible across versions, developers should NOT have to edit their code every few months because Firefox updates major versions like mad every few months for the sake of catching up with IE 9 and Chrome 12 version numbers.

This is NOT efficient, generates a lot of redundancy, and is also totally misleading, because Firefox is pushing devs to release a so-called new add-on which is actually strictly identical to the previous version, except for the maximum compatible version number.

Besides, even admitting developers' agenda unlikely happened to match Firefox', they would all specify the same "5.0" number just so their add-on is not disabled, and will investigate possible compatibility issues later on. If they don't specify "999.0" once for all because this process is a joke...