Updated 04/18/2011 – Added information for Firefox 4 and Restore feature added with Firefox 3.5. Also added directions for manual backup/restore.
While I have never had this happen to me personally, I know several folks who have started up their Firefox to discover all or some of their bookmarks are gone. If this happens to you…Don’t panic! All is not lost! A cool feature with Firefox is it keeps a back-up of your bookmarks for the past five days (Firefox 4 upto 10 days). Recovering your bookmarks is very easy:
- From the Bookmarks Menu select Organize Bookmarks… (Firefox 4: Show All Bookmarks).
- This opens the Bookmarks Manager/Library window. From the File menu and select ‘Import” (Fx 2.0) or Click Import and Backup (Fx 3.0 & newer), select Restore.
- You will see a list of automatic backups of your bookmarks. Depending on your Firefox version and how frequently you are using Firefox, this will vary between 5-10 days. Select the date you want to restore from.
- You will be prompted this action will replace existing bookmarks with those in this backup. Click OK to continue.
- Firefox will rebuild your bookmark list and you will see all your bookmarks listed in the Bookmarks Manager Window.
- Close the Bookmarks Manager/Library Window.
Manual Backup/Restore
You can also make a manual backup of your bookmarks. Handy if you are using multiple profiles and/or computers.
- From the Bookmarks Menu select Manage Bookmarks… (Fx 1.5) or Organize Bookmarks… (Fx 2.0 & 3.0) or Show All Bookmarks) (Firefox 4.0).
- This opens the Bookmarks Manager window. From the File menu and select ‘Import” (Fx 2.0) or Click Import and Backup (Fx 3.0 and newer), select Export HTML…
- Choose a location to save that will be easy to find later and click Save.
- In the Firefox you wish to restore the bookmarks into, go the Bookmarks Menu and select Manage Bookmarks… (Fx 1.5) or Organize Bookmarks… (Fx 2.0 & 3.0) or Show All Bookmarks) (Firefox 4.0).
- Select Import HTML…and then select From an HTML file and click Next >
- Locate where you exported the HTML file from step 3 and click Open.
Keep in mind, if you have added any bookmarks since the point you had lost your bookmarks, you may end up with duplicates. To remove, simply right-click on the duplicate bookmark and select Delete.
Great tip – I’ve lost my bookmarks twice when they simply disappeared from Firefox, and a third time with a HDD failure. I’m using the Foxmarks plugin to back up online, but this will be handy too.
Pingback: Places/Bookmarks now on Fx 3 Alpha 5 « Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog
Pingback: JakeBouma.com
You just saved me from having a heart attack after updating to Firefox 2.0.0.9. It doesn’t seem to recover bookmarks from the “Bookmarks Toolbar” though, which is still a bit frustrating. I linked to you here: http://www.jakebouma.com/2007/11/07/firefox-2009-missing-bookmarks/
Pingback: Blog Year in Review: January 2007 « Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog
Pingback: Fx 2.0 Tweaks Guide « Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog
I followed the advice here, and deleted a few other files that had been corrupted when I updated from Fedora 6 to Fedora 8, and everything is working smoothly now.
I used Firefox Safe Mode and I had the option to reset bookmarks to Firefox defaults on and this deleted my bookmarks. I’ve tried to recover them but I couldn’t. Could you help me with some advice, please?