From MozillaZine Knowledge Base

The View(s) menu in the Bookmarks Manager is for displaying the bookmarks in different sorting orders and doesn't actually sort the bookmarks. If you want to sort bookmarks or folders then make sure that you choose "Views -> Sort -> Unsorted" (Firefox 2: View -> Unsorted) in the Bookmarks Manager. In Firefox 3 you can no longer right-click an individual bookmark to "Sort By Name", you can only do that for folders.

Sorting bookmarks

There are several ways to sort or to rearrange your bookmarks.

Method 1: Bookmarks Menu

1. Open the Bookmarks menu and select the item you wish to sort.
   • Firefox 3: Context click (right-click) the specific bookmarks folder that you want to alphabetize.
   • Firefox 2: Right-click any bookmark inside the bookmarks folder you want to alphabetize.
2. From the context-menu, click "Sort By Name".

Method 2: Bookmarks Manager

1. Bring up the Bookmarks Manager or Library window ("Bookmarks -> Organize Bookmarks")
   • Firefox 3: Right-click the specific bookmark folder that you want to alphabetize, easiest to do in the left-side pane.
   • Firefox 2: In the right-side pane, right-click on any bookmark inside the specific bookmark folder you want to alphabetize.
2. From the context-menu, select "Sort By Name".

Method 3: Drag-&-Drop

• Open the Bookmarks menu and hold the SHIFT key to move a folder (Mouse tips), and drag-&-drop an item to reposition it

OR:

• In the Bookmarks Manager, go to "Views -> Sort -> Unsorted" in Firefox 3 ("View -> Unsorted" in Firefox 2) and simply click-drag-&-drop an item in the right-side pane to reposition it. You can select more than one item with Shift or Ctrl as usual.

Note: Instead of Drag-&-Drop you can also use Cut-&-Paste (Organize menu or context menu in the Bookmarks Manager).

Using separators to group bookmarks

Bookmark separators can be used for a visual separation of bookmarks into groups. Entities are sorted within each group, independently of the other groups when bookmarks are sorted.

To create a separator, right -click on a bookmark or folder, then choose "New Separator". This can be done from the Bookmarks menu, on or within the bookmarks toolbar, or from "Organize Bookmarks" (Bookmarks Manager using "Views -> Sort -> Unsorted"). Such separators are normally added before the entity selected.

For an obstinate case trying to place a single bookmark separator after a single bookmark and before a folder, you may need to place the separator between two folders and then move the single bookmark before the separator.

Removing a separator can't be done from the Bookmarks menu, nor from the sidebar (Ctrl/Cmd + B), but can be done from "Organize Bookmarks", where the separator is part of a larger space. Right-click on the separator and choose "Delete".

The difference between Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 is that, in Firefox 2 sorting, you selected an item within a folder to sort the folder. In Firefox 3, you select the folder to sort items within a folder. Both versions sort everything in the folder that gets sorted. Sorting folders recursively is not available in Firefox 3 at this time.

All sorting explained here is from the context menu, use of sorting columns the Bookmarks Manager in a different view than normal hierarchy order will not be permanent.

External links

• Organizing bookmarks (Firefox Support)

• Menu Editor extension: Menus (not bookmarks) can be rearranged and hidden or unhidden, and separators can be added or removed. Especially useful for removing bloat from context menus.

The following are for sorting bookmarks.html file and will not work in Firefox 3 which uses places.sqlite.

• "Bookmark Sorting" extension for Firefox 1.5-2.0.* - will sort all bookmarks folders, recursively, at once [1].
• Mozilla Bookmark Sorter is a standalone Java program which sorts Firefox, Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey and Netscape bookmarks.