Lost bookmarks

This article deals with lost or missing bookmarks, recovery methods and prevention. If changes you make to your bookmarks are not being saved or if you can't add new bookmarks, see the article Bookmarks not saved. If you got a message that your profile was already in use, created a new profile and now your bookmarks and other data are missing, read the article Profile in use.

Step-by-step bookmark recovery

If you don't see your bookmarks when you open Firefox, Mozilla Suite or SeaMonkey, the bookmarks file may have been damaged or the contents deleted. Firefox automatically makes a bookmark backup every day you use it (up to 5 backups total), with newer backups replacing the older copies. If you use the profile, you must act quickly, before they are all overwritten. However, there are other reasons why your bookmarks may be missing, so it is important that you follow all of these steps:

1. Mozilla browsers store user data in a separate place for each user account on your computer. Make sure you are logged on to your computer with your usual logon name.
2. Mozilla browsers allow you to store different sets of bookmarks and other user data in separate profiles. You may have created a new profile in the past for troubleshooting or other reasons. Make sure you are using the correct profile (see Multiple profiles and profile in use, below).
3. If bookmarks appear in the Bookmarks Manager but not in the main menu, and they can't be edited, try the fix for a corrupt localstore.rdf file, given below.
4. If your problem is still not solved after doing the above, see Finding your bookmarks and Restoring bookmarks from backup (below). To identify the correct backup file, you can open and view bookmarks files with your browser.
5. Other methods of recovery

Preventing future problems

• You can minimize the likelihood of future problems by following these suggestions (below).
• If your Web browser is not properly shut down, your bookmarks may be lost after restarting..

Multiple profiles and profile in use

Mozilla browsers allow different users to have different settings and bookmarks. You may have inadvertently switched to another profile. Start the Profile Manager (If Mozilla Suite or SeaMonkey 1.x is running, click "Tools -> Switch Profile") and, if multiple profiles are listed, select the other profile. If you receive a message that the profile is "in use" or if you are unable to start the original profile, read this article.

Corrupt localstore.rdf

(Firefox) If your bookmarks appear in the Bookmarks Manager but not in the main menu and can't be edited, this can be caused by a corrupt localstore.rdf file [1]. You can fix this by either deleting the localstore.rdf file from the profile folder or, in Firefox 1.5 and later, by starting in Firefox Safe Mode and selecting the option to reset toolbars and controls, then clicking the "Make changes and restart" button, as explained in this article.

Finding your bookmarks

• In Firefox 1.5 and above, five daily bookmark backup files are saved in the bookmarkbackups folder, located in the Firefox profile folder. Important: You must recover one of these five backups before they are overwritten by newer versions.

• Firefox and other Mozilla browsers store bookmarks in file "bookmarks.html", located in the profile folder, except that Firefox 3 (not yet released) stores bookmarks in the places.sqlite file and only uses bookmarks*.html files for backup. There is also a "bookmarks.html" file in the program folder, but this one is only a template and does not hold your bookmarks.

To make sure you have the right file, you can open the bookmarks.html file or any bookmark backup file using "File -> Open File" from the Firefox or Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey menu to review the contents (see this article for details).

To find all bookmarks files anywhere on your computer, you can use your operating system’s file and folder search feature to locate find bookmarks* (be sure to include the asterisk, with no space). Windows users: Read the information here, as the profile folder containing your stored bookmarks is hidden by default.

Restoring bookmarks from backup

The following applies to Firefox (2.x and 1.5.x versions) as well as Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey (all versions):

• The import bookmarks feature of the Bookmarks Manager will add the contents of any bookmark backup to your current bookmarks.

1. • Firefox: "Bookmarks -> Organize (or Manage) Bookmarks... -> File -> Import... -> from File"
   • Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey: "Bookmarks -> Manage Bookmarks... -> Tools -> Import..."
2. When the file picker appears, navigate to the folder that contains the bookmarks file you wish to use and select that file. Windows 2000/XP/Vista users can navigate to the Firefox bookmarkbackups folder by typing "%APPDATA%" in the file field and pressing Enter, going into Mozilla, then Firefox, then Profiles, then xxxxxxxx.default (where xxxxxxx is any sequence of numbers and characters), then the bookmarkbackups folder [2].

• If your current bookmarks file is corrupt, however, it may be better to completely close the browser, find a bookmark backup file, rename it "bookmarks.html" and then replace the bookmarks.html file in the Firefox or Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey profile folder with the renamed backup. Firefox users may prefer to use the Firefox Safe Mode option, "Reset bookmarks to Firefox defaults" and then select the option, "Make Changes and Restart", which will replace the corrupt bookmarks.html file with a new default copy. The Bookmarks Manager can then be used to import the bookmark backup file, as explained above. [3]

• Comments involving external restoration of bookmarks or other profile files

1. Windows users should make sure they can view hidden files and folders.
2. Restores of bookmarks or an entire profile from backups that involved removable media may have set write-only attributes on the backup and restoring from such backups may set write-only attributes in profile files which will interfere with bookmarks and other use of your profile.
3. You should not see multiple numbered copies of these files ("bookmarks-<n>.html", "cookies-<n>.txt" "prefs-<n>.js", "sessionstore-<n>.rdf", "mimeTypes-<n>.rdf" [4], etc., where <n> is a number). You should also not see any "<filename>.moztmp" files ("bookmarks.html.moztmp", "cookies.txt.moztmp" ,"prefs.js.moztmp", etc.) since these temporary files are normally cleared after file changes to the profile have been completed.

Note: Starting in Firefox 3 (not yet released) a bookmark restore feature is accessible from the Bookmarks menu [5] ("Bookmarks -> Show all bookmarks -> Places Organizer -> Import and Backup -> Restore") that allows you to replace your current bookmarks with a bookmark backup file. Also some concerns involving use of same profile and switching back and forth between Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 with Browser.bookmarks.overwrite setting and with [381216]. Firefox 3 uses SQLITE file and closing and reopening Firefox may make bookmarks reappear.

Other methods of recovery

• Check the Recycle Bin/Trash for a file called "bookmarks.html".
• (Windows) Run the error-checking tool Chkdsk (Windows 2000, XP) or ScanDisk (Windows 95, 98, ME) to see if you can recover any file fragments that contain your lost bookmarks. Look for files with names like FILE0001.chk or FILE0002.chk on the root directory (the files may be inside folders named FOUND.000 or similar). Open each file in Wordpad or Notepad and, if it contains bookmark data, rename it with an .html extension (for example, rename FILE0001.chk to bookmarks1.html). Finally, import the file using the Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey or Firefox Bookmarks Manager [6].
• Use a file undelete utility to see if you can recover the file [7] [8]

Bookmarks missing after restarting

This may occur on Windows systems if your Web browser is not properly shut down before you power down or restart the computer. Make sure you always close the browser before shutting down or restarting the computer.

The problem can also be caused by a faulty or misconfigured plugin or extension, or even malware, causing Firefox to remain in memory. To see if this is your problem, perform the following steps:

1. Use Firefox to browse the web for a while, then open the Windows Task Manager, select the Processes tab and find firefox.exe in the list.
2. Use "File -> Exit" from the Firefox menu to close Firefox, then wait for firefox.exe to disappear from the Task Manager Processes list (this may take a few seconds if many tabs were open, or Firefox was using a lot of memory). If the firefox.exe process disappears and doesn't come back, this is normal, so if your bookmarks are always missing whenever you restart the computer, it could be related to bug 333907 which may cause .rdf file corruption. To avoid it, exit Firefox before shutting down your PC.
3. If firefox.exe remains in the Processes list, end the firefox.exe process by selecting it in the Windows Task Manager and clicking "End Process".
   • If the process disappears and doesn't come back, you may have an extension or plugin issue causing Firefox to persist in memory (for example, firefox.exe may remain active after running a Java applet). You should make sure all plugins and extensions are up to date and seek support if the problem persists.
   • If the process disappears but comes back, you probably have a virus, or some other malware. Anti-virus software may not be able to detect it. If yours doesn't, seek support. See also Firefox.exe always open.

Prevention

• Periodically save your bookmarks to the backup location of your choice:
  • Firefox 1.5 and earlier: "Bookmarks -> Manage Bookmarks... -> File -> Export..."
  • Firefox 2: "Bookmarks -> Organize Bookmarks... -> File -> Export..."
  • Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey: "Bookmarks -> Manage Bookmarks... -> Tools -> Export..."
• Do not power down your computer with Firefox/Mozilla Suite running.[9]
• Be careful when using Firefox Safe Mode. If you use the option to reset bookmarks to Firefox defaults, this will delete your bookmarks.
• You can lose your saved bookmarks by accidentally deleting them in the Bookmarks Manager so be careful when organizing your bookmarks.
• Some "computer clean-up" programs like System Wiper may delete your bookmarks. Make sure you do profile backups before using such programs.
• You can increase the number of saved Firefox backups by modifying the value of the browser.bookmarks.max_backups preference to the desired number.
• Instead of backing up just your bookmarks, you can also back up your entire profile. See also Guide: Bookmark Back Up Extensions/Utilities and More.

Related bug reports

• Bug 193749 - bookmarks and personal preferences are lost after system crash due to power failure
• Bug 249150 - Bookmarks file is overwritten (deleted) randomly in Firefox versions without places
• Bug 260553 - Bookmarks disappear after power outage and/or crashes
• Bug 284099 - bookmarks lost when upgrading Firefox
• Bug 289615 - bookmark dataloss in abnormal windows shutdown, especially FAT32 systems
• Bug 305004 - Create a dated bookmark backup file periodically
• Bug 319196 - customized toolbar always reset to default on restart, bookmarks and search engines lost, unable to add search engines (localstore.rdf corruption on upgrade or crash)
• Bug 333907 – XRE quits too abruptly when Windows is shut down
• Bug 374528 – Provide backup and restore functionality for Places bookmarks