where go my bookmarks?

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:16 pm

I'm using Firefox- today when I opened the browser, none of the bookmarks showed up.... anyone have this problem before?

Cuda68-2 · Post by **Cuda68-2** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:51 pm

Yes. In the firefox directory you have a profile directory for firefox. When the default profile is in use or gets corrupted it will create another one along side of it. This new one is bare bones with default settings/bookmarks. Your bookmarks are most likly intact and just fine in the old default profile directory. I run Linux and you most likly have windows and I do not know the path to firefox in windows

But you can copy your bookmarks from one profile to the other to fix it.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:09 pm

C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR WINDOWS ACCOUNT\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Or alternatively

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:35 pm

man.... They're just gone.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:48 pm

regular backups are a good thing. no bookmark.bak?

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:18 pm

Word to the wise:

Bookmark Backup Extension.

Creates daily backups called "BookmarksMonday.htm" etc. So you always have 7 backups sitting there. Handy.

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:05 pm

Backing it up is all well and good, but why should there be any need to in the first place? Why should the bookmarks.html file just disappear like that? Is this a bug that's being worked on?

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:23 pm

did you add any bookmarks before this happened?

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:53 pm

Its a "known" issue with FireFox. It doesn't happen all the time, so I doubt that they will even be able to narrow down the cause let alone fix it anytime soon. Mozilla Suite does not suffer from this issue as far as I know. I've personally never had this happen with my Firefox installs, but I have seen others complain about it so your mileage will vary.

Did you open the html file in notepad? If not, do so and report back if any of the source code remains.

You can also try making a brand new profile (just incase if its the profile corrupted and not your bookmarks) and then copying the bookmarks.html file to that folder and then using that profile in FF and see if it reads your bookmarks properly. To do this, simply move your profile directory (randomhextnumbers.default folder) to another location (like your desktop) and then just launch firefox. When it asks you, tell it not to import anything. Then just go through till you actually launch the browser. When you get to that point, all you have to do is import your bookmarks. To do this, simply click on the bookmarks menu and select Manage Bookmarks. Then from the file menu, select Import. Then just simply select From File and point it to your old profile folder (the one you moved to another location) and pick the bookmarks.html file in that folder and click OK. Then look and see if your bookmarks are there.

Just keep in mind that this method is a very long shot and may not work at all.

roid · Post by **roid** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 11:14 pm

theres no need to do that MD, the bookmarks are kept in one file: Bookmarks.html . and that file is pure html, you only have to doubleclick on it to see all the bookmarks within.

they are either in there, or they arn't. the bookmarks.html file is simple. i doubt it's corrupted but it could be so, which i guess is what you are suggesting.

all of the bookmarks on my mum's computer left a few days ago, except for a folder who's contents were fine - i think it was the only folder she had originally. so i recon that the latest firefox upgrade (only a few days ago) accidentally gets rid of all the root directory bookmarks - but leaves folders alone.

i just had a look around things and was not able to find any trace of the missing bookmarks. i'm convinced they are just completely gone, purged from the bookmarks.html for good.

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 3:56 pm

yeah, I opened both the file, and the .bak- both of them are blank.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 6:08 pm

roid, if you had bothered reading my post entirely, you would've noticed that I had suggested that very thing in the middle of my post.

What I was suggesting is that something in the profile was corrupted, which could lead to funky results like bookmarks not showing up. However, snoopy just showed that this is not the case.

snoopy: If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did you do prior to this happening? Did you add any new bookmarks (like flip ask you earlier, whom you never answered) or did this just happen at random?

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 6:57 pm

Snoop, do a file search and see if you can find a file called:

ABOOK.MAB

I have mozilla and this is where the bookmarks are kept on the HD.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:25 pm

Woodchip, that's the Mozilla Mail address book file. Bookmarks for both Mozilla and Firefox are stored in Bookmarks.html, and have been since something like Netscape 1.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 6:57 am

I stand corrected.