PC Training & Consulting Weblog
thoughts about personal computers and the Web

Q: How do I restore my Firefox bookmarks? [added 1/12/08]

There are at least two techniques, both dependent on having a backup. (Duh.)

1) In Firefox, use Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks. In the new window, use File > Import > From File. Browse to your most recent bookmarks backup (see next question in this same entry).

Similarly, use File > Export to save a backup anywhere you like.

2) Browse to your Firefox profiles folder (next question) and replace the current bookmarks.htm with a suitable backup.

Q: Where does Mozilla Firefox store bookmarks?

There is a folder analogous to this:
C:\Users\you\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xnxnxnx.default

With your username and a different random folder name under Profiles. In that folder, there are two files: bookmarks.htm and bookmarks.bak. You can manually copy (backup), move, rename those files.

Vista tip: If you don’t see AppData, you can simply click to the right of the text in the address bar. The display should show something like C:\Users\you. Add \appdata to the path and hit enter.

I use Google to sync my browser between my desktop and laptop, effectively backing it up, as well. See www.google.com/tools/firefox/browsersync/

I also use an add-on called PlainOldFavorites (addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/668) that adds a menu item to Firefox with all of your Microsoft Internet Explorer favorites — an easy way to use the same bookmarks/favorites with both programs. mjh

PS: Alternatives for backup and restore include FEBE and MozBackup.