(OT:) Mozilla Firefox loses bookmarks

Jul 18, 2008 12 Replies

I apologize for going so far off topic, but you might need to know and want to do something about it.



I've been using Mozilla Browser products for many years, mainly because of the convenience and permanency of Bookmarks. It appears that's all changed, now. In the latest Firefox browser, if you bookmark a site, it is added to a list called "Recently Bookmarked", but this list is limited to 10 entries, and a new entry bumps off the oldest entry. There's a History list, but that also seems to be limited as to how far back the entries go. You cannot set the sizes or properties of these lists, either.



I back up my bookmarks every once in a while, and each time in the past the size of the backup file has increased a few to as much as 12 percent. However my latest backup file is 44 percent smaller than the previous one, each time, using the "Export HTML" function, and I rarely delete a bookmark. Where did the missing bookmarks go, and why? If I use the latest "backup" command, the filesize is 57 percent smaller than the previous one done the old way, which makes me wonder what else gets lost in that new process.



Why should Mozilla care what we do with bookmarks? It's our computers that get overloaded - - not theirs. And how overloaded is a 3.6MB bookmark file? - - which is the size of my backup before they decided that bookmarks must disappear in the night for mysterious reasons. I guess they want us to start shopping for a new browser. If you care, tell them. I did, but have not heard back.


Where are you telling it to save? Make sure you save to the "Bookmarks" folder.

...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | Liberalism is a persistent vegetative state

google foxmarks and install it.

I back my bookmarks up to 5 different computers in a few clicks.

Cheers Don...

Don McKenzie Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email Xbee Wireless Modules, and low cost Interface Boards. http://www.dontronics-shop.com/xbee-boards.html

Probably backs up all your banking usernames and passwords also ;-)

...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | Liberalism is a persistent vegetative state

Just back-up...

C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ao47ekn6.default\bookmarks.html

There's actually a back-up in that directory, I didn't do it, so it looks like Firefox might be doing it for you, but I can't find any information on it.

I'm wary of auto-back-ups... they might over-write with nothing. So I think I'll start making my own copy.

...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | Al Gore is the Pied Piper of "Climate Change" Soothing you with Bull Shit While quietly sucking the IQ out of your head

As in...

C:\Documents and Settings\James E. Thompson\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ao47ekn6.default\bookmarks.html.sav-07-18-2008

...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | Feckless/Reckless Nancy Piglosivich should resign She'll do anything to further her Socialist Party Even if it makes the USA a Third-World Nation

Jim, if you have a look in:

you should see a set of backups there, unless yours is configured differently to mine, because of foxmarks perhaps.

Have a look anyway, I am interested.

Cheers Don...

Don McKenzie Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email Xbee Wireless Modules, and low cost Interface Boards. http://www.dontronics-shop.com/xbee-boards.html

It's there. I missed that... all I saw was the single back-up in the .default directory and failed to observe the sub-directory because the left panel in Explorer wasn't wide enough.

Looks like it has a running 5-day back-up, or maybe it backs-up every time you bookmark a new site.

Now that I know it's there I'll watch it... Thanks!

Surfing "help" for "backup" yields zippo :-(

I'm punchy about back-ups right now... OrCAD Crapture over-wrote my PSpice.ini file, presenting considerable heartburn until I remembered that I had recently written a CD back-up of all my executables.

...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | Liberalism is a persistent vegetative state

You're forgiven but only if you give penitence. You didn't bother to specify which version of Firefox you're complaining about. I would guess 3.0, but it's not obvious. This is a capital crime with a severe punishment. You are sentenced to finding a similar off topic posting in S.E.D., do the necessary research, and answer the question. An eye for an eye, an off topic posting for an off topic posting. Hopefully, this will discourage you from repeating the offense.

The bookmarks in Firefox 2.0 are in HTML format. Firefox 3.0 uses a .JSON format. See:

When you save in HTML format, you lose all the formatting, indexes, and non-HTML junk from the JSON file.

In Firefox, type "About:config" into the URL box. Inscribe "bookmark" in the Filter box. You should see all the buried options for tweaking the bookmarks. Save the originals or you may have problems recovering from your tweaks.

Also see various backup extensions for Firefox.

Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
[snip]

Whew! I'm glad I resisted the urge to go to Firefox v3 ;-)

...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | When the Islamic Muslims take over Europe I will be amongst the first to join the call: "It\'s not our war, it\'s just a civil war."

correcto-mondo Jim,

I have 5 also, so that is what it is about. I have 5 random days, not consecutive, two on the same day, so I would assume it does it every time you edit your bookmarks.

Cheers Don...

Don McKenzie Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email Xbee Wireless Modules, and low cost Interface Boards. http://www.dontronics-shop.com/xbee-boards.html

I have an account on Znail, which is an antique (1988) service for online backup and bookmarks that still works very well. The bookmark feature is free.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

I have an account on Znail, which is an antique (1998) service for online backup and bookmarks that still works very well. The bookmark feature is free.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

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