Restore Bookmarks in Firefox– quick tip
Earlier this week I posted a “quick tip” on restoring your Internet Explorer “Favorites” (everybody else calls them ‘bookmarks’), and quite naturally and predictably I received a question asking how do you do that in Firefox — the world’s most popular “alternative” Web browser.
So, here goes.
Like IE, Firefox’s Bookmarks are a list of URL’s saved into a file (localstore.rdf) that can be “imported”, “exported” to other browsers, or Saved as a comma-separated-values file (.csv) or HTML file. This file can become corrupted, or deleted, and your Bookmarks will no longer appear. To restore your “favorite” websites to your Bookmarks..
Method 1: (Firefox 2)
1) Close any instances of Firefox (hereafter referred to as “FF”) you have open/running and then launch FF in Safe Mode by clicking Start> Mozilla Firefox> Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode).
2) In the dialogue box, select (check) “Reset Toolbars and Controls.
and click the “Make Changes and Restart” button.
3) Close FF and then start it (aka “launch”/”open”) again in normal mode.
That’s it. You’re done. You should now see your bookmarks.
If you don’t…
Method 2: (Firefox 2) FF automatically generates a backup copy of your localstore.rdf, and you can “import” this copy into your Bookmarks.
1) press Ctrl+Shft+B (or select “Organize Bookmarks” under the Bookmarks menu).
2) In the new window, select File> Import, and then “From File”.
3) In the Open file search window, you need to “drill down” to
C:\Documents and Settings\user*\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles…where you’ll see a ‘dot default’ folder.
4) Open that folder, and then open the “Bookmark Backups” folder. Select the most recent one, and click the “Open” button.
Firefox 3: the new version of FF is “Firefox 3”, and it makes restoring the backup easier.
1) press Ctrl+Shft+B (or select “Organize Bookmarks” under the Bookmarks menu), and click the “Import and Backup” button.
2) Select “Restore” and choose the top date and hit “Enter”, and then “OK”.
Today’s free link: Today I’m putting it out to you, Dear Reader. I have provided over 300 links to free tools and great websites (so far) and I’m wondering.. is there a favorite of yours, and you haven’t seen it posted here yet?
Let me know– in a Comment — an item you think should appear here.
Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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Tech - for Everyone 
Hey Paul,
Great tip for FireFox users!
As you have said previously – no one should be using Internet Explorer based on it’s poor security standing, so it’s good to see this info on FireFox.
In my view FF users are definitely more “net savvy” than IE users, and have a better understanding of the very real dangers the Internet now poses to connected computers.
Thanks,
BM
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Thank you, Bill.
I (please don’t snicker out loud) frequently use IE 7 to visit certain websites that just render best in IE, but I would never use IE 6– the most exploited piece of code ever written.
On a Vista machine, IE 7 with “Protected Mode” enabled is much more secure than its predecessor, but I still use SelectView to block Flash, have the WOT toolbar, and have my security products set to scan content, and I install SpywareBlaster. In general, I use ThreatFire to provide heuristic protection from “drive-by’s”.
In the days before IE 7, I switched to FF, and then Firefox became slow and balky (due to memory issues/bloat), and I moved to Avant.
I am now testing the newest FF (Firefox 3.0) and have been mostly impressed, so far.
I will be testing IE 8 soon, as the beta is now available.
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