# Where did my Firefox bookmarks go? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2007, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038 "2007-02-06T03:36:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Survey1215](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/1 "2007-02-06T03:36:31Z")
Two nights ago my machine shut down thanks to a power outage. The next time I was online and opened Firefox, my bookmarks were gone, same thing tonight. Anyone know where they are and how I can get them back? The navigation toolbar is up and running, but there’s nothing there. Any help would be greatly appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/2 "2007-02-06T03:40:20Z")
Click on [View | Toolbars | Bookmarks Toolbar] If unchecked, check it. ---
**Author:** ![Survey1215](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/3 "2007-02-06T03:42:52Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] Click on [View | Toolbars | Bookmarks Toolbar] If unchecked, check it. [/QUOTE] Did that. Bookmarks are gone - not in the folder, not on the bar. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/4 "2007-02-06T03:47:52Z")
Same thing happened to my friend three days ago. He reinstalled Firefox(2.0) without uninstalling the old version first, and all the bookmarks came back. ---
**Author:** ![Survey1215](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/5 "2007-02-06T03:58:50Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] Same thing happened to my friend three days ago. He reinstalled Firefox(2.0) without uninstalling the old version first, and all the bookmarks came back. [/QUOTE] doh - tried it, no go. May be time to rebuild the bookmark list from scratch. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/6 "2007-02-06T04:35:57Z")
Bookmarks - Manage Bookmarks - File - Export - name & save somewhere - and you’ll have a nice HTML backup file of your bookmarks. I hate losing bookmarks. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/7 "2007-02-06T05:14:24Z")
This happened to my daughter. [Here](http://www.tweakguides.com/Firefox_7.html) is some info on where the bookmarks are stored. You need to turn on view hidden files and folders, then go to Documents and Settings, your login, Application Data, Mozilla, Firefox, Profiles, the one folder there, and there you will find your bookmarks. And the backup. If they still exist, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/8 "2007-02-06T05:16:41Z")
I’ll bet that all that happened is that Firefox created a new profile and your bookmarks are still in the old profile. In Windows XP, the profile is located in C:\Documents and Settings[username]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles. Look there first, or look to see if a new Documents and Settings profile was created when the system crashed. You can also just search the hard drive for any folders called Profiles, or files called bookmarks.html. And I see that **Voyager** had the same idea. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/9 "2007-02-06T05:24:37Z")
Don’t worry, **Survey1215** , you’ll probably be able to get back a recent copy of your Firefox bookmarks. It would help to know the Operating System that you’re running, and the version of Firefox. Without knowing those, it’s probably simplest to do a “search” (in Windows, click “Start” then “Search”, “For Files and Folders”). Enter the following… bookmarks\*.html …in the search field, hit “Search Now”, and you should find at least one – and perhaps many – files that match the description, whose path contains the word “mozilla”. On my computer (Windows 2000 with Firefox 2.0.0.1), I’ve got a folder named “bookmarkbackups” under “C:\Documents and Settings\*Username\*\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*BunchOfRandomCharacters\*”. (In the preceding, “_Username_” will be your Windows login username, and “_BunchOfRandomCharacters_” will be something like “_1v1eifyv.default_”). This folder contains files such as “bookmarks-2007-02-04.html” and “bookmarks-2007-02-05.html” (i.e. yesterday and today, as I write this). If you are using an older version of Firefox, you should at least see something like “bookmarks.bak” in the “C:\Documents and Settings\*Username\*\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*BunchOfRandomCharacters\*” folder. Once you’ve \*_found_ a suitable Bookmark html file, launch Firefox, and do: Bookmarks \> Organize Bookmarks \> File \> Import \> From File … then navigate to your best-bet bookmark file. _On preview, I see that others have similar ideas, but just in case…_ ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/10 "2007-02-06T06:43:09Z")
Once you get your bookmarks back, you may want to install [Mozilla Backup](http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/) . Easy to use and you can make a backup anytime. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/11 "2007-02-06T12:32:25Z")
My bookmarks also stored in [http://www.google.com/bookmarks/?hl=fr&zx=0\_1LmS4XYOw](http://www.google.com/bookmarks/?hl=fr&zx=0_1LmS4XYOw) You might try it ---
**Author:** ![Barrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Barrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrington)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-my-firefox-bookmarks-go/391038/12 "2007-02-06T13:11:45Z")
[QUOTE=Gymnopithys] My bookmarks also stored in [http://www.google.com/bookmarks/?hl=fr&zx=0\_1LmS4XYOw](http://www.google.com/bookmarks/?hl=fr&zx=0_1LmS4XYOw) You might try it [/QUOTE] Or, if you don’t speak French, [Google Bookmarks](http://www.google.com/bookmarks/). 😉 As a Firefox user, I rely heavily on the [Foxmarks](https://addons.mozilla.org/search.php?q=foxmarks&type=E&app=firefox) extension. Not only are your bookmarks seamlessly copied to a remote location, but they’re also automatically copied to any other computers you’re using. Bookmark something at home, and by the time you get to work it’s also there on your company machine. No interaction involved once you’re set up. Marvellous, I tell you! And no, I’m not affiliated with whoever wrote it.