If you regularly use Firefox as your preferred web browser, there's a good chance that you've accumulated a substantial list of favorite websites and bookmarks over time. In this guide, we will walk you through your options for backing up your Mozilla Firefox bookmarks, ensuring that your bookmarks are safe and securely backed up.
Is Firefox Sync a Reliable Backup for Bookmarks?
While Firefox Sync offers great convenience in keeping your bookmarks and settings synchronized, relying on it as your only means of preserving this data can be risky. Since Firefox Sync mirrors changes across all connected devices, any accidental deletions or modifications to your bookmarks can result in permanent loss, with these changes being replicated across your entire account. This feature, designed for syncing rather than securing data, lacks the ability to roll back to previous states, which a traditional backup system would typically offer.
Therefore, if your bookmarks are valuable and irreplaceable, it's crucial to employ a more robust backup strategy. Regularly exporting and saving your bookmarks to an external storage solution, whether it be cloud-based or physical, ensures that you have a retrievable copy independent of the synced data on Firefox. This way, you can safeguard against any unforeseeable issues or mishaps that might occur with your synced devices, keeping your important bookmarks secure and recoverable in any scenario.
Backup Bookmarks With Bookmark Llama (Automatic)
Bookmark Llama is a handy tool for backing up your Firefox bookmarks that allows you to pick exactly which folders you want to backup, so you're in complete control. Plus, every time you make changes to your bookmarks – like adding a new one or deleting an old one – Bookmark Llama saves that change. This means if you ever need to, you can go back to how your bookmarks looked at any specific moment.
- Ensure your bookmark bar is enabled and that you have folders on it.
- Signup for Bookmark Llama
- Select Sync Across my Devices and Browsers from the setup wizard
- Give Bookmark Llama access to see your shared folders by installing the extension for Edge.
- Select which folder you would like to backup.
- Click Sync
Backup Bookmarks to Cloud Storage (Manual)
- Open a Firefox window and click the menu icon on the top-right-hand side of the screen.
- From the dropdown menu, click Bookmarks, then click Manage Bookmarks. Alternatively, navigate to the Bookmark Manager using the keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+O on Windows & Linux or ⇧+⌘+O on Mac.
- Click the arrow icon on the top-left-hand side of the Bookmark Manager.
- Click Export Bookmarks to HTML... from the dropdown menu.
- Navigate to Your Cloud Storage Folder: In the save dialog, browse to the folder within your cloud storage service (like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.).
- Name Your File: Enter a name for your bookmarks file. It will save as an HTML file.
- Save the File: Click 'Save' to export your bookmarks to the chosen cloud storage location.
- Verify File in Cloud Storage: Check your cloud storage folder (via web browser or app) to confirm the bookmarks file has been successfully uploaded.
Backup Bookmarks to Physical Storage Device (Manual)
- Open a Firefox window and click the menu icon on the top-right-hand side of the screen.
- From the dropdown menu, click Bookmarks, then click Manage Bookmarks. Alternatively, navigate to the Bookmark Manager using the keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+O on Windows & Linux or ⇧+⌘+O on Mac.
- Click the arrow icon on the top-left-hand side of the Bookmark Manager.
- Click Export Bookmarks to HTML... from the dropdown menu.
- Navigate to Physical Storage Device: In the save dialog, locate your connected physical storage device, such as a USB flash drive or external hard drive.
- Name the File: Assign a name to your bookmarks file. It will save in HTML format.
- Click 'Save': Save the file to export your bookmarks to the chosen location on your physical storage device.
- Safely Eject the Storage Device: Once the export is complete, safely remove the physical storage device from your computer.
- Verify the Export on Another Computer: Optionally, check the physical storage device on a different computer to confirm that the bookmarks file is successfully saved and accessible.
Back up Bookmarks On Other Browsers
FAQ
Where are Firefox bookmarks stored?
The storage location of Firefox bookmarks varies slightly depending on the operating system you are using. Here's a breakdown for Windows, Linux, and MacOS:
- Windows: On Windows, Firefox bookmarks are stored in a file named
places.sqlite. This file is located in your Firefox profile folder, which can typically be found atC:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[ProfileName]. The[ProfileName]is a unique string of characters assigned to your profile. You may need to enable viewing hidden files and folders to access theAppDatafolder. - MacOS: On MacOS, Firefox stores bookmarks in the same
places.sqlitefile. This file is located in the Firefox profile folder, typically found at~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/[ProfileName]. Here,~stands for your home directory, and[ProfileName]is a unique string identifying your Firefox profile. TheLibraryfolder might be hidden by default, which you can access by holding down theOptionkey while clicking theGomenu in Finder. - Linux: In Linux, the Firefox bookmarks are also stored in the
places.sqlitefile within the Firefox profile directory. This directory is usually located at~/.mozilla/firefox/[ProfileName]. The[ProfileName]is a unique string that represents your Firefox profile. The~symbol represents your home directory, and the.mozillafolder might be hidden; you can view it by showing hidden files in your file manager or by using thels -acommand in the terminal.
In all cases, the places.sqlite file contains not just bookmarks, but also the browser history and other related data. It's important to note that directly accessing or modifying this file is not recommended unless you are familiar with SQLite databases and are taking proper precautions, such as creating backups. For regular users, it's safer to use Firefox's built-in bookmark management and backup features.
Does Firefox automatically backup bookmarks?
In Firefox, the automatic backups of your bookmarks are stored in a folder named 'bookmarkbackups' within your Firefox profile directory. Here's where you can find them on different operating systems:
- Windows: The 'bookmarkbackups' folder is located in
C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[ProfileName]\bookmarkbackups. You'll need to replace[YourUsername]with your Windows username and[ProfileName]with the name of your Firefox profile. - Linux: On Linux systems, this folder can be found at
~/.mozilla/firefox/[ProfileName]/bookmarkbackups. The~symbol represents your home directory, and[ProfileName]is the name of your Firefox profile. - macOS: For macOS users, the 'bookmarkbackups' folder is located at
~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/[ProfileName]/bookmarkbackups. In this path,~stands for your home directory and[ProfileName]is your specific Firefox profile name.
These backups are in JSON format and are typically named with the date of the backup. They can be used to restore your bookmarks in case of data loss. However, these backups are stored locally, so if your computer experiences a hardware failure, these backups could be lost unless you've copied them to another location or device.