I understand that you guys are always busy, and I really do appreciate the time you've already invested in helping me solve this ridiculously frustrating issue....is there anything else I can try to fix this? I know it seems like a rather insignificant problem, but it is unbelieveably frustrating. Running all of those spy/malware programs apparently did find a few issues, but along with that...it logged me out of every single website I've ever signed up for, and while I've asked about how to import my log in info from my old profile (creating a new profile was one of the tasks suggested by you)...I've had no reply. I've searched support, but have only found how to import from another browser, not from the old profile. I don't understand how the bksp key actually worked on the new profile...for only a few minutes, then went back to backing up to the previous webpage. Yeah, I am able to "get by" using Chrome....but I've used Firefox exclusively for years..literally as long as I can remember, and its always been virtually flawless. I don't want to give up on Firefox, I've been a loyal and VERY happy customer for so long...can ya give an old lady a break here and get me back up and running on Firefox? :(

Hi KateyKate, I still have no idea why Backspace does not work for you on Facebook.

Running all of those spy/malware programs apparently did find a few issues, but along with that...it logged me out of every single website I've ever signed up for, and while I've asked about how to import my log in info from my old profile (creating a new profile was one of the tasks suggested by you)...I've had no reply.

Unfortunately, there's no feature to import saved logins from other installations of Firefox. If you haven't saved a bunch of new ones, you can copy a pair of files (or three) from your old profile to your new one to bring them over. Those are listed in this article: Recover important data from an old profile.

Wish I would've known that...thanks

Its incredibly frustrating that I followed all of these suggestions, without being told of the potential loss of information...and left with an issue that apparently can't be fixed, and files that I really need can't be imported. I tried searching for information on possibly opening the logon file and try to manually enter the hundreds of logons from my old profile, but I'm not finding anything about the JSON viewer past FF version 55. Have I lost this information as well?

Doesn't it seem like a pretty important issue when you can't import files to the Quantum version? Surely I'm not the only one with this problem? Is there somewhere else I can get help from Mozilla? This is so frustrating, I don't want to give up Firefox! :(

Kate,

I’m sorry to see your issue still hasn’t been resolved after keeping an eye on it for a while and a single previous reply, as well as your expressed disappointment. I did not feel the urge to add additional comments so far as there are already some people that I hoped would be able to help out and get to the root of the issue.

My $0.02: there should be no loss of information in your situation. However and as rule of thumb, at least my personal one, is to not rely on passwords and logins stored in any piece of software, but to keep them on a second place, either digitally or on paper. That said, saved logins really missing should not be a big issue, if that’s true in the first place.

Generally, people more experienced with profiles usually create a second one (rather than refreshing Firefox) and build their Firefox setup up from scratch in order to try to reproduce a problem - this is nothing more than making Firefox behave as if it was installed for the first time. Importing important data from another profile should be a fairly easy step. For what it’s worth: a profile is nothing more than the folder where user settings and other volatile/dynamic data resides, i.e. the place other than the program files folder. Almost any program uses a profile (see the AppData folder), but very few call it that way. Sometimes an issue is so hard to find that creating a new profile and importing such data, or rather parts of it, is easier and time-saving. Add-ons are the most likely cause of issues, so Safe Mode is a quick way of testing that. Anyway, you’ve gone through all these steps, I think.

I would recommend imagining the picture of setting up Firefox for the first time. Therefor once again create a new profile and copy the bookmarks from the current profile at most (the places.sqlite file) and install/customize as little as possible or even nothing, so no add-ons. You could even think of not importing the bookmarks file. As long as you can choose the profile launched, which is possible by simply adding <space>-p to your existing Firefox shortcut or a copy of it as described in the Profiles article, you can switch back and forth.

Also and in order not to overlook possible preferences being responsible in about:config, type about:support, click the Copy text to clipboard button and paste the info here. You can do this for the new profile as well as the current one. If you have a proper diff viewer, comparing the prefs.js files (you can find it in your profile folder too) may do the trick, but in a way this is overkill for now and can be time consuming too. You could however back it up ASAP when you have a sutuation where the issue does not occur. I’m not sure if this bug was already mentioned, but seeing that provides the idea of other preferences or recent changes affecting late Firefox behavior.

Reinstalling Firefox by first removing it in Add/Remove programs on Windows and then installing it from here could do no harm - you won’t lose any profile related data and settings. Given that you wrote it started occurring recently, you could of course consider to keep the older version. For any profile in use, you could think of installing an older version of Firefox. A link to previous (currently pre 59) releases is provided too.

The trick is just to see under what circumstances the problem reintroduces itself, possibly followed by a) thinking what (you) changed on your system that day, and b) by comparing - or even restoring - the prefs.js file. That, and perhaps reinstalling a previous version at that point, could help pinpoint whether or not this is an internal Firefox issue or one caused by other software modifying any preferences, even ones outside of the prefs.js file.

I’m sorry if any of this has already been written - the thread is just so log meanwhile.

Hi KateyKate, to move data to the new profile, you need to replace the empty files in your new profile with the cirresponding ones from your old profile. The "Recovering" article lists those files. I'm traveling and cannot write long posts.

Same problem here.

Thanks for the reply, Tonnes..yes, I have most of the logon info (username/password, etc)...written down. I'm just frustrated with trying so many things that hasn't fixed the issue and created more problems to figure out...sorry we don't agree on whats important and what isn't.

"People more experienced with profiles create a new one"...I'm obviously not more experienced, thats why I'm here. I created the new profile because thats what these people said to do...and yes, I've already gone through all these steps...thanks for the input.

Creating another profile and copy over bookmarks...or maybe not copy them: as I said above, when I created the new profile, I didn't copy anything over, did not re-install add ons...and the bksp key worked as it should for about three tries (since it only happens on Facebook, I tried typing text for a new post, a text msg in Messenger and commenting on another post). I made no changes on anything from the time the new profile was created until it stopped working and I was given something else to try from here.

Preferences might be a possible cause - if you have a proper diff viewer..but might be overkill. If I understand your comments, there were no changes made with the new profile, I have no idea what a proper diff viewer is or if I have one...but if It might be overkill..I suppose I'll leave that one alone.

Reinstalling Firefox - consider keeping the older version. Again, if I understand the comment, the problem started on the older version, immediately after an auto-update for Firefox. I'm guessing I'll need to determine what version of Firefox was installed when it updated, and go one version back from that? How would I find which version was installed when this started, and I guess I can choose the version prior from a list that shows them in order?

Sorry about the long thread...and my disappointment with the experience. There are a couple of reasons for each. I've used Firefox exclusively for as long as I can remember, and it has been literally flawless until this issue. I imagine that those of you who are more experienced with this process would think its overly large....I've tried to give as much info as I can, because I'm not familiar with this process. My disappointment is twofold, I didn't know/wasn't told that the logon file cannot be imported into Quantum....and disappointed with myself for not doing a better job asking for help. I guess that happens with something new...and being fortunate with having zero issues with this browser, now it seems there is no fix for something that is huge to me...but thanks for the comments.

jscher2000 said

Hi KateyKate, to move data to the new profile, you need to replace the empty files in your new profile with the cirresponding ones from your old profile. The "Recovering" article lists those files. I'm traveling and cannot write long posts.

Hi Jscher....you've said previously that logon info can't be imported...I'm not sure I understand this. I'm obviously not experienced in all of this, but why can't this important info be moved to the new profile?

KateyKate,

At this point I would create a fresh profile, make sure it works as expected, exit Firefox, and copy the (new!) profile folder elsewhere entirely. Test behavior like you did and as soon as the issue reoccurs, copy back all the copied files to the active profile folder (when Firefox is not opened) to see if the issue disappears. As soon as it reoccurs, you could do the same and only copy prefs.js and perhaps some other files (such as webappsstore.sqlite), i.e. step by step.

This may look like an odd method, but I can’t think of anything else right now and would do the same if it happened to me, although there is a chance some dynamic files offered by the website are affected. In that case I think restoring the profile folder’s content may not help, so that could be a valuable indication too.

A diff viewer is a tool (or somtimes a helper feature inside a tool) that allows you to see the difference between 2 or more files, which could come in handy when comparing e.g. prefs.js and look for modified preferences. Do note that some files can and will be changed even by restarting Firefox, and Firefox itself can modify preferences either in that file or any other, which is what can make it time-consuming too.

What you and Thermaltake (who is advised to do the same) have in common is Windows 10, and perhaps the same build. I have no experience with that, and the issue does not occur for me on Win 7. There may however be mutual software installed for you both. (?)

You may also have seen previous reports like these about odd backspace behavior, although they may not involve the exact same issue. Reports of the Grammarly add-on breaking stuff can be found there and elsewhere, but you don’t seem to use it so this clearly does not apply. It may help troubleshoot the issue for us however, if anyone is interested in looking at the add-on’s code. If you have any other external software related to grammar, spell-checking or keyboard input installed, that may be worth mentioning.

As for importing logon info: I think what was referred to previously was that Firefox has no import option for importing logins by default, other than what’s described in the Import data from another browser article, i.e. importing data from another browser. That doesn’t mean importing logins from Firefox itself isn’t possible, but you would need to copy both logins.json and key4.db from the older/other profile. The Recover important data from an old profile article covers that info.

New firefox is out, still now fix for this bug.

Hi ThermalTake...Thanks for your comment! I just restarted Firefox to ensure the update completed, got the msg saying it was updating and would restart once complete. Held my breath while trying the bksp key in text mode on Facebook...it backed up to the previous webpage, instead of backing up one character in text :(. I'm so beyond frustrated, guess I'll just use Chrome for anything Facebook...grrrrr

Tonnes said

KateyKate, At this point I would create a fresh profile, make sure it works as expected, exit Firefox, and copy the (new!) profile folder elsewhere entirely. Test behavior like you did and as soon as the issue reoccurs, copy back all the copied files to the active profile folder (when Firefox is not opened) to see if the issue disappears. As soon as it reoccurs, you could do the same and only copy prefs.js and perhaps some other files (such as webappsstore.sqlite), i.e. step by step. This may look like an odd method, but I can’t think of anything else right now and would do the same if it happened to me, although there is a chance some dynamic files offered by the website are affected. In that case I think restoring the profile folder’s content may not help, so that could be a valuable indication too. A diff viewer is a tool (or somtimes a helper feature inside a tool) that allows you to see the difference between 2 or more files, which could come in handy when comparing e.g. prefs.js and look for modified preferences. Do note that some files can and will be changed even by restarting Firefox, and Firefox itself can modify preferences either in that file or any other, which is what can make it time-consuming too. What you and Thermaltake (who is advised to do the same) have in common is Windows 10, and perhaps the same build. I have no experience with that, and the issue does not occur for me on Win 7. There may however be mutual software installed for you both. (?) You may also have seen previous reports like these about odd backspace behavior, although they may not involve the exact same issue. Reports of the Grammarly add-on breaking stuff can be found there and elsewhere, but you don’t seem to use it so this clearly does not apply. It may help troubleshoot the issue for us however, if anyone is interested in looking at the add-on’s code. If you have any other external software related to grammar, spell-checking or keyboard input installed, that may be worth mentioning. As for importing logon info: I think what was referred to previously was that Firefox has no import option for importing logins by default, other than what’s described in the Import data from another browser article, i.e. importing data from another browser. That doesn’t mean importing logins from Firefox itself isn’t possible, but you would need to copy both logins.json and key4.db from the older/other profile. The Recover important data from an old profile article covers that info.

Hi Tonnes, thanks for the suggestions...but I'm (obviously easily) confused by what I "might or might not" try, other than creating yet another new profile...I think I've lost this one. My only other thought is to do a complete restore to the only restore point I have...from a couple of months ago. I don't know what I might lose from any/all updates that have happened since the restore point..I suppose its a risk no matter what. Thanks for your help :)

A possible workaround could be to go left one character and use the Delete key if Backspace isn't working. Apparently Firefox doesn't think that you are in a input field or textarea if backspace isn't working as intended.

Well isn't this embarrassing...just received a "badge" for 20+ support forum replies. I've never answered a question here...maybe its a reminder that I should quit asking about this :(

Hi Cor-el...thanks for replying! Yes, I have tried that...I think its just slowing down (I type about 90/wpm) enough to actually do that...retraining old brains just isn't easy! :) Thanks

It's clearly a bug, and firefox team should be working on it to fixing it.

It may be a bug, but unfortunately very few people seem to suffer it. Again, any mutual software installed on your systems that may affect backspace behavior, possibly related to grammar / input / accessibility?

I don’t think it will help, but did you try what happens when using another keyboard? And e.g. in case of a wireless one, update its driver?

Option: create a new user account in Windows, set up Firefox, no add-ons, and check for a while. This may help to rule out any software not installed for that user. Reproduction by taking one step at a time may just need to be required.

Or just stop using FB. :) No seriously, I still consider this issue to be a challenge.

Thermaltake said

It's clearly a bug, and firefox team should be working on it to fixing it.

Thanks Thermaltake, made a bug report yesterday!  :)

And here we go with the bug report...I specifically said I use the bksp key all day long in text mode on Facebook...