How to restore lost tabs, history, bookmarks.
Whether migrating up to FF 55 or today going backwards to FF 51, I have lost all my tabs, history,. and bookmarks. I had to go back to FF 51 because I use accessibility software not compatible with higher levels of FF. Since I did not change directories, presumably all the data for history, tabs, and bookmarks should be available but they aren't apparently. Even when I ask the bookmarks toolbar to restore bookmarks, and it lists files, it says that FF is unable to use that file. Is there a way to make FF 51. recover all the tabs, bookmarks, and history I had before?? Thanks.
Krejt Përgjigjet (5)
You can use the Firefox 52 ESR version if you cannot or do not want to use the current release. That way you will still receive security updates.
If you need to use plugins other than Flash then install the 32-bit Firefox 52 ESR version.
Firefox 52.6.0 ESR:
- https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/
- https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/52.6.0/releasenotes/
- https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/52.6.0/system-requirements/
Note that it isn't recommended to downgrade a profile since this can lead to dataloss.
Do you have a places.sqlite.corrupt file in the profile folder?
There are changes to places.sqlite (bookmarks and history) that can cause the bookmarks to get lost. You can try to restore the bookmarks from a JSON backup.
- Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks -> Import & Backup -> Restore
You may have to rename/remove places.sqlite in case of issues and you likely lose history.
Firefox 56+ releases compress the files in the sessionstore-backups folder and sessionstore.jsonlz4 with LZ4 (.jsonlz4 instead of .js), so you lose your tabs.
First, as I tried to explain above, I went backwards to FF 51 because I have screen reader-magnifier software (ZoomText) that is compatible with 51 but nothing above that. It sounds like no matter what I do I lose everything. I've tried treading through the various links, which lead me to more links, which lead me to more links... So that has not helped me, though it did cause information overload and frustration in that I could not find a straightforward page on how to do what I want to do.
I have discovered a new problem. Not only can I not restore bookmarks, tabs, or history, now I cannot even create that anew. If I bookmark something and then look at the bookmark list, it shows nothing. After doing a lot of different stuff in the browser, there is no history. The options for privacy show that each of those should be stored. What's worse, if I type in a URL and hit "enter," nothing happens. I have to go to the right to a small arrow and click it to get FF to go to that address. I've never seen any behavior like this. I'm wondering if FF 51.0.1 has some sort fo really bad bug.
Any suggestions? Thanks.
I solved the bookmark problem by deleting all places.sql* files. That did not help with history or tabs but it was something.
I have never seen FireFox this flaky. It crashes about once every hour or less. I have no idea why. I've not seen this behavior in other versions. I'm inclined to change versions even if it is bad for my accessibility software but I am reluctant. Mozilla has shown what seems like a concerted effort to make life harder and harder for those with low-vision. I don't know why they hate us but I can't think of any other reason for this unless of course they simply never considered accessibility in their software, a huge failure.