Have you checked the computers Recycle/Trash Bin?

. Restore Bookmark Backups

To open the Bookmarks Manager, press the Alt or F10 key bring up the tool bar, and select Bookmarks. Hot key is <Control>(Mac=<Command>) <Shift> B.

Once the window is open, at the top of the page, press the button labeled Import and Backup. Select Restore. From the list, pick the file you want and click it.

The recently bookmarked folder isn't an actual bookmark. It was a smart places designation. I can choose to restore a prior list of bookmarks. But--1) No one has said that this will actually restore the missing smart folder. 2) I would lose all the bookmarks I've added since the date of the restore. (For me, that would be three days ago.) I have added quite a few bookmarks since then. I'm doing a taping tomorrow and I have bookmarked a lot of references.

I have tried the suggestions to restore the smart folders that were part of the browser. Going into the configure file. I switch the value to zero and shut it down and restart. The value resets itself to seven. I have no idea why. If I could find a way to save my work after setting the value to zero, I have hopes that it might solve the problem. But, the instructions do not state how to make the change stick.

Deirdre63 said

I have tried the suggestions to restore the smart folders that were part of the browser. Going into the configure file. I switch the value to zero and shut it down and restart. The value resets itself to seven. I have no idea why.

Firefox is supposed to see that it's zero (or whatever the default starting value is) and go ahead and create the folders.

Could you check whether the default folders were added at the bottom of the Bookmarks menu? If so, you can move them to a preferable location using the Library dialog. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+b
• "Show All Bookmarks"

Either drag and drop or cut and paste should work.

If you can't find them there, two thoughts:

(1) Could it be misplaced? Let's try searching for it in an HTML Export of your bookmarks. This article has the steps for creating the export file, which you should save in a convenient location such as your documents folder:

Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks

Then open that HTML file in Firefox (usually double-clicking the file will do that). Once it's open as a web page, you can use Find (Ctrl+f) to search for it and then see whether it's inside an unexpected folder.

(2) Would you like to create a new/different one?

Smart folders are searches, and you can create a new one any time. It's a little weird how you have to do it. I'm happy to post the steps. Actually, I'll try to find a link to a past thread with the steps...

Creating a custom Recently Bookmarked smart folder

This is a bit roundabout, but bear with me.

First, select and copy the following places query string:

place:sort=12&excludeQueries=1&maxResults=20&queryType=1

Open up the Library dialog (Windows: Ctrl+Shift+b, Mac Command+Shift+b, or "Show All Bookmarks")

In the left column, click Bookmarks Menu

On the right side, right-click a blank area (not on a folder row) and choose New Bookmark

In the Name, type something like Last 20 Bmks and in the Location, paste the query string.

Note about the number of bookmarks: maxResults=20 is what sets the number of results.

Click the Add button. Then drag the new bookmark to the Bookmarks Toolbar in the left column and drop it there. When you expand the bar, you should see that the new bookmark now has the blue "smart folder" icon indicating that it is a query folder.

If you actually want it on the menu, now you can move it back.

So there's another tool for your kit if you need it.

If you get curious about what else you can do with place: queries, see https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Mozilla/Tech/Places/Places_query_URIs