With the advent of Firefox 3, everybody is talking about the new bookmark system. Most like it, while some don’t. But the major confusion among the new people who have started using Firefox 3 is the question, where are the Firefox 3 bookmarks stored or saved?
Where were bookmarks saved before?
In Firefox 2, the bookmarks were stored in bookmarks.html file under C: Users –> <User Name> –> AppData –> Roaming –> Mozilla –> Firefox –> Profiles –> (some random characters.default ex 2xd8htj.default) –> Bookmarks.html
Even though you find this file in Firefox 3, you may find that it doesn’t have the latest bookmarks you have added in Firefox. You may find only the imported bookmarks in that file. That’s because Firefox 3 bookmarks are not stored in the same way it was stored before. (Note: You can tweak Firefox 3 to save bookmarks in bookmarks.html also)
Where are bookmarks saved in Firefox 3 now?
It stores both the bookmarks and the history as the database with the help of SQLite. This is the reason why Firefox 3 is able to add tags to the bookmarks and the awesomebar is able to list the suggestions as per most visited links. This also enable Firefox 3 to handle these requests very fast. SQLite database bookmark system was added since Firefox 3 Alpha 5 – Mozilla Development Center.
So in the same place where you found bookmarks.html, you will find places.sqlite and this is the database which handles all the Firefox 3 bookmarks.
So what is JSON and what has to do with Bookmarks?
JSON is JavaScript Object Notation which is a data-interchange format. In the same folder where you found places.sqlite, you will find a folder called bookmarkbackups which has backups of Firefox 3 bookmarks. In case you lose your database or it gets corrupted, you can import these files through Bookmarks –> Organize Bookmarks –> Import and Backup –> Import. So this just serves as your backup and this is not where primarily the Firefox 3 bookmarks are stored.
So now how to view bookmarks in places.sqlite?
The best way is to install the SQLite Manager addon which helps to view all the 11 tables that are present in the bookmark database. This includes table for history, favicons, keywords, bookmarks root etc.
Once you install the addon, click Connect Database and browse to select places.sqlite and you can view all the bookmarks in the table moz_bookmarks. If you prefer to do it this way, you can also manually add, edit or delete bookmarks through this table.
is any tool inside firefox to remove history from places.sqlite?
@amm, are you referring how to remove browsing history? you can go to Tool -> Options -> Privacy tab -> Private Data -> Clear Now -> Check only browsing history and say Ok to remove history from places.sqlite.
Its similar to what it was in Firefox 2. See me earlier post for more details.
Nice post. Do you know is it possible to upload bookmark data to an FTP server, like Bookmark Sync plugin did it in ff 2.0?
It is unfortunate that bookmarks.html, useful for synchronization and directly readable, was replaced by a DB. One has to start Firefox and export bookmarks from places.sqlite before synchronizing with other browsers. Why that? I have no interest in awesomebar and “suggestions as per most visited links”.
The trick described above
works, but is does not allow automatic synchronization with Firefox 3: You have to import the synchronized file into places.sqlite manually each time. I will convert to Firefox 2 for now and check how synchronization-friendly is Opera.
Petr Karlovsky
How does one remove the ‘most visited’ link? I like to save my toolbar for special bookmarks and I don’t need ‘most visited.’
I much prefer the bookmarks system in Firefox 2; it is much easier and quicker to manage.
I am profoundly unhappy with this.
I just upgraded from FF2 to FF3. Upon reboot, I found that I am missing about 1/3 of my bookmarks. Essentially, all my last six weeks’ worth.
This shouldn’t have happened. It happened, so it should be easy for me to fix. It isn’t. I don’t want to configure a database just to recover bookmarks. I just want the bookmarks I had saved, displaying in the left pane, where I expect to see them. This is as unexpected and unwelcome as a russian porn virus on my hard disk drive. I refuse to consider it an improvement. This is insane.
I’m use to the “bookmarks.html” file storing my bookmarks. That is very handy because I can easily backup my bookmarks (which are valuable to my work). I was getting quite frustrated trying to figure out why my Firefox 3 “bookmarks.html” file didn’t store my bookmarks, and this post was very helpful in shedding light on the situation.
Of course, now I’m stuck without a convenient way to backup my bookmarks. I suppose I can just backup the whole “bookmarkbackups” folder, but then I’m backing up a bunch of old files I don’t care about. Annoying.
It’s crazy to have to install a SQLite Manager extension just to manage some bookmarks…
How to trash the world’s best browser?
Answer: prevent it from saving any new bookmarks
way to go mozilla!
good thing google just came out with a new browser. I’m going to check it out and I bet it even SAVES NEW BOOKMARKS.
You guys are complete losers for releasing version 3 in this condition ROFL
It’s the natural succession of most companies, right at the point when they start losing their customer base and eventually start wondering what happened. They start out by making a product and adding features that users ask for. But then something happens; the company turns away from it’s core purpose of trying to satisfy it’s customers and instead turns to dictating to the users what they are going to get, whether they want it or not. And really, regardless of whether Firefox uses an HTML file or database, it’s still just a file on a hard drive. It doesn’t matter where that file resides, which brings to point that Mozilla purposely and intentionally removed the feature of being able to store and retrieve bookmarks from a different location. See ya Mozilla, it’s been fun…
I do not see the database file mentioned in the post. Running a search for “places” and “places.sqlite” also brings up nothing. I am running Firefox 3.0.1 and have the SQLite Manager extension installed. Any suggestions?
How to trash a perfectly good browser. Release Firefox 3. The new bookmarks sucks. What are these triangles instead of the simple signs next to the folders? Totally confusing and I will be looking for a better browser. Why don’t you just leave things alone. If it aint broke why fix it?
I have been a user of Firefox for many years but not after this version. Bookmarks html file is corrupted and now I have to figure it out in this insane crap SQLITE add on. How do you add these bookmarks back where they need to be?
Manually search by name in a search engine and add that way? Why is it every time a good product comes out they get ruined by jerks who think they have a better idea. If anyone can give a better way to recover these it would be appreciated.
This is a terrible “improvement” The only means left for me is to use the Foxmarks add-on and send my IP address and who knows what else to a server somewhere with the promise they won’t data mine. What a lame idea.
I’m de-installing this browser until some local import is available.
It would appear that some of you are incorrectly assuming that you must manage your bookmarks with SQLite.
You simply use the nifty “Organize Bookmarks” option under “Bookmarks” in Firefox 3, which is *exactly* how you did it in Firefox 2. Just like with FF2, you can change, re-folder (via drag-and-drop), and easily delete any and all bookmarks.
Coop - if you want to “copy” your bookmarks from one computer to another without a tool like Weave or Foxmarks, simply go to “Bookmarks” -> “Organize Bookmarks” -> “Import and Backup”. Backup the computer you want to copy, then take that file to the other computer you want to update and import. You get the same type of json file, depending on the options you choose to use.
None of the gripes I read in this comment thread seems to be really legitimate. This post was meant for hackers who want to see the “behind the scenes” storage mechanism now employed in FF3, if that isn’t what you came here to read, then you need to keep looking for whatever it was you *were* looking for.
Personally, I like the new system in FF3 (as well as pretty much everything else about FF3 over FF2). The old bookmark system in FF2 was painfully slow if you more than a couple hundred bookmarks.
I cannot stress enough how much I loathe and despise the “new improved” bookmarking. I cannot rename. I cannot sort by name. I cannot put folders in the order I want. I cannot easily and intuitively organize my bookmarks. What happened to the simple drag and drop windows explorer type interface? - it was great, intuitive and WORKED. Everything is 10x more difficult now - and a lot of it DOESN’T WORK. Creating a bookmark takes so many more steps now it’s ridiculous. And the whole tags thing - give me a break. I look at the new bookmarking scheme in Firefox 3 and one word leaps to mind - moronic. I’ve been using Firefox since beta and I trust you guys - never occurred to me that Firefox 3 wouldn’t be great - used to love working with Firefox. Now when I have to deal with bookmarks, I feel sick to my stomach. I keep thinking someone in charge will wake up and fix it back to usable, but I’m beginning to see that is just not happening. Anyone know where I can get an earlier version of Firefox so I can roll back? It’s that or Safari - and I really don’t like Safari - but at least it doesn’t make me so frustrated that I feel ill.
James:
Let me clarify. When I installed FF3, it presented me with a bookmarks file that was a third the size of my FF2 bookmarks file, and had dropped about the last five months’ of my FF2 bookmarks.
I set out to fix this, but was stopped.
I couldn’t update my new FF3 bookmarks file because my old FF2 bookmarks file apparently didn’t exist on my computer any more.
As a techie, you probably know it is a hidden file or that there is some convoluted command path I can follow to recover part of the data, or maybe you even have the name of an FF developer who knows the magic command I need to know, in order to fix this problem.
As a user; I am simply disgusted. This kind of installation screw-up shouldn’t ever happen. If it does happen; the fix ought to be easy and obvious to nine out of ten users.
Nosing around, I discovered that FF3 had apparently installed some kind of database holding bookmarks, history, urls visited and all sorts of things that would be interesting to angry girlfriends, suspicious parents, judgemental teachers, merciless employers and the always-tender attentions of ad companies, google, and the FBI.
As an example of the kind of problems that await FF3 users with angry girlfriends; do you know that FF3 collected FORTY-FOUR LINKS for automatically served advertising popup windows from TribalFusion on my URL Location bar, in five days? Do you think I “visited” tribalFusion EVEN ONCE? Why is TribalFusion in my mystery FF3 database 44 times?
The FF3 Bookmarks database is not a feature. It is an intrusion on my privacy that destroyed a good bookmarks file in order to install itself. It has since turned into a serious FF3 bug.
mb
You CAN still sync your bookmarks (just not the same as syncing the html file).
go get foxmarks. With this extension you can use their servers, or point to one of your severs (webdav for example).
“With the advent of Firefox 3, everybody is talking about the new bookmark system. Most like it, while some don’t.”
Most like it?
You should get a job writing for FOX News.
Just migrated to FF3 and just discovered the new bookmark system when tried to import bookmarks to have two synchronized FF3 on my two machines.
Shortest way I’ve found to do that is to delete places.sqlite on PC 2, then open FF3 to let it automatically re-create the file (empty), then import FF3 bookmarks from PC 1 (previously exported in HTML format).
I’m very picky about bookmark management (well, I have now about 2000 URLs bookmarked …) and on the whole I’m not happy with a radical change on the system, but if it works …
I really hope that Lunarmark offline bookmark synchronizer still works well with FF3 HTML-exported bookmarks! This should allow to do the above described operation to synchronize two FF3 every time you need to.
I am finding the search options very useful, ie if you use the “tags” input box, the bookmarks will pop up by just typing in the tag. I don’t even bother to sort the bookmarks any more, just tag them. (And you can use multiple tags)
My only complaint is that when exported to HTML I can’t get the tags to export. Anyone managed to make this happen? Is there any add-on which performs this very useful function?
Dear James: You sound like you actually like ff3 bookmarks. I would not be on this site if I could get ff3 bookmarks to work like ff2. I have used firefox almost ten years, and I am 0ver 60 years old, but I think firefox just jumped into a hole. I am looking for a browser that is as functional as Mozilla but has a bookmarking system like ff2. In tools they need to add a ,(return to ff2 bookmarking system), addition. In my opinion this one is brain damaged and unusable. Something you have used for years is intuitive, as it was from the start. This ff3 is nonintuitive, and unfunctional when finally figured out after major frustration.
hey i was looking everywhere for this and im glad i found it. i am very thank full.