How to Back-Up Bookmarks in Firefox
Bookmarks is an easy way of remembering website we visit often. There are chances that Firefox may crash because of a new add-on installation, theme installation or any other reasons. It is always good to have a back up of data especially the bookmarks in Firefox. Taking a back up of bookmarks is pretty simple process and basically there are two methods to back up your Firefox bookmarks;
Method-1:
Go to Bookmarks->Organize Bookmarks in the main menu.
This will open up the Bookmarks Manager window. In this window you can see all the bookmarks saved. Go to File->Export and save the file in the preferred location. The file will contain all your bookmarks and will be an .html file. Whenever you install Firefox in another PC or re-install in your PC, you can import all the bookmarks through File->Import and select the option From File in the Bookmarks Manager.
Method-2:
Second method is directly taking a back up of the bookmarks.html file from the profile folder of the Firefox application. To do this navigate to this folder-
C:\Documents and Settings\<your profile name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ati9z0wb.default
In this folder you can find a HTML file by name bookmarks.html. Take a copy of this file and paste it in the desired location. Thats it, next time if you install Firefox, import this file using the steps mentioned above.
Update: The folder ati9z0wb.default may be different for different profile as pointed out by Benedict.
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Jul 25th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Good information, thanks for sharing.
I think there is third method too :
Using Google Browser Sync
Jul 25th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Wow cool trick, so any idea about how to import / backup browser history and cookies in firefox?
Jul 25th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
@Kuanhoong,
Thanks for the third method.
@Rishi,
If you want to back-up History and cache, you can use the backup tool- MozBackup. This can back up bookmarks, mail, contacts, history, extensions, cache etc in Mozilla and its a freeware.
Jul 25th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Fourth method can be Foxmarks addon.. For syncing bookmarks online.. I feel it’s better than google browser sync if you want to sync only bookmarks..
Jul 25th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Nirmal, Thanks for writing it! I have a small modification on Method 2. You won’t really see folder “ati9z0wb.default” it is randomly generated name and varies based on the user profile.
Jul 25th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
@Nirmal
thanks for mentioning about Mozbackup …would be useful for me…
Jul 25th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Wow cool, Thanks for informing about it!
So when is its review coming on nirmaltv.com ? :lo:
Jul 25th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
@Deepak,
Thanks for the info on the add-on.
@Ben,
I too had that doubt, but then could not check it. Thanks for informing.
@Rishi,
May be you can do a review of it.
Jul 25th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
I have a lot of bookmarks on Firefox, will have to back up them when I reinstall Windows. Nice handy tip there. Thanks for sharing.
Jul 25th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
I was thinking of backing up my bookmarks for a long time as tooo many are there . Read this post and did it right now
. Thanks for sharing this 
Jul 25th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I’m a big fan of the bookmarks toolbar up top and I always get annoyed when it gets cleared occasionally. I’m lazy, I like to just click an icon. Any way to know why that happens?
Jul 25th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Thanks for this post. Exporting bookmarks is really convenient when I need to import the list onto another browser.
Jul 25th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Thanks for the important information.
I bookmark my important links at delicious but still there are situations when this is needed.
Jul 25th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Nice trick Nirmal !
Jul 26th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Very useful information Nirmal , thanks for sharing
. Your advices , tips and tricks about Firefox are very useful and I like the way you present them , keep it up .
Jul 26th, 2007 at 1:43 am
Nice tip! I mostly prefer backing up the whole profile instead of only bookmarks. My Firefox profile is very dear to me!
Jul 26th, 2007 at 4:23 am
Nice posting!
I have been reading about the online backup and storage industry for a while now. It is becoming a commonly accepted technology these days.
For online backup news, information and articles, there is an excellent website:
http://www.BackupReview.info
This site lists more than 400 online backup companies and ranks the top 25 on a monthly basis.
It also features a CEO Spotlight page, where senior management from the industry are interviewed.
Cheers,
Jul 26th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Hi Nirmal! Nice Tips! I also want to contribute 1 method. I’m using FEBE to backup every elements of my FF.
Jul 26th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Nice Post dude , didn’t knew about Method #2 Just checked it out works like a charm
Jul 26th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
@Ken Xu,
Thanks for that Add-on information.
@Minty blog,
Glad you know that you liked it.
Jul 26th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Nice Info. Thanks
Jul 26th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
I only realized the importance of backup a few months ago. After that I regularly backup bookmarks and also upload them to del.icio.us to ensure that they are never lost.
Jul 28th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Hi Nirmal….I use Foxmarks.
Btw, I was wondering whether you could write a tut on how to put those little icons showing country, OS and browser, in comment meta section.
Loved the tutorial on social bookmarking icon, thanks…
Jul 30th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
@TechZilo,
Those icons for country, OS and browser are displayed with a plugin for WP- Firestats. Installing the plugin with show these stats.
Sep 5th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
What about SyncMarks addon?
( http://www.artcompedia.com/xmore/ffxext/syncm.html )
Syncs over http,https,ftp with a server. Local saving also. Formats used to back-up/sync are xml or html. Can copy Firefox bookmarks into Window’s (Internet Explorer’s) favorites.
Oct 12th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
yeah… you rock!!! tnx for this cause im really having a hard time working on my home pc and in my office workstation cause i want to see my bookmarks in my pc at home and in my office…
can i ask if its possible to combine booksmards?
Jun 4th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Thanks a lot!!
Jul 30th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Method-2; is not usable in Firefox 3, as bookmarks.html is not updated… AFAIK
Aug 14th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Thank in this help.
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