Firefox Version 129.0.2 Updates - HORRIBLE - Lost information - have to find new browser .. :(

[chofvt]

The August update to version 129.0.2 removed all of my bookmarks... which are critical to my life.  These have never been removed with any previous update.  So, I have to find another browser at this point because I won't be downloading this version again... it took significant time to uninstall it.  Look at all the other things wrong and the changes to how the browser works.  I don't like to have to take my time and "work" for changes made - certainly not after several years of using it - why should I?  I don't get paid for that time.  Sorry to be saying farewell to Mozilla after all this time but you really can't mess with peoples personal belongings this way - for what?  This is more than a security change - it's asking people to relearn something that should be left alone.  Not broken, don't fix it.  Already it takes time from people's lives to update and install almost every other day.  Anyone else lose their Bookmarks and bar option? 

[jscher2000]

Sorry to hear about this problem. If you can't see your bookmarks in the other typical places --

• Sidebar (Ctrl+B, or on Mac, Command+B)
• Library window (Ctrl+Shift+O, or on Mac, Command+Shift+O)
• Bookmarks Menu (on Windows, Alt+B)

-- then please see the following article for suggestions: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/recover-lost-or-missing-bookmarks

If the problem is specific to the Bookmarks Toolbar not populating with bookmarks, I suggest posting this problem on the Mozilla Support site. They have a team of support volunteers to troubleshoot malfunctions with your currently installed version of Firefox, while this site is focused on idea submissions for future versions of Firefox (looking ahead anywhere from 8 weeks to many months). Here's a link to the new question form (for Windows/Mac/Linux): https://mzl.la/3y1vQUQ

[McBobby]

You know, you wouldn't have so many problems and questions posted here if you stopped breaking the functionality of the best features of Firefox. The Overflow Menu was the best innovation you ever made, and now it's useless. Firefox's "selling" point was that it was the most customizable browser there was, as well as being open source. Well, it's not the most customizable any more, and you're forced to jump through complicated loots to do what customization you allow.

News Flash: Most users don't know how to code or use CSS scripting; why can't you just go back to using extentions and Dragging & Dropping to customize the look of Firefox. Leave the fancy coding and CSS scripting for theme developers.

It has only been loyalty to using Firefox for a very long time that's kept me from deleting it for good and switching to Opera, but you've rewarded the loyalty of long-time users by making Firefox into a piece of crap, like Edge.

Yes, I know MHTML standards have been changing, and new functionality is coming in, but what's wrong with leaving proven effective and popular functionality in place, and adding new innovations around it? Don't just change everything and expect people to keep up. There is value in familiarity. It's burdensome to constantly have to search all over the web to find out the complicated way to restore a favourite feature that Mozilla decided to just up and eliminate, and often times, you can't find a way to restore it, or even to work around the loss of that functionality.

You're making the same mistakes as the Thunderbird Development Team has made in throwing away the familiar, the effective and the popular and doing everything over again. Thunderbird's rapid-fire updates left most of the once-staunch addon developers in the lurch, and none of them are even trying to keep up anymore, because the Thunderbird Development Team doesn't value their contribution to the email client.

Complicated is rarely better. Power users might appreciate the way you changed things, but the typical user is NOT a power user, and we're losing hope in our once-favourite browser.

[jscher2000]

Okay, it sounds like you aren't coming back to Firefox. When you uninstalled, did you wipe your Firefox data? Hopefully not!! Assuming the data is still on your system, here's how you can move your bookmarks over to another browser:

(1) Locate your profile folder(s)

Firefox stores in a profile folder. This article has information on locating the folder:

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

(2) Check the bookmarkbackups sub-folder inside the profile folder for available files

These files have the date coded into them, so you can spot the latest ones. But they are compressed and you need to use a tool to extract them. So...

(3) You can use my online extractor to convert the backup into an importable "bookmarks.html" file

See: https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/bookbackreader.html

Then use the steps in your new browser to import the generated file.

[Scotsman]

You are definitely not alone. On several websites I could not access important links. I will be concise and only mention two bad experiences on two websites I frequently access.

UPDATE: The problem was solved when I disabled one of my add-on extensions: McAfee Web Advisor. It's the oldest of four extensions, including also Facebook Container, Malwarebytes Browser Guard and Duck Duck Go Essentials. I had no previous issues with links being blocked until the update to 129.02. Disabling Web Advisor seemed to fix the problem. I disabled Duck Duck Go Essentials and later re-enabled it, because it didn't seem to affect Firefox 129's performance. Thus Web Advisor seems to have been the culprit.

[rmbelson]

I lost my bookmarks, too. Firefox said my "older" bookmarks would not function and I should create a new profile. Alas, the stored bookmarks I had for existing installations of Chrome and even old FF ones, were not up to date. Since install the app has been acting strange, going to earlier versions of profiles, losing bookmarks, showing up with  two instances of the app at either side of the Win 10 taskbar, each with slightly different sets of bookmarks.  What's going on?

[rmbelson]

Forgot to say, this was right after update to 130.0 64-bit on my Win 10 pc.

[jscher2000]

Firefox 130 is the beta. Are you simultaneously running 129 and 130? That could cause Firefox some confusion and force profile re-creation.

Assuming you get that sorted out:

I assume you still have your old profile. To access its data, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter to load the Profile Manager. (Support article: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles)

The "Root Directory" link will open a file browser and let you access the bookmarkbackups folder in the older profile (the one that is not marked as being in use). Copy/paste the latest backup file to your desktop, and then you should be able to restore it to your new profile using the steps in the following article (use "Choose File" to point Firefox to that backup file on your desktop): https://support.mozilla.org/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

[rmbelson]

I tried downloading Firefox again. Got the 130 version, that's what came when I hit the download button. No retained bookmarks at all. I tried all profiles and none had my old bookmarks. Pretty frustrating, and I wish I understood why my recent FF update did such damage.  I do have a 'desktop bookmarks' folder on my Android version of FF that is close to recent. How can I back that up and port it to my Windows FF? I have been a Firefox user for decades, but I have to say, I'm looking at Chrome. Thanks for helping

[McBobby]

I still have my bookmarks, but Firefox won't browse to any of them. When I select one, the browser does nothing.

Why does Mozilla keep making Firefox suck more and more each update? Why should we even bother updating, when Mozilla keeps uploading non-functional updates, and all of the features of Firefox we used to love best are phased out and not replaced by anything?

Seriously, I want someone to consider posting a rebuttal as to why people should keep using Firefox; preferably by someone from the design team that is destroying our favourite browser.

[rmbelson]

OK, I read some articles and synced my android FF to my PC. Slightly out of date bookmarks have arrived. But I wish I understood 1. why/how I'm on the beta update path, and 2. why the recent update munged my old profile.  I'm going to export my bookmarks to an html file ASAP.