Backing Up Bookmarks in Firefox

I have been wanting to make frequent backups of my bookmarks in Firefox for a while. I have found two methods that work for me.

Note that I use a linux system. If you use Windows, a Mac, or something else, your milage may vary with the methods described below.

Method 1: places.sqlite

Since Firefox version 3 (released June 17, 2008) bookmarks are not saved in a bookmarks.html file anymore. Instead, bookmarks are saved in a file called places.sqlite. This file can be found in your profile folder:

~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default-release/places.sqlite

To back this file up in an organized way you can move places.sqlite file out of this directory and into ~/Backup/, for example, and create a symbolic link back into Firefox' profile directory. This makes a very easy way to back bookmarks up to a remote location, whether it is an external drive, a NAS, and/or cloud storage.

Note that places.sqlite is not only used to store bookmarks, but also annotations, favorite icons, input history, keywords, and browsing history. To see, and possibly modify, what is stored, you can use sqlite3 on the command line, or a graphical sqlite browser such as DB Browser for SQLite.

Method 2: bookmarks.html

It is possible to automatically export Firefox' bookmarks to an HTML-file:

Browse to the page about:config (and accept the risks, if needed)

Find the setting browser.bookmarks.autoExportHTML and set it to true

Firefox will now automatically export the bookmarks to bookmarks.html in it's profile folder whenever the browser shuts down.

It is possible to change the location of this HTML-file:

On the about:config page, set the location of this file by adding or changing the browser.bookmarks.file option.

This option does not exist by default—you need to add it (as a string) if it's not already there. Set it to a location like /home/tarial/Backup/bookmarks.html, or D:\Backup\bookmarks.html.