How to Back Up Firefox Bookmarks

This article explains how to export and save your Firefox bookmarks in universal formats, like JSON and HTML, so you can store them someplace safe or import them to another computer running Firefox, or even Chrome.

How to Back Up Your Firefox Bookmarks Manually

Firefox automatically backs up your bookmarks and saves the last 15 backups for safekeeping. But, you can manually create backups as well. Here's how.

1. In Firefox, select the Library button icon on your toolbar.

   If the Library button isn't on your toolbar, select the Menu button, then Library.

2. Select Bookmarks.

3. The menu shifts to show you all your recent bookmarks along with the bookmark categories. At the very bottom of the list, select Show All Bookmarks.

4. Firefox opens the bookmark library window. Select Import and Backup at the top.

   You can also open the bookmark library by pressing CTRL+Shift+O.

5. Select Backup. Alternatively, if you'd rather export to HTML, which is the format Chrome uses, select Export Bookmarks to HTML.

6. A new window opens, allowing you to choose a destination for your backup save file. When you're satisfied with your file name and location, select Save.

   If you have a USB flash drive plugged into your computer, you can backup directly to it here as well.

7. Your backup is now stored either as a JSON file for Firefox or HTML, which both Chrome and Firefox can work with. You can move it freely between computers or back it up to the cloud.

How to Restore Your Bookmark Backup in Firefox

Backups aren't much good if you can't restore them later. Luckily, Firefox makes that simple, too. You can use the same bookmark library window to import your backup files from either Firefox or Chrome.

1.  Open Firefox and select the Bookmark icon, then select Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks. Or, press CTRL+Shift+O.

2. To import your backup:

   • From HTML: If you created an HTML backup from Firefox or your backup is from Chrome, select Import Bookmarks from HTML. A new window opens for you to browse to the location of your HTML backup file. Select and open it.
   • From JSON: If you have a regular Firefox JSON backup, select Restore. At the bottom of the list, select Choose File, then select your backup.

3. At this point, Firefox imports your bookmarks. Depending on the backup, they may be lumped into their own folder, but they're available, and you can always use the library window to re-organize them.