Firefox Bookmark Backup

The quick and easy way

This page deals only with backing up bookmarks. If you want to back up settings and extensions as well, check out our page here.

Firefox bookmark backup was a chore only a short time ago. Today it is easy.

You can backup Firefox bookmarks for free in these proven ways:

Manually (not recommended unless you are a pro), or
Use Xmarks (formerly Foxmarks) - is a free service that will automatically backup your bookmarks in Firefox to their own servers somewhere. Restores are easy.
Through a social website called Delicious (www.delicious.com) that lets you share bookmarks with people and other websites. Restoring your bookmarks into Firefox is a little complicated and takes several steps, since it is not primairly for this. Click here for information on what it does in Firefox.

I use Xmarks to be able to restore my bookmarks easily.

I also use Delicious for purposes of sharing and tracking what I have done with bookmarks, but not for backup and restore.

To install Xmarks on your computer, use Firefox to go to http://www.xmarks.com/, and click on the "Install Now" button in the top left of the page. .

Foxmarks came as a revolution a couple of years ago when it was released, and it has only gotten better. Today it will also back up bookmarks in Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer. There are also now some other products out there that backup bookmarks, but we have not tested them yet. It may be a while. Xmarks is excellent.

Xmarks does far more than just back up bookmarks. It will maintain your set of bookmarks on multiple computers. Add a bookmark to the computer at home, see it on your office computer. that sort of thing. It synchronizes the bookmark files.

It will also back up your passwords.

Additionally, it gives you the ability to go to a web site to view and edit your bookmarks. (Once installed, go to the "Tools" menu, slide down to Xmarks, and then select "My Xmarks".

Mozilla.com warns that "Restoring your [Firefox] bookmarks from a backup can take some time, during which the browser may seem unresponsive." Xmarks minimizes this delay and difficulty.

How do I use it?

I currently synchronize my bookmarks on three computers using Xmarks. I love it. If I change my password on one computer, the others know it when I log on. My bookmarks file is truly a resource that is worth growing. It is always there when I need it - on any computer.

And if I want to make one of those computers not able to connect to Xmarks, I just need to change the password in Xmarks. Only the computers I give the new password will be able to see my bookmarks.

What if I loose access to a computer at work and want to erase my bookmarks remotely? I can delete all the bookmarks from that account and all my bookmarks will be deleted from the computer at work. I can then create a new Xmarks account and password for my other computers.
When I wanted someone in my business to have a portion of my bookmarks for doing their work, I connected that computer to my Xmarks account (by means of a user name and password), and then deleted the connection to my account and the unneeded bookmarks. The necessary bookmarks stayed.

It is a unique tool that is worth a lot, and it is free

Other options:
A competitor to Xmarks has arrived recently, which allows you to run your own server to back up your bookmarks. See it here.

Xmarks now has an answer to this option as well, called the BYOS (*Bring Your Own Server) version. See it here.

Click here to go to the Mozilla web site for other free services and options on Firefox bookmark backup.