FireFox Browser – Securing Bookmarks

I have always used FireFox, which I like much better than other browsers. Assuming you also use FireFox, you might be interested in this.  Several times, as a result of upgrading my computer or a computer crash, I have lost my bookmarks.   That is a big loss, since I probably have 200 or more over 10 years time. And I use them all the time (via the little search box, which finds them quickly).

There is an easy way to build a bookmarks backup on your computer – or backup to a thumb drive or flash drive, or whatever you like outside your computer box.  Here’s the answer

1.      Push “control”, “shift”, and “B”  at the same time on your keyboard and up pops a little pop-up in the middle of your screen.

2.      There is a little menu at the top that says “import and backup”

3.      Choose “backup”

4.      Prefix suggested name with drive letter for thumb drive, i.e.
f:\bookmarks-2011-07-31.json   Where “F” is your thumb drive  it will automatically put the strange extension .json  onto your file.   You just have to choose “F” or whatever letter you need for your backup drive.  Or, you could let it go to the desktop, or some file in My Documents.  But safer to have it “off site”. 

This would be the file to restore on a new Firefox profile, it will replace all bookmarks. That is, when you are ready to bring the file back into use.  I just saved my bookmarks today for both of my computers, as a safety measure.  While I do back up the entire computer, finding just that one thing in a zip drive might not be handy (and in the past I don’t think it even worked due to loading a fresh copy of FireFox browser on the new system).  I think it is best to have it in a clean file, on a thumb drive or backup hard drive.  Your thoughts or tips?  Add as comment.