Import/Export bookmarks to local fileystem

[yoasif]

Why/User Benefit/User Problem

• If a user is using Fenix alone (without synced accounts), there is no backup of bookmarks if a user removes Fefix
• Even if a user is using Sync, without a secondary machine "backing" up bookmarks, bookmarks will be lost if user removes Fenix
• Users don't want to lose bookmarks

What / Requirements

As a user, I would like to be able to export bookmarks to my local filesystem and to later import them.

Acceptance Criteria (how do I know when I’m done?)

• User can export bookmarks
• User can import bookmarks, adding to existing bookmarks
• Ideally, if identical bookmarks are present in the source and destination, bookmarks are merged

┆Issue is synchronized with this Jira Task

[Poopooracoocoo]

this combined with #7325 would pretty much free you from your browser. It's the stuff of dreams 🤤

[Poopooracoocoo]

looks like moz wants to put all of these in #2080

[ratkiley]

This is an essential feature, because there seems to be no way to transfer mobile bookmarks to a file from the desktop version of firefox, nor from the firefox sync account page, nor from the mobile version of firefox.

[pidus]

I currently use Kiwi Browser. If I want to try Fenix I can't. I have over 2000 bookmarks that I can't import in Fenix. Desktop Firefox bookmark sync is NOT an option for me as I don't have any access to a desktop computer. This feature is very important to the likes of the users who only use mobile. Millions of people in Asia and Africa use only mobile.

[sheikh-azharuddin]

Any update? This is really a long pending feature...almost 3 years completed since this is opened!

[Poopooracoocoo]

I'd recommend switching to another browser like Bromite that isn't just a companion to the desktop app and achieves a bit more user freedom.

[moeenio]

Please consider this feature. I believe it is essential to be able to export data from the browser to import it in another one or just use it in any other way. This is really the only thing making me stay on Bromite, and I'm surprised no other browser on Android has this feature.

[igorlogius]

4 years and still no local bookmark export ... funny in a sad kind of way.

[klint]

I'm surprised no other browser on Android has this feature.

Wait... Maybe because this is not an essential feature on Android 😉.
And maybe because most of the browsers have that feature available on desktop, as a workaround (and sync of course)

[moeenio]

Wait... Maybe because this is not an essential feature on Android 😉. And maybe because most of the browsers have that feature available on desktop, as a workaround (and sync of course)

I don't see why it wouldn't be? Having it on the desktop is not an excuse for not providing it, and while sync is a functioning workaround, I'd like if I didn't need a desktop computer and an online account to obtain data that is stored on my phone.

[ratkiley]

I'm surprised no other browser on Android has this feature.

Wait... Maybe because this is not an essential feature on Android 😉. And maybe because most of the browsers have that feature available on desktop, as a workaround (and sync of course)

This is false. The desktop version of Firefox can not export the mobile bookmarks because of an old, unfixed bug. The developers overlooked development and / or testing of exporting the mobile bookmarks folder which is separate from the desktop bookmarks. There is no simple workaround to get the mobile bookmarks off of your device and onto another device / computer.

For this reason, this is not a feature request, but a major bug.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1419545

[igorlogius]

@ratkiley
nice leg-work digging that up +1

[ratkiley]

After years of being a loyal and dedicated firefox mobile fan, I had to abandon firefox fenix because of breaking changes that made my mobile browser unusable with the release of fenix. I struggled with this problem for days and ultimately had to invent a sort of hack to get my bookmarks out of firefox fenix. I switched to another mobile browser, and I have to say that 95% of users will not be able to migrate / export / sync / backup their bookmarks from firefox mobile bookmarks folder, because they are not software developers / IT support technicians.

Think of the use case when your mobile phone dies / gets lost or stolen / has to be replaced because it is old. All bookmars in the mobile bookmarks folder will be lost forever. When you install the new firefox app on your new phone, you will have to start with a blank mobile bookmarks folder. What is the point in saving bookmarks you can't keep? That is an unreliable and untrustworthy app in my book.

I was surprised to find 2-4 year-old well-documented issues / bugs / feature requests in both the mobile and desktop versions of firefox projects separately describing their own parts of this issue. It seems that the developers that work on the mobile version are separate from the ones that work on the desktop version, because there is no overlap in understanding or testing across platforms, otherwise these problems wouldn't have been ignored so long. Alternately, it is possible that all the developers are die-hard loyal fans of only firefox and therefore had never had to export their own bookmarks from their own mobile firefox browsers.

[moeenio]

This is false. The desktop version of Firefox can not export the mobile bookmarks because of an old, unfixed bug. The developers overlooked development and / or testing of exporting the mobile bookmarks folder which is separate from the desktop bookmarks. There is no simple workaround to get the mobile bookmarks off of your device and onto another device / computer.

That's even worse then.

[mhammond]

This is false.

That is false. JSON exports include mobile bookmarks. There also seems to be misinformation about Firefox Sync - it does sync all bookmarks, including mobile, between all devices.

[ratkiley]

Take a look for yourself. Then, why are *both* of these issues still open?

…

On Tue, Feb 15, 2022, 8:33 PM Mark Hammond ***@***.***> wrote: This is false. *That* is false. JSON exports include mobile bookmarks. There also seems to be misinformation about Firefox Sync - it does sync all bookmarks, including mobile, between all devices. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#417 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAVRHIMMAZLRZV33CCGR6KLU3MLGXANCNFSM4GWFD26A> . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675> or Android <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub>. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[mhammond]

Take a look for yourself. Then, why are both of these issues still open?

Far out, please take a breath and read things carefully. The bugzilla link is about HTML exports, and clearly says JSON exports does include them. I'm not sure what other issue you are referring to, but this issue as written is correct. The comment I replied to was not.

[hcet14]

I'm annoyed with firefox. I use it for a very long time. It's a very good GNU(!) browser. I like the addons to move in the Internet as anonymous as possible.

This is my data and nobody should be allowed to access (GDPR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation).

In former versions there was the possibility to mess with "browser.db" to save your bookmarks. Gone! (I want to move to a new ROM on my phone and want to save my bookmarks before, no chance)

Now you want to force me to use "Sync". I have no clue what you do with my data. So, I will never use it. Why is nobody telling us where the bookmarks are stored? I don't understand you! Why don't you give the users the option to save their(!) bookmarks?

I will not use firefox on my mobile in the future!

[MicroBeast]

Why doing many hoops digging into internal system for browser.db while we can just save everything externally (offline) from start?

I save my bookmarks in encrypted Markdown Text (Passworded Archive also will do). And use Keepass to save all my Passwords. This won't be a big problem compared to digging system partition and a database file. Yeah, I've done that database grabbing long time ago, not worth it if it continue to increase-decrease.

I just don't save anything in any browser, at least not for long. Synced them on my Cloud Drive if needed and under my own choice.

[hcet14]

Synced them on my Cloud Drive

Thanks for the reply, but this is my wish:

I don't want to use any Internet storage, cloud, whatever you name it!

Where are my(!) bookmarks stored on my(!) storage of my(!) phone?

[mhammond]

They are stored in a sqlite file named places.db in the app's directory.

[hcet14]

They are stored in a sqlite file named `places.db

no, places.db is not existing here.

in the app's directory.

Which directory exactly?
/data/app ?

I'm rooted, oneplus 7 pro oos10.0.15GM27BA, fennec fdroid 86.1.1

[mhammond]

My mistake, it is called places.sqlite in the app directory. I can't give you the exact directory name until I return next week from travel so have access to my emulator. The filename is specified at https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/android-components/blob/b827bd3c9c90a315001be415380e8d748894017d/components/browser/storage-sync/src/main/java/mozilla/components/browser/storage/sync/Connection.kt#L74

[jackyzy823]

Location is /data/data/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/files/places.sqlite if you 're using f-droid's one.

And it is really weird that places.sqlite is outside of profile path ( `/data/data/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/files/mozilla/xxxx.default)
It will much hard to implement switching profiles like desktop's one in fenix (I know this feature is not on your roadmap)

There's a tool (https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fennec-profile-manager) for old fennec which could export to/import from local filesystem. Android's sharedUserId and signing with the same key as Fennec make this tool work (so do not work for f-droid's one) . But its primary task is to make mozilla developer and tester to test migration from fennec to fenix easily.
It would be nice to have similar tool for fenix. (if we have no switching profiles feature , we could use this tool to do it manually )

[Someone-G]

This is all done on purpose so that people are dependent on the "ecosystem". And it doesn't matter which one. They are all connected in one way or another. Google's ruling hand is deep in Mozilla's "dark place", so there's no point in asking and waiting.
Look for a browser that supports local import/export.

[kbrosnan]

Moved to bugzilla: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1806482

Change performed by the Move to Bugzilla add-on.

[kbrosnan]

As part of #26855 this report has been moved to Bugzilla