All of my Favorites lost

Only one solution ..........backup , backup, backup, etc.......

Try3 said:

Edge Favourites do not show up anywhere in File explorer. They exist only within Edge.

[The Favourites folder you see in File explorer at C:\Users\%UserName%\Favorites is only used by IE not Edge.]

So, run Edge and see if your Favouites are still there then post back to say.



Denis

Hi Dennis, I have looked this morning and there is definitely no list of 'Favourites' showing in Edge. Where does edge store such things then? Are they in 'the cloud' or something similar where I can go to recover them. What is confusing me mostly is, where can the list have gone, there must be something more than 50 sites/forums listed. I have definitely not deleted anything, not intentionally anyway. I wouldn't even consider doing something like that. I do sometimes delete individual sites that I know that I no longer need.

Steve C, I have just been into 'One Drive' but there is nothing in there.

Samuria, No I'm not syncing with any other device so that's not what's happened.

I suppose if it comes to it I will simply have to start compiling a new 'favourites' list!

I have two backup external drives but I only use them to back up all of my data which is kept on its own drive. I have never bothered to do a backup of my O/S and programmes which are all on the C: drive, I simply do a 'Clean Install' of these about every 12 months or so. Perhaps I should revise my thinking in this regard.

idgat said:

Lots of tubthumping here about backing up, all well and good but just for the sake of restoring Favorites hardly worth a complete system restore, all you need to do in the future is periodically export your favorites to a html file.

Backing up the system (similar to personal data backup) achieves nothing - periodically creating an image with Macrium Reflect on the other hand ....

Confirm you have tried these ...

- Edge 3 dots top rh corner > Favorites > Manage favorites ... what shows up?

- (same) > Show favorites bar .... what shows up ?

- (same) > Manage favorites > (new window, top rh corner, 3 dots) > export favs > save the html file. close edge, open (double click) the save html ... what do you see ?

You could try installing another browser (say, Firefox), and when prompted during the installation process to import Bookmarks, choose Edge and see if anything shows up. If nothing, and you don't want to keep the other browser, just uninstall it.

Hi idgat, I have gone through each of your suggestions in turn and this is what I find (I have numbered your options as 1 to 4)

1. All that shows is what I have saved today.
2. Always is the option ticked.
3. I cannot find an option to export anywhere.
4. I have installed Firefox and lo and behold there is a fairly long list of 'Bookmarks' but, they appear to be from before the Battle of Trafalgar, i.e. absolutely yonks old and have no relevance to more recent internet use.

It is just so baffling as to how such a long list of bookmarks could disappear into thin air.

Try3, I have had a look to see if I have a 'tree' the same as you suggest but I have nothing like what you suggest.

Thanks a million to all for trying to resolve this.

idgat said:

Edge browser Settings (3 dots top RH corner) > Favorites > Manage favorites. In that new windows, there are another 3 dots in the top rh corner of that new window (Next to Add Favorites and Add Folder) > Export favorites

Or

In the Edge address bar, type edge://favorites/ ... the 3 dots next to Add favorites and Add folders.



This is partially where I hoped we would end up. A lot of browsers have a "hidden" recycle bin for deleted favorites. Usually not visible until you reach a point as you just have - when you go to import directly between browsers, the "receiving" browser picks up the contents of the old "sender"s recycle bin. Check the contents list carefully to make sure your lost favorites are not mixed up in the historical Edge bin that FFox wants to import. Even go ahead and import and check the FFox bookmarks list carefully.

Just a point idgat, I didn't 'import' anything into Firefox, the list was just there. i have just been into it again and the list really is very old and none of them are ones that I have used in recent times. I tried to 'import' into Firefox but nothing happened. These are the instructions that I followed....


- - - Updated - - -

Well folks, please don't ask me how, but I've now got ALL of my favourites back. I have been following idgat's ( and others) instructions and I have clicked on this and I've clicked on that, I have imported and exported this and that and yes, the full list is back again. Absolutely amazing.

I am just a few weeks away from my 80th birthday and, I would just like to offer my considerable thanks to all who have offered help to resolve this (and other) problems that I have had, the help really is very much appreciated.

What I would like to do now is to make a backup of this list so that if I run into this problem again at any time I will be able to overcome it more easily. Would someone be good enough to explain the bet way to do this please.

Thanks again everyone.