If you have saved settings in Firefox, you can back them up in the browser and restore them on other devices. We’ll show you how.
By backing up your settings on the Firefox browser, you are always on the safe side. Because if your web browser suddenly crashes or bombards you with error messages, you can simply restore the backup and solve the problem that way.
This form of profile backup, as Mozilla calls the user-specific settings of the browser, is also useful when moving to a new computer. If you restore your “backup profile” there, you can surf with all your usual settings. The following data is saved in your profile:
- Bookmarks, downloads and history
- Passwords
- page-specific settings
- search engines
- the personal dictionary
- Cookies
- DOM Storage
- Security settings
- Download promotions
- saved sessions
- User Settings (Changes to Firefox settings)
- and much more
You can back up your Firefox profile, which contains all your personal settings, with just a few clicks. Backing up your data is as easy as copying a file.
Save Firefox profile with all settings
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Open Firefox and enter “about:support” in the address bar. If you don’t have the browser installed on your device, you can download Firefox from Netzwelt.
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You will be taken to the “Troubleshooting Information” page. Under “General Information” you will find the “Show in Finder” (Mac) or “Show Folder” (Windows) button. Click the button to open the folder with your profile.
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You will be taken to your profile folder. Go up one level to reach the “Profiles” folder. Here you will find all the profiles you have created. Copy the desired profile folder to a safe place where you want to save the data backup. If you want, you can also save the folder on a USB stick or USB hard drive.
If you want to restore the backup due to an error in Firefox or use your profile on another computer, simply copy the data back as follows:
Restore profile from backup
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Open Firefox on the PC where you want to restore the profile.
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Enter “about:support” in the address bar.
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Under “General Information”, click the “Show in Finder” (Mac) or “Show Folder” (Windows) button to open the current profile folder.
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After the profile directory has been opened, you must close Firefox completely.
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Opens the folder with the saved profile.
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Copy the entire contents of the backed up folder and paste it into the current Firefox profile folder on your PC or Mac. Note: Only replace the contents of the profile folder with your backed up data, not the folder itself.
If you can no longer open Firefox due to a problem, you can also find the profile folder manually:
Mac: Users/Your username/Library/application Support/Firefox
Windows: Users/Your user name/Data/Roaming/Mozilla/Firefox
Practical tips for the browser
You don’t use Firefox, but the well-known web browser from Google? No problem, because you can also save and restore your settings in the form of a backup. We’ll show you how to create backups with Google Chrome.
Backup: The ultimate guide to data backup
By creating a backup, you can protect your pictures, documents, and other important files with a backup copy. Netzwelt reveals in the ultimate backup guide how to create a data backup for Windows, OS X, Android, and iOS.
Would you like to use the bookmarks you saved in Firefox with other browsers or on other computers? We explain in another guide how to export your favorites to Firefox or Chrome.
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