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How do I restore lost favorites after the latest Edge update?

Edge synced browser data from... I don't know where. Google? Previous Edge? Firefox? IE? All I know is I got a quick pop-up when I opened Edge this morning, which said "synced favorites." ALL my favorites are now a complete mess, and I lost favorite folders, research paper links, and everything is different (o;d favorites/folders I deleted months ago, etc.)

How do I restore back to a previous session and get my favorites back the way I had them yesterday? I've removed syncing for now, as this is a HUGE problem for school and work.


As an FYI, this happened after a PC update, which is why I DETEST these repeated Windows updates! There was one last week, so STOP WITH ALL THESE UPDATES!!! Should I restore to a previous Windows update and is this even possible!?

You may be lucky, because Edge usually keeps a copy of favorites if there are major changes, in case something goes wrong. Assuming you only have one browser profile (because each profile has its own favorites etc.);

  1. Open your profile page (click ⋯ [Settings and more] > Settings) and Sign out to stop sync. Don't select the box to clear your data.

  2. Close down Edge completely. Open Task Manager (Ctrl-Shift-Escape) and use End task to stop any instances of msedge.exe that you find there.

  3. Open File Explorer (Winkey+E) and paste this into the address bar:
    %LocalAppData%\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default

  4. Find the files called Bookmarks and Bookmarks.bak. Compare their dates and sizes: does it look as if the backup file predates the change you saw?

  5. If so, rename Bookmarks to Bookmarks.old and Bookmarks.bak to Bookmarks.

  6. Re-launch Edge and examine your favorites now.

  7. Check them also on any other devices where sync is enabled, because it's possible that sync is the culprit in the original problem.

  8. If you're satisfied that your favorites are now restored, Export them (Ctrl-Shift-O, then click ⋯ [More options] > Export favorites) to have a separate backup copy.

  9. Sign in again and set up sync if you so wish.

Noel Burgess MVP (Ret'd)

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Last updated May 17, 2024 Views 8,974 Applies to: